And the forest began to sing.

I’ve been busy in the studio all since I got back from Sweden.

Just over a week ago my Super 8 films arrived back from the lab in Berlin, so I’ve been reviewing footage and editing by hand, which has proven to be so much fun!

studio

And I am also loving my newly renovated studio. I let the old carpet give way to a painted concrete floor. I did it all myself and am very pleased with the result.

studio

super 8

studio

I love the hands on approach to working with film. I am a great lover of medium format film cameras, Polaroid and now Super 8. But I work with digital video as well of course, and my digital SLR is invaluable when it comes to research photography, documentation of work and stop motion animation. Having said that though, editing by hand is a whole different experience to Final Cut and methods of distressing and painting on to the film can also be employed, making the medium more closely related to painting and drawing.

film

Yesterday I attended a professional practice seminar for visual artists at the Nun’s Island theatre in Galway. Speakers included Michael Fortune, Mark St John Ellis, Aine Phillips, Aideen Barry and others. Thank you to Maeve at Galway Arts Centre for organising such an informative and enjoyable event and to Galway City Council for sponsoring it. It was great to meet and talk to so many of my fellow artists too and the cold weather prompted us to have hot whiskeys in a nearby pub afterwards. Great day!

film

I also want to say thank you to all who came and saw our show in Tulca, I am very happy about the great feedback I got on my video piece and on the space and installation of the show as a whole. (See more info in the video section of this site).

Tonight there’s a fundraising disco in the Galway Arts Centre, not to be missed!

To Sweden and back again.

A few things have happened since I last updated this blog. First of all I received a bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland, which I’m delighted about. Part of my proposal was that I would go to Sweden and do research for a new body of work, and shoot Super 8. So, soon after finding out about the bursary I booked a flight to Sweden and spent three weeks there.

lake

I travelled around to different villages scattered around the countryside where a mine, mill or factory has more or less been the sole employer of each community. As said companies have either down scaled or closed down the villages have changed in character and some are now almost deserted. I am interested in failed utopias, deserted places, the uneasy, tentative feeling of a place where things are more or less intact but have been left to deteriorate. I like the contrast between Utopias and Dystopias, the landscape and the built enviroment, the old and the new, hope and despair. I found a village with a deserted street of ten 1950’s style detached houses. That was my most successful find. People may draw parallels to the situation Ireland is in right now where the recession and banking crisis has resulted in many empty newly built estates.

Bona
Bona, two kilometres from my parents’ farm. The buildings have acted in turn as a reformatory for boys, a mental asylum and a refugee hotel. Now they are empty.

I have a lot of research material to process, and I’m feeling very inspired! I also have to send off my Super 8 films for developing to see how they turn out.

woods
Shooting Super 8.

Apart from doing research I also had time to go to Stockholm for three days. I stayed with my good friend Sofia and visited her lovely vintage shop ‘Drakens Källare’ (The dragon’s cellar) in the Old Town. I went to the Museum of Modern art, Magasin 3 Stockholm konsthall and Galleri Magnus Karlsson as well and met up with my other friend Ragnhild.

sthlm
Södermalm, Stockholm.

I gave a talk about my art, studying abroad and working in the Galway Tourist office at my old secondary school in Vadstena, which was fun and met up with several friends, relations and neighbours, so I got to meet a lot of people I hadn’t seen for a long time.

The weather was great for the most part of my trip and the leaves were bright yellow, so I hope the colours come out well on the Super 8. I have to say I’m very pleased with the past three weeks.

I arrived back in Galway last night and today I was thrown straight into the preparations for the Tulca season of visual art. Six artists from Engage studios, me included, have been selected by curator Michelle Browne to exhibit in a new space on merchant’s road called Niland Gallery.

tunnel

I’ve made a video piece called “Travelling through” where I’m showing an alternative route out to Mutton island off the Galway coast through the causeway, as opposed to walking on it. It’s a stop motion piece that I got completed just before I went off to Sweden and it’s going to be projected on the wall. It was very painstaking to make, and involved me crawling the distance of 1km through the causeway, taking photos as I went along. I really love the exhibition space and am excited to see it all come together in the next couple of days.

