Joe Molvik of Kennewick is proving the old axiom you’re never too old to try something new.

At 86, he decided to open an art gallery showcasing his Norwegian-inspired paintings, wood carvings and other woodwork.

The former custom metalworker hung up his trade in 2022 after over 50 years in business and turned his workshop and office into a studio and art gallery that is open by appointment.

Molvik has been painting “off and on” for over 50 years and picked up wood carving around 1993 when one of his sons bought him a basic set of carving tools and a block of wood.

The hobby stuck.

In addition to painting, Molvik enjoys figure carving, crafting picture frames and Norwegian bentwood containers called tine (pronounced like the name “Tina”) and assembling cutting boards, charcuterie boards and butcher blocks out of unexpectedly beautiful salvaged wood.

“I have been blessed by the Lord to have a compulsion to always be in the process of designing and building something,” he said. “Ever since I was little, I always had to be creative, I always had to create something.”

Molvik immigrated with his family to the United States from Norway at the age of 16 in 1954. His father and mother originally met in the upper Midwest in evangelical circles, before returning to Norway to start their family.

This time they began afresh in Scandinavian-influenced Seattle, where Molvik attended Ballard High School.

An art teacher recognized his inherent talent for painting and encouraged him and he had the opportunity to represent Ballard at a two-week seminar held at the Seattle Art Museum.

After high school, Molvik attended the University of Washington for a year to study industrial design. During that time he met his wife, Mary Ann, the daughter of Swedish immigrants, and they were married in 1959.

He took a drafting course at Broadway Technical School and moved his growing family to Tri-Cities in 1966 after responding to a news ad for a metalworking job in the area.

In 1972, he bought Tri-City Fabricating, formerly located at 202132 E. 25th Ave. and Highway 397 in Kennewick.

“We were making stamped metal parts to start with and gradually we started doing more regular fabricating and after some years we got into the ornamental iron,” Molvik said.

“We went broke in 2008 during the recession. Then I gradually started a small iron shop at my home where we lived before, and then when we moved here, we took the old farm building and made a big iron shop out of it. Since 2009, I did about 1,000 jobs, all around the Tri-Cities and Walla Walla, Othello, Yakima,” he said.

During those years, he focused on ornamental iron, making mostly chairs, gates and spiral staircases.
He carried his business name, Atelier JM, to his new venture.

Molvik was born in 1937 in the Arctic Circle of northern Norway to a traveling minister father. He was a boy during the Nazi occupation of Norway during World War II.

“There was not much money, not many toys, nor recreational equipment. So, from an early age, we children made our own. There was always a knife in my pocket with paper and pencil available,” he recalled.

He also fondly remembers the support of his father’s 14 brothers and sisters who helped the family through the hard times with food and other necessities.

“Up north, especially where we lived, you either made your living fishing and subsistence farming. That was common for thousands of little farms on the coast in the northern part of Norway, so that was somewhat common with my uncles and aunts,” he said.

Times have changed and the wider world has found its way even to that remote corner of the world.

“Things are different now,” he said. “A lot of that lifestyle is somewhat forgotten.

“So, I guess you might say that mostly my inspiration is that I try to do this – wood carving especially – and painting as a memorial to them.”

His pieces provide a window into that former way of life, revealing the lifestyle and day-to-day activities that made up the fabric of his family’s and surrounding community’s lives set on a backdrop of water: Nordland-style boats, boathouses and iconic Scandinavian homes under the midnight sun.
“There is a strong feeling of attachment to the culture of the country, appreciation of the places of my childhood and a deep love of my family with its rich history,” Molvik said.

He has returned to Norway three times and is proud to have had the opportunity to paint the Molvik family farm, which remains in the family. He said he doesn’t think he’ll get back again, unless he can travel first class and have a few more of those comforts for the long flight.

At the Atelier JM gallery, customers can find original art pieces as well as prints for sale with or without frames. Molvik also collaborates with another Norwegian-inspired artist in the area, Sara Watson, who practices traditional Norwegian painting techniques, which have decorated some of Molvik’s wood creations. The two met through the local Sons of Norway lodge.

“Once in a while, I paint something that’s local. Currently I have two of them here – from Whidbey Island and a Palouse farm,” he said.

He also does custom painting and carving on commission and hopes to have more opportunities for that in the future.

Though Molvik’s gallery is nowhere near the water, visitors will enjoy seeing his progress on yet another project underway at his studio: the restoration of a traditional Nordland boat that he and three friends from the local Sons of Norway lodge built in 1999 for the first Nordic Fest held in the area.

Attendees had the opportunity to take a spin on the Columbia in it. It was built using traditional methods and Molvik said it can be made river-worthy once more and that he looks forward to its return voyage.

As for the gallery, Molvik has more plans.

At Christmastime he had an open house. “I want to develop that so that periodically we have an event or get together here and also I would be open for the possibility of workshops or classes,” he said.

He also wants to build a website to expand his reach, advertise more and attend more art shows.

He will be at the 2023 Vintage at the Ridge show March 10-11 at the Numerica Pavilion at the Southridge Sports and Events Complex in Kennewick.

He also plans to be at Art in the Park at Howard Amon Park again this summer.

“I guess I had better do it all before I get too old,” he said with a chuckle. “I do enjoy it, and I feel that I have to create. It’s just in me.”

Atelier JM – A Norwegian Artistic Journey: 1218 S. Lincoln St., Kennewick. Open by appointment. Contact: 509-539-0811, Facebook.