Throughout 2025, Kristen has been on a flexible artist-in-residence at Trykkeriet. Given this prompt & invitation, she has explored ways of approaching printmaking linked to her current practise in painting and botanical dyeing.
The resulting explorations challenge traditional notions of print through the use of unrepeatable actions, applying plant matter as both print matrix and dye extraction concurrently. The plants featured within these prints span two continents and two landscapes the artist is familiar with– both rhizomatic & slow-growing.
Stems thereby considers the notion of the indicator– both of ancient woodland, and of the processes evinced within each print. The peripheries of the print process are here foregrounded. Test strips and ghost prints, a seamless gradient, or thinking in transparent layers. Things in a landscape not immediately apparent, but made visible through print.
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Kristen Keegan (b. 1988, Canada) has been based in Norway since 2017. Her work explores multifold approaches to image-making and abstraction – recently, through craft traditions such as botanical dyeing and printing. Open, conversational material processes give rise to diverse outputs, including painting, artist books and installation. In whatever iteration, her work considers embodied ways of seeing, using the language of colour to make room for slowness, attention, and ease.
Kristen completed her Master’s in Fine Art at The University of Bergen in 2019 and has since exhibited at venues throughout Scandinavia, including Entrée, Kunsthuset Kabuso, LNM, Konstepidemin, Årsutstillingen, Høstutstillingen and Hordaland Kunstsenter. She has participated in residencies in Finland, Iceland and Norway, as well as The Banff Centre in Canada. Her work is held in public collections including the University of Bergen, Stavanger Library, and KODE museum. Recent and upcoming exhibitions include CommonOpulence: wishcraft (Art Gallery of Grande Prairie, Canada, 2025) and a three-person exhibition at SOFT Galleri (Oslo, Norway, 2026).