Biography
Karen Helga Maurstig is a Norwegian artist based in Jolster in Sunnfjord, Norway, whose practice centers on paper and graphic techniques -- mokuhanga, cold needle, and letterpress printing -- applied across prints, books, objects, and installations. Her work is deeply connected to the Norwegian coastal landscape and the traditions of craft and community that define life in western Norway.
Maurstig studied graphics at the Willem De Kooning Hogeschool in Rotterdam, Netherlands, where she developed her foundation in printmaking. In 2006, she traveled to Japan to participate in NAPP, the Nagasawa Art Park Project -- an artist-in-residence program that served as the forerunner to today's Mokuhanga Innovation Laboratory. This early encounter with Japanese woodblock printing proved formative, and mokuhanga has since become central to her artistic practice alongside her other graphic techniques.
Her most ambitious project, "20 Coastal Stations," was dedicated to mokuhanga and craftsmanship. In August 2015, six artists from Japan, Sweden, Finland, and Norway traveled along the coast of Norway for eighteen days, creating work in response to the landscape, communities, and maritime traditions they encountered. The project exemplified Maurstig's belief in art as a practice rooted in place and shared experience, connecting the meditative process of mokuhanga with the contemplative rhythms of coastal life.
More recently, her 2025 Solund project continued this place-based approach through a series of site-specific installations in the island municipality of Solund, including works installed in traditional boathouses, at landing places, and in village buildings. The installations incorporated mokuhanga prints, cyanotypes, Japanese paper folding techniques, and found objects, creating an immersive dialogue between Japanese craft traditions and Norwegian coastal culture.
Maurstig's work is held in collections including the Sogn og Fjordane Art Museum, Tama Art University Museum in Tokyo, and the Museum of Texas Tech University. She has exhibited at International Mokuhanga Conferences in Nara (2021) and the IMC 2024 Europe exhibition, and is a contributor to the Mokuhanga Magic Mokublad publication and listed on the Mokumap directory.
Key Facts
- Nationality
- 🇳🇴Norway
- Movement
- Contemporary Mokuhanga
- Works Indexed
- 6
Frequently Asked Questions
Karen Helga Maurstig is a Norwegian artist based in Jolster in Sunnfjord, Norway, whose practice centers on paper and graphic techniques -- mokuhanga, cold needle, and letterpress printing -- applied across prints, books, objects, and installations. Her work is deeply connected to the Norwegian coastal landscape and the traditions of craft and community that define life in western Norway.
Karen Helga Maurstig's work was shaped by the Contemporary Mokuhanga tradition in Japanese woodblock printmaking. Contemporary Mokuhanga: Contemporary mokuhanga (literally "wood-block print") encompasses artists working from approximately 1970 to the present who continue or reinvent traditional Japanese woodblock printing techniques.
Karen Helga Maurstig is a contemporary printmaker whose work has been acquired by museum collections, confirming institutional recognition. Museum representation supports collector confidence. Prices range from $200 for smaller works to $5,000 for major compositions. Most prints sell in the $500–$2,000 range. Museum-collected contemporary printmakers represent a strong value proposition, as institutional validation often precedes market appreciation.