Tulca (which means wave in Irish) will run from the 6th – 21st November with exhibitions, performances and lectures all over the city.

The art is in Claremorris.

I’m just back from spending most of the weekend in Claremorris in County Mayo. I was very happy to be selected for the Claremorris Open Exhibition a second time (my first time was in 2007). It’s a prestigious open submission show. Each year a prominent curator, usually from the London art scene is asked to select the show. This year the task went to Lisa Le Feuvre, she’s a writer, curator and senior lecturer at Goldsmith’s college or art in London. About 300 artists applied and Lisa selected 41 artists for the exhibition, which takes place in several venues around the small County Mayo town, forming an art trail.

street
View from my hotel room.

The nice thing about this exhibition is that it’s full of juxtapositions. Claremorris is a small rural town, but for three weeks every year it gets to present some of the most relevant contemporary art this country (and places further afield) has to offer and for the curators who are used to living in busy London it’s a very different experience to what they’re used to. Given it’s high standing, the exhibition now being in it’s 33rd year, it gets submissions from recent college graduates as well as established artists. The first time I was in it I had just completed third year in college and I got to exhibit, and won an award alongside people like Susan McWilliam, who went on to represent Northern Ireland in last year’s Venice Biennale. It was a big deal for me at the time, and it was also my first exhibition outside of the college.

This year Loretto Cooney, who was in my year in college also got in, as did our former college tutor Fionna Murray and Anne O’Neill who just finished her ceramics degree this year. Fionna won this year’s top artist award (there were three prices awarded this time) so I’m really happy for her!

fionna's
One of Fionna’s pieces.

Anne's
Anne O’Neill’s video installation.

I should also give The Claremorris Arts committée a mention, since they’re doing such an amazing job. Marayde O’Brien is incredibly committed and hard working and it was great to see her again and they made sure we all had a great night. In the usual fashion the participating artists are first treated to a dinner in the hotel in the main street. Then it’s time to have a walk around the galleries and then there’s an opening and prize giving ceremony. I talked to Lisa, the curator, afterwards and she’s lovely. She really enjoyed the experience of adjudicating the show, which is obviously very different from being in London, and was so impressed with the standard of the work.


One of Loretto’s paintings.

The rest of the night was spent in Ward’s bar, as is tradition, and we all had a great time! Nice to talk to friend as well as new faces, and we stayed on until we were pretty much kicked out after two.

Today some of us had another proper look at the exhibition and I got to know that I had sold one of my pieces, which is always great to hear. The last time I was there I left Claremorris with only happy memories and this time was no different!

me
Got a photo of me with my pieces taken today before I went back to Galway. The one with the lego houses to my left sold, it’s also the image used in the catalogue.

You can see more photos from the opening in the Pictures section and I’ve created a new page for this series of paintings called “A Comment on...”

How do you like it?

So, what do you think of the new website design? I thought it was about time to update the look of the site slightly since the previous colour scheme was created to fit with the work of my degree show two years ago and since I’ve moved on a bit since then I thought it was about time for the site to move ahead with me.

Mid-July proved to be a very busy time for me with no less than three shows opening in the one week! The 11th marked the opening of Outside:insight at Brigit’s Garden in Roscahill, Co. Galway. It’s a sculpture exhibition running until the end of August. I made the piece “Construction of self” which you can read more about :here: and the opening day was good fun.

Here’s a little collage I put together with some of the artworks on view:

sculptures

On the 13th Enrage, the Engage studios members show opened in the White Room Gallery as part of the Galway Arts Festival. We had been asked by curator Ian McInerney to make work in b/w, which resulted in these pieces:

enrage

View close ups of the ink paintings :here:

I was very pleased with how the show was curated and the pieces worked very well together, despite the diverse practice of the 17 members participating. Also, Aidan Dunne of The Irish Times really liked the show, which was great to hear.

Then on the 15th That Robot Aint Candy opened in the Mad Art Gallery in Dublin, featuring work with an urban theme by myself, Shane O’Connor (aka Sketchy Inc.) and Carolyn Walsh.

enrage

Three of my paintings based on stills from my animated videos. I was also showing the videos on a monitor.

enrage

Me, Shane and the gallery owner (photo courtesy of Shane O’Connor)

There are many more photos from the opening and documentation of the exhibition on Shane’s site: http://www.sketchyinc.com The three of us also made a collaborative limited edition print (ed. 50) which has each been signed by us and is for sale at 10 euro each. It can be viewed on Shane’s site and if you want to buy one you can contact him there.

When I was in Dublin I also had time to go to a number of exhibitions around town. My favourites, which deserve a mention, were King Rat at the Project Arts Centre and Norbert Schwontkowski at the Kerlin Gallery. Absolutely amazing shows which have stayed with me long after seeing them.

I’m taking a little break from the studio now for a couple of weeks, since I’ve been so extremely busy for the last few months. Feel free to browse around the newly added sections of the site, which include an extract from the video ‘Doubles’ from the {un}familiar show, the ‘Construction of self’ sculpture and my ink paintings for the ‘Enrage’ show.

Outside:Insight and Enrage work.

The opening of the Dock Discourse project in the 126 Gallery on the 11th June went really well, with a fantastic turn out. I could barely get into the gallery by the time I arrived. You can see photos from the opening here. During the course of the exhibition there has also been a discussion event in the gallery and on site installations in the middle pier of the dock by some of the participating artists. I’d like to extend my thanks to everyone who has participated, supported and visited the exhibition, which is closing tomorrow.

install
Video installation by Michelle Browne

install2

There was a talk in the Galway Arts Centre by curator Maeve Mulrennan on the 29th July about the {un}familiar exhibition, which was also well attended. Over the last couple of weeks I have been making work for two other group shows which will be opening soon. The new work is a continuation of the work I made for the {un}familiar show, based around the shelter in the woods in Sweden.

The first show is called Outside: Insight and is a site specific sculpture exhibition in Brigit’s Garden in Rosscahill, Co. Galway featuring several emerging artists. My piece is entitled “Construction of self” and continues to deal with the house as a metaphor for the self. The exhibition runs from the 11th July until the end of August.

shelter
Work in progress.

I am also working on a series of ink paintings for ‘Enrage’ in the White Room Gallery, Galway. A show featuring Engage studios artists for the Galway Arts Festival. The curator is Ian McInerney from the Black Mariah in Cork. All work featured is being confined to black/white or grayscale. I’m really enjoying working within these strict parameters for a change, since I normally tend to use a lot of colour in my work. The Arts Festival runs between the 12th – 25th July.

Apart from this I will also be showing work alongside Shane O’Connor and Carolyn Walsh in the Mad Art Gallery in Dublin between the 15th – 21st July. The show is entitled “That Robot Aint Candy” and the three artists taking part are all dealing with an urban theme in their work.
The work created for this exhibition was also selected for this year’s Claremorris Open Exhibition, which I’m very happy about. It’s curated by Lisa Le Feuvre, senior lecturer in fine arts at Goldsmiths, London.

That’s it for now, a bit about what I’m up to at the moment!

Installing ‘Dock Discourse’.

Tomorrow marks the launch of the ‘Dock Doscourse’ exhibition in the 126 Gallery in Galway. Find out more about the show on their website: www.126.ie under “Current Exhibition”.

Aideen Barry’s part in the project; “An artist’s impression”, which I mentioned about in my previous post and whick was delivered with the Galway Independent newspaper yesterday, can be downloaded as a .pdf file :HERE: for those of you who don’t live in Galway or failed to pick up a copy of the paper.

Here are a couple of pictures I took of the installation work down in the gallery today:

installation

installation

So we’re all set for the opening tomorrow then!

Tracing the {un}familiar

Busy times! The {un}familiar exