Marjan Dijkstra — Contemporary Printmaker from the Norwegian Fjords
Exploring the connections between circadian rhythm, light, hormones, plants and the landscapes that sustain us through traditional woodcut, linocut, and mezzotint printmaking.
Selected works
Original reduction linocut from the From Flower to Food series
This limited edition reduction linocut celebrates the delicate beauty of the allium flower — a bloom often overlooked despite its important role in the plants we grow for food.
Part of my ongoing From Flower to Food series, this artwork is inspired by the edible plants cultivated in my own permaculture garden and the surrounding fjord landscape where I live and work. The series explores the transformation from flower to harvest, highlighting the beauty and complexity of plants that are often valued only for their practical purpose.
In Allium – Onion, the spherical flower structure is isolated against a deep green-black background, creating a striking contrast between organic form and bold colour. The vibrant pink petals reveal the rhythm and symmetry found in nature, while the simplified composition invites closer observation of the botanical details within an everyday food plant.
The artwork reflects my interest in biodiversity, cultivation, and the relationship between humans and the plants that sustain us. By focusing on the flower before the formation of the bulb, the print draws attention to the beginning of the food cycle — the moment where growth and possibility emerge.
The Printmaking Process
This artwork is created using the traditional six-layer reduction linocut technique. The image is built from a single lino block, with each colour printed separately before more of the surface is carved away. Because the block is gradually destroyed during the process, the edition is strictly limited and can never be reproduced once completed.
Each print is individually hand printed on my own printing press, creating subtle variations in colour and texture. These differences are an essential part of original printmaking and make every impression unique.
Print Details
Title: Allium – Onion
Series: From Flower to Food
Technique: Six-layer reduction linocut
Edition: Limited edition of 24
Signed and numbered by the artist
Paper size: 31 × 20 cm
Image size: 15 × 10 cm
Paper: High-quality fine art printmaking paper
Ink: Professional artist-quality relief printing ink
Printed by hand in Norway
About the Collection
From Flower to Food explores the flowers of plants grown for nourishment and celebrates the hidden beauty within our food systems. Through handmade botanical prints, the series invites viewers to slow down and appreciate the forms, colours, and structures that connect flowers, biodiversity, and harvest.
Styling
This contemporary botanical print works beautifully in Scandinavian, minimalist, and nature-inspired interiors. Its strong graphic composition and vibrant colour palette make it a distinctive piece for a living room, kitchen, studio, or gallery wall.
Original two-plate woodcut from the Circadian Rhythm series
Oxytocin explores the connection between landscape, belonging, and the human need for connection.
Inspired by the winter mountain ridge landscape behind my home on the Norwegian west coast, this woodcut reflects on the relationship between the human body and the environments we inhabit. The mountain landscape becomes a metaphor for shelter, belonging, and the places where we feel connected and safe.
The cave-like form within the composition refers to ideas of protection, intimacy, and origin — spaces where humans have historically gathered and found security. This connects with the role of oxytocin, a hormone associated with bonding, trust, care, and social connection.
Through the combination of natural landscape and biological reference, the artwork explores how external surroundings and internal experiences are intertwined. The mountain is not only a place, but also a reflection of the emotional and physiological systems that shape our sense of connection.
The Printmaking Process
This artwork is created using a traditional two-plate colour woodcut technique. Two separate wooden blocks are carved and printed in layers, gradually building the final composition through overlapping colours and textures.
The natural grain of the wood contributes to the atmosphere of the image, creating a tactile relationship between the material and the landscape it represents. Each print is individually hand printed, resulting in subtle variations that make every impression unique.
Exhibition & Edition
Oxytocin was exhibited as part of the Royal Society of Birmingham Artists Summer Exhibition 2024.
This work is printed as a smaller limited edition of only 10 impressions.
Supporting Breast Cancer Research
50% of the sale price of this print is donated to breast cancer research, connecting the artwork's themes of care, connection, and human wellbeing with practical support for medical research.
Print Details
Title: Oxytocin
Series: Circadian Rhythm
Technique: Two-plate colour woodcut
Year: 2024
Edition: Limited edition of 10
Signed and numbered by the artist
Paper: Fabriano Rosaspina, 285 gsm
Ink: Professional Cranfield Safe Wash ink
Image size: 60 × 40 cm
Paper size: 70 × 50 cm
Printed by hand in Norway
About the Series
The Circadian Rhythm series explores the relationship between natural light, the Norwegian landscape, and human physiology. Through woodcut, linocut, and other traditional printmaking techniques, the works investigate how our surroundings influence the biological and emotional rhythms that shape our lives.
Original woodcut from the Library series
Vidunderlig Makt — Norwegian for wonderful power — explores the quiet but profound role that libraries play as places of knowledge, imagination, and connection.
This original hand-carved woodcut was inspired by the feeling of discovering that even a small local library can open a world of possibilities. Through access to books, stories, and ideas, a library becomes much larger than its physical space — a place where knowledge travels freely and imagination expands beyond geographical boundaries.
The artwork depicts the historic library interior of Trinity College Library in Dublin, one of the world's most iconic libraries. The monumental architecture, endless shelves, and rhythm of repeated forms create a sense of timelessness and wonder.
Through the simplicity of black and white woodcut, the print focuses on structure, light, and atmosphere. The carved lines emphasise the relationship between architecture and human experience — the feeling of standing inside a space shaped by centuries of learning and curiosity.
The Printmaking Process
This artwork was created using traditional woodcut printmaking. The image was carved by hand into a wooden block and printed individually using professional relief printing ink.
The natural texture of the carved wood becomes part of the final image, creating variations in line, depth, and surface quality. Because every impression is hand printed, each artwork carries subtle differences that reflect the handmade process.
Print Details
Title: Vidunderlig Makt (Wonderful Power)
Series: Library
Technique: Hand-carved woodcut
Edition: Limited edition of 20
Status: Sold out
Signed and numbered by the artist
Paper: Fabriano fine art paper, 220 gsm
Ink: Professional Cranfield ink
Image size: 40 × 28 cm
Paper size: 50 × 35 cm
Printed by hand in Norway
About the Library Series
The Library series explores libraries as architectural spaces and as symbols of human curiosity. These works celebrate the relationship between knowledge, memory, and place — the idea that a building filled with books can become a gateway to countless worlds.
Through traditional woodcut techniques, the series captures the atmosphere of remarkable libraries while reflecting on the personal experience of reading, learning, and discovery.
Original mezzotint from the Secret Garden series
Observant captures a quiet moment of curiosity, connection, and discovery in the garden.
The mezzotint depicts a young girl watching bumblebees among the flowers — a moment inspired by my own daughter’s fascination with the small creatures that share our garden. The work reflects the simple but profound act of paying attention: noticing movement, patterns, and relationships within the living world.
The garden becomes a place of learning and wonder, where observation creates connection. Through the figure of the child and the presence of the bees, the print explores the relationship between humans and nature, and the importance of preserving a sense of curiosity towards the ecosystems around us.
The Mezzotint Process
Observant is created using the traditional mezzotint technique, a demanding intaglio process known for its deep velvety blacks and subtle tonal transitions.
The copper plate is carefully prepared with a textured surface before the image is gradually developed by smoothing and refining areas of the plate to create light and detail from darkness. This slow process allows for remarkable depth and softness, making mezzotint particularly suited to intimate and atmospheric subjects.
Each print is individually hand printed using professional Charbonnel oil-based ink on high-quality Hahnemühle paper. Because every impression is created by hand, small variations make each print unique within the edition.
Print Details
Title: Observant
Series: Secret Garden
Technique: Original mezzotint (intaglio), hand printed
Edition: Limited edition of 25
Signed and numbered by the artist
Ink: Charbonnel oil-based ink
Paper: Hahnemühle fine art paper, 350 gsm
Image size: 10 × 15 cm
Paper size: 19 × 26 cm
Printed by hand in Norway
About the Series
The Secret Garden series explores the hidden relationships between humans, plants, and the small forms of life that surround us. Through the slow and contemplative process of mezzotint, these works focus on moments of intimacy, observation, and connection.
Four collections, bound together
Circadian Rhythm
This series of four woodcut prints — Melatonin, Growth Hormone, Oxytocin, and Om å henge saman — explores the connection between circadian rhythms, natural light, the fjord landscape, and human biology. Inspired by everyday observations of the changing seasons and ecological systems around me, the works reflect on how our surroundings influence the body’s internal rhythms, emotions, and sense of belonging.
Through layered woodcut techniques, I explore the relationship between hormones, landscape, and the living world — revealing the subtle connections between the human body and the natural environment.
Melatonin
Oxytocin
Om å henge saman
Growth Hormone
70 x 50 cm
2024/2025
From Flower to Food
Rubus idaeus - Raspberry
Allium - Onion
Narcissus - Daffodil
Prunus dulcis - Almond
21 x 30 cm
2026
Inspired by the flowers of food-producing plants growing in my own permaculture garden, this ongoing series of handmade reduction linocut prints celebrates the beauty that exists before harvest. Each print transforms familiar edible plants into bold botanical compositions, inviting a closer look at the natural cycles of growth, biodiversity, and cultivation. Printed by hand in small editions, these contemporary botanical artworks combine traditional printmaking techniques with a deep appreciation for the landscapes and ecosystems that sustain us.
Libary Series
Reading Room
Collection of Ideas
Crossroads
Vidunderlig Makt
30-50 x 50-70 cm
2025
A growing series of woodcut prints inspired by libraries from around the world. Each print explores the architecture and atmosphere of these spaces while celebrating libraries as places of open knowledge, community, and quiet reflection—institutions that are increasingly disappearing from smaller towns and villages.
Secret Garden series
Observation
Coexistence
19 x 26 cm
2022
The Secret Garden series explores quiet moments of connection between people and nature through the rich, velvety tones of mezzotint printmaking. Inspired by close observation, the works celebrate the beauty found in both intimate human expressions and the small wonders of the natural world.
This pair of prints brings together two perspectives: a close study of my daughter's eye and half of her face, and a bumblebee resting on a cosmos flower. Together, they evoke themes of curiosity, growth, and the delicate relationships that exist between ourselves and the living world.
Each mezzotint is printed by hand, embracing the depth, softness, and luminous qualities that make this traditional printmaking technique uniquely suited to capturing light, texture, and atmosphere.
Why slow-made, handprinted artwork?
Every print begins with a process of careful observation, carving, and patience. Working with traditional printmaking techniques, I create each artwork by hand — from preparing the block or plate to printing every individual impression on my own printing press.
Reduction linocuts, woodcuts, and mezzotints are slow and deliberate processes. Layers of colour are built gradually, surfaces are carved away, and each print carries the physical traces of the handmade process. Small variations in ink, texture, and pressure are not imperfections, but part of what makes an original handprinted artwork unique.
I work with professional materials chosen for their quality and longevity, including Fabriano and Hahnemühle fine art papers and professional Cranfield inks. Each limited edition is carefully printed, signed, and numbered, ensuring that every impression is an authentic piece of contemporary printmaking.
In a world of mass-produced images, handprinted art preserves something different: the time, skill, and human presence of the artist.
My recent works, included a selection of works form 2021-2025 in printmaking, drawings and sculpture
Portfolio
Selected Exhibitions
Ørsta Kunsthuset
RBSA Summer show, Birmingham, UK
Mottaket, Ålesund
Cupola Gallery, Sheffield, UK
My story as a contemporary printmaker from the Norwegian fjords — exploring the hidden connections between landscape, plants, and the rhythms of life.
About the artist
I work from my studio in Sunnmøre on the west coast of Norway, surrounded by fjords, mountains, and a landscape shaped by changing seasons, cultivation, and generations of connection to the land.
My artistic practice explores the relationships between people, plants, and the natural systems that sustain us. Inspired by my own permaculture garden and the surrounding landscape, I create prints that reveal the overlooked beauty of food plants, pollinators, and the biological rhythms that connect all living things.
With a background in radiography and an education from Ytre Kunstfagskole Ålesund (2023), I combine scientific observation with traditional printmaking techniques including woodcut, reduction linocut, and mezzotint. Through slow, layered processes of carving and printing, I explore themes of growth, transformation, seasonal change, and our connection to the natural world.
Your Questions, Answered
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Every print is an original work of art, printed by hand from a hand-carved woodblock, linoleum block, or mezzotint plate. Unlike posters or giclée prints, each impression is pulled individually on a printing press using professional artist inks and fine art paper. Once an edition is complete, no more prints are made. Every artwork is signed and numbered by me.
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I love printmaking because the process reflects the themes I explore. Layer by layer, carved mark by carved mark, the image develops much like the natural systems that inspire my work. The slow, hands-on process requires patience and precision, and each handprinted impression carries subtle variations that make it unique. For me, printmaking is both a way of making images and a way of thinking about the relationships between people, plants, landscapes, and biology.
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Every print is an original artwork, designed, carved, and handprinted by me using traditional printmaking techniques. I work in small, limited editions on archival-quality fine art paper, ensuring every print is both collectible and made to last. Inspired by the Norwegian landscape, biology, and my own permaculture garden, my collections combine technical craftsmanship with stories about the relationships between people, plants, and the natural world.
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You can reach me anytime via my contact page or email madlocalart@gmail.com. We aim to respond quickly—usually within one business day.
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My original prints range from 500 NOK for smaller studies and earlier works to 3,000 NOK for larger, more technically demanding pieces. Prices are based on the size of the print, the complexity of the process, the time involved, and the size of the edition. Techniques such as mezzotint, reduction linocut, and colour woodcut require many hours of preparation, carving, and handprinting, making each artwork the result of a slow and highly skilled process.
Because every edition is limited, prices may gradually increase as fewer prints remain available.