Inger Odgaard Sculpture - In between spaces

Inger Odgaard, In between spaces no. 248

Measuments: 72x30x30 cm

About Inger Odgaard:

I am a sculptor and my material is textile. All of my sculptures are hand knitted in a variety of textile materials. Once I have knitted the basic form - the skeleton - I continue working on it towards its final shape. I immerse the sculpture in a sequence of baths adding volume and texture with each bath.


This process is a continuous dialogue with each sculpture, where I work with the shape. Each sequence changes the appearance - changing form and structure.
The surface of the multiple layers relates to the still visible remains of the previous layers and the remains of the original structure.
In other words - the outside of the sculpture is a processed reflection of the inside.
Paint and pulverised metals are added until the underlying colour can only be seen faintly.


This process gives sensuous surfaces and aesthetic depth.


Over the last years I have worked on a series of sculptures called “in between spaces”. All my pieces are spacious and transparent - consisting of holes and inbetweens - this allows spectators to look inside and through my sculptures and it offers light the opportunity to expand the sculpture with its shadow.


I live with my family on the little island of Møn - close to nature and to the limestone cliffs at Møns Klint. I often walk along the beaches. It brings peace of mind and energy - and the colours out there are quite beautiful. I love walking by the ocean in all kinds of weather - in all seasons. The beach, the colours of the sea, the sky, the rocks and pebbles - everything changes with light and season.


I was interested in art already as a child - seeing art on the walls of friends houses. In my home however - there was no art but plenty of craft. My grandfather worked rocks and wood into household items and occasionally works of art. All the women of my family were either knitting, crocheting or doing needle work.


I have always used my hands to make things. I learned knitting before I started in school, so knitting is a very fundamental technique - a language - to me.


I am a qualified teacher of arts and crafts and has spend several years teaching this to children. For many years - from about my teenage years - I painted acrylic paintings, but harboured this ambition to work in three dimensions. I had not yet found my material.


While our children were little I did mainly crafts - bags, tea hoods etc usually knitting combined with heavy rubber or leather. Somehow less troublesome than painting.


When our youngest daughter started in kindergarten I found time for this innermost desire for art. Working with knitting and textile equalled playing to me, so turning it into art was fairly straight forward.


I have spent the last 11 years developing this technique that I apply in my sculptures - exploring is a process that never ends.


Working with shape, material, structure, colour and texture has been a wonderful journey and it goes on.