A Creative Life: Sarah Hannevik

I received a wonderful note from artist Sarah Hannevik about her beautiful fiber art . Each of them is like a tiny stitched vignette and I love that she uses materials from her surroundings (currently South Korea). Read on to see what her daily inspirations are and click here to purchase her work via Etsy!

A little bit about myself:
I moved to Oslo, Norway after growing up in the US, mostly in Atlanta, GA. My mother is Norwegian (my father was American) so moving to Oslo was not really a huge leap. I married a lovely Norwegian man and we have two children - Cornelia is 6 and Gustav is 4. When Cornelia was an infant I started a web shop importing good's for children from the US and some other European countries. Creating that business was such an adventure, but the business was not one that was meant for a long life, on to other things :-).

Inspiration:
Last year, after 12 years in Oslo my husband's job took us to Busan, South Korea and I have seriously experienced the most profound creative awakening. Korea is an amazing place focused on his colorful history of handicrafts using paper and fabric, plus it's general love of art - where I live there are 10 galleries in a 5 mile radius. I am having my first exhibition next week at a nearby gallery, this is a dream come true!


So here in Busan I have started producing fiber art. I sew together paper and fabric and add elements of collage and embroidery. The fabric market here is amazing and new projects pop into my head every single time I am there.

above: my work room is a bit weird since I have a big window looking into
the laundry room, weird Korean apartment layouts?!

My daughter, Cornelia, is especially interested in creative projects. I bought her a real mini Hello Kitty sewing machine and she tries to recreate what I do. Lately, we have been painting every day, the art supplies here are so cheap and easy often of very good quality.

above: Cornelia and I sewing on her cute little Hello Kitty sewing machine.

A day in the life of "me":

I drop my children off at school at 8:30, rush home to the last bit of coffee, clean up the kitchen and then dive into one of the many project either waiting on my work table or swimming around in my head. I work best when I can listen to a brand new episode of This American Life, but can manage well with any of NPR podcast actually.


There are days now and then when inspiration never comes, but when it does I can complete sometimes 3 pieces in one day! On these days, I am on such a high, I walk around clapping and complimenting myself all day! Needless to say I get so immersed in my work that it is often hard to break off and get to school by 2:40, but I have gotten better over the years to switch gears and be completely with my children when they are home. Luckily they love making things, so we often spend the afternoons coloring, drawing, cutting, glueing and talking.