I am a visual artist, living and working in Oslo, Norway. I was born and grew up in Stranda in the northwestern part of Norway, a landscape and ahouse that I am still attached to. I knew early that the visual arts were my destination, my first comics came to life when I was 11 and I loved the drawings aspecially.
At 16 I started art education as one of Einar Aarø’ s pupils at Linja for Dekorasjon og Reklame ved Borgund Yrkesskole in Langevåg. It offered a good start into a carreer in Visual Communication, with a thorough introduction in the main disciplines and most of all, lots of drawing. After that followed a year with arts and crafts at Manger Folkehøgskule, not far from Bergen.
During these early years as a student I made som very nice summer jobs, like in the summer of 1972 at the fish factory in Vardø – I am a hell of a good fish filet cutter! – And in the summer of 1973 in the Red Cross Hospital in Oslo. It surely gave a new horisont to life. I also have spent summer days as a tourist guide in the famous Geiranger Fjord that belongs to my birth county.
In the autumn of 1972 the time was ready for Münster in Germany, and the studies of Visual Communication at the Design Department of Fachhochschule Münster. A super time, with Typography and Photo, Film and Video, even Sculpture and again, lots of drawings. Five years later, in 1977 I graduated with a Diploma as a Graphic Designer. Besides a thorough education in all professional disciplines, I had gathered important lessons about life, and a fluent German language. The years in Germany also gave opportunities for visiting other countries, like excursions to Rome, Paris, Moscow and so on.
In 1977 I started my working career as an Editorial Designer at Gyldendal Norsk Forlag in Oslo. After some months I returned to Germany again, but only for a couple of years of marriage and freelance work in Münster. In the fall of 1980 I was back in Oslo, single again and ready for a career at TV.
I worked 20 years as a Tv Graphics Designer at NRK (Norwegian Broadcast Corp) in Oslo, from 1980 through 2000. I loved the combination of many disciplines; the tactile arts of 35 and 16 mm film. The video editing and VFX, and I was actually the very first Norwegian making computer graphics for our national tv in 1986. I operated the Quantel Paintbox many years and grew with the new digital age. I learned to love computers. Another good thing was all the different kind of programs. But most of all I made graphics for the Entertainment and the Children- and Youth departments. A great number of animated titles, logos and VFX were made during these years.
During these years at NRK I also started to make my own animation films. The work gave nice opportunities to travel to film festivals, I visited the festival in Annecy regularly and many others, like Zagreb and Grimstad. They gave much inspiration and I joined workshops and seminars. My first own film was Tango Caramba, made in 1992, and Heartattack followed in 1997. I made most of the work, from idea to shooting, myself and in a very short time. Both films were screened at a number of festivals an on different TV stations throughout the world.
During all these years I was occasionally working as a teacher of Visual Arts, Computer Graphics and Animation, both in NRK TVs own educational programs, and at schools like HiO, Westerdals and NISS. Later years I have also been teaching Animation Art to kids in the Culture School in Oslo and other places, like in Steigen in the North of Norway.
In 2000 I quit the work at NRK and went independent. One goal was to continue making some more films of my own. My way of working is for sure affected by my earlier life and experience. My life is still made up of films and books; filled with music and impressions. I also love to travel and to cook. In two blogs about cooking I gather recipes.
After many years in a steady working place I felt a desire to make something very different for a while. According to an old obsession about Medieval history, I finally made an old dream come true and attended Medieval Studies at the University of Oslo. It took 5 years and ended with a Master in Nordic Viking and Medieval Culture in 2008. My history adventure may very well manifest in future projects.
My films are mainly made by myself. That’s possible by the use of macs & apps and thanks to my past as a tv designer; hours on hours in studios and control rooms. Red & Silver was finished in the spring of 2016 and made its round at festivals all over the world. The next project, Den siste dagen/The Last Day, was finished in May 2019. It has been shown at lots of festivals and won 14 awards so far.
I hope to be back with a new project in a not such a long time!
Oslo 24.06.2021
Margaret Emdal Film+Design 