The Vala, Had Forseen the Melting of the Ice

mixed media, 24" x 32", 2026

mixed medium with melted ice from Svalbard, Norway and Mt. Rainier

For me, the image of the boat is meant to symbolize a voyage or journey, perhaps it is the voyage to the other side, or the journey into the unknown.
My family is from Norway. My father was a fisherman. My grandfather was also a fisherman. My other grandfather, a boat builder. Upon the death of my parents, I made a boat for their ashes and buried them at sea, something like a contemporary Viking funeral. What I am attempting to do is to take something that was personally extremely painful and turn it into something beautiful.

Steve Jensen has been a working artist for 45 years. Steve comes from a long tradition of Scandinavian fisherman and boat builders. He grew up around his father and grandfather’s fishing boats in the Seattle shipyards. Steve has has solo exhibitions in 30 museums or art centers including Morris Graves Museum, 30 public art projects including National Nordic Museum, and received The National Endowment for the Arts.
His work was featured by Channel 9 “Art as Voyage” Steve Jensen’s Nordic Heritage and Amazon Prime, “The Story of Art in America"