From the Boathouse at Skittenelv: Kristina’s Art Rooted in Memory and the North

Nestled by the quiet shoreline of Skittenelv, just outside Tromsø in Northern Norway, Kristina has found her sanctuary — a newly renovated boathouse that now serves as her studio. Once filled with nets, oars, and the scent of saltwater, the space has been transformed into a place of creation, reflection, and storytelling through art.

For Kristina, this boathouse is more than just a studio — it’s a vessel for memory. The creaking timber, the sound of waves brushing against the rocks, and the flickering light across the fjord all connect her to moments from her childhood. Growing up along the northern coast, she spent endless hours exploring the shorelines, collecting stones and driftwood, and watching the sky shift through a palette of northern blues and arctic greys. These experiences now resurface in her work — sometimes abstractly, sometimes as quiet echoes of the past.

“I think the landscape here holds stories,” Kristina says. “Not just mine, but everyone’s who has lived by the sea. The light, the weather, the solitude — they shape you. My art is a way of speaking with those memories.”

Inside the boathouse, traces of its former life remain: old hooks on the walls, sea-worn planks, the faint scent of tar and salt. Kristina embraces these imperfections. Her canvases often reflect that same rawness — textured layers of paint, fragments of old maps, and subtle imprints that mirror the patterns of tide and time.

Creating here allows her to reconnect with the rhythm of her childhood — the stillness of winter mornings, the sudden bursts of northern light, the stories told by her grandparents while mending nets. Each piece she creates becomes a reflection, a dialogue between the present and what once was.

In the soft northern light filtering through the boathouse windows, Kristina’s art finds its place between memory and renewal. The renovated space at Skittenelv stands as both a tribute to her past and a bridge to her evolving artistic voice — a reminder that even in the quietest corners of the world, creativity can rise like the tide, carrying stories from one generation to the next.