The Espolin Gallery ( no, Galleri Espolin) is an art gallery in Storvågan near

Kabelvåg Kabelvåg is a village in Vågan Municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located on the southern shore of the island of Austvågøya in the Lofoten archipelago. Kabelvåg lies about to the southwest of the town of Svolvær, the adminis ...

in the municipality of

Vågan Vågan ( sme, Vuogát) is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Lofoten. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Svolvær. Some of the villages in Vågan include Digermulen, ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

. The gallery was established in 1992 to display the works of the artist

Kaare Espolin Johnson Kaare Espolin Johnson (March 7, 1907 – August 16, 1994) was a Norwegian artist and illustrator. Life and work Espolin Johnson was born at the Vasseng farm in Surnadal. In 1909, when he was two years old, his family moved to Vadsø, and then mov ...

. In addition to Espolin Johnson's works, the gallery also displays works by other artists. The gallery is now part of the SKREI Heritage Center (''SKREI Opplevelsessenter'') at

Museum Nord Museum Nord is a Norwegian museum consortium for the northern part of Nordland county, including the districts of Lofoten, Vesterålen, and Ofoten. The museum is set up as a foundation and was established on December 13, 2002. It opened in 200 ...

Architecture

The building was designed by the architect Gisle Jakhelln. He took his inspiration from traditional Icelandic construction because Espolin Johnson had Icelandic ancestors. In June 2006, the gallery was expanded with a new wing measuring around . The gallery received financial support for the expansion from the

Arts Council Norway The Arts Council Norway ( no, Norsk kulturråd, often shortened to ''Kulturrådet'') is the official arts council for Norway. Based in Oslo, it is a Norwegian state institution created in 1965 as a result of a parliamentary decision in 1964. Art ...

, Nordland County Council, the municipality of Vågan, and the bank

Sparebanken Nord-Norge Sparebanken Nord-Norge (), branded as SpareBank 1 Nord-Norge is a Norway, Norwegian savings bank. The bank has 90 branch offices in Nordland, Tromsø, Finnmark and Svalbard and a head office in Tromsø. It has 250,000 private and 40,000 institutio ...

References

External links

The Espolin Gallery
at the Museum Nord website
The Espolins Gallery
website {{authority control Art museums and galleries in Norway Culture in Nordland Vågan Art museums established in 1992