Wenche Nilsen

Wenche Nilsen is a self-taught outsider artist, that is an artist without formal artistic training and/or who lives on the margins of society. She is also autistic and works at a day centre. Nilsen embroiders on canvas with triple-strand yarn. The colours are bold and clear, the patterns are unusual and abstract, and humanlike figures with two large eyes and a round mouth often emerge. The colourful figures are interpreted as people with few, but powerful, senses. 
Her motifs have varied throughout her career: whereas abstracted, round beings often cropped up in earlier works, her more recent patterns have become more edgy, as evidenced by the five works Nilsen has on display at the opening exhibition.  
Nilsen has previously held exhibitions at for example the Arctic Arts Festival and Trafo Kunsthall. Her art has been acquired by several Norwegian institutions, such as the Outsider Art Street Gallery at Sør-Troms Museum, which is a centre that strives for greater inclusion and diversity in art. The works have been selected in collaboration with Trastad Samlinger and Sør-Troms Museum. MGA