Berit Kruger-Johnsen
	The only artist in my family was my grandfather, who I never met. He went mad during the Depression era and was institutionalised. I think it would be fair to say that becoming or being an artist didn’t have the right connotations in my family. I grew up in the Oslo region in Norway. We had ready access to the sea, forest and mountains and nature played a major part in my life. I did love drawing and after graduating with biology as my major, I got accepted into the only graphic design school at the time in Oslo. So, a suitable compromise had been made, drawing and design with a purpose and tangible outcome. I was lucky enough to be attending the school during a time when they had two wonderful British illustrators lecturing. They had a Laurel & Hardy act going and my final portfolio was heavily weighted towards illustration despite it being a minimal part of the school’s programme. I lasted a year in the advertising industry after graduating and have worked as a freelance illustrator since. I have always had itchy feet and have never needed much of an excuse to go travelling. I fell head over heels with an Australian on one of my journeys and have lived in Australia, mostly in Melbourne, for the best part of 13 years now. With family still in Norway I try to head over as often as possible. I met a part of the Washington Green team on a side trip to Birmingham and I am slowly coming around to thinking of myself as an artist, sane or not!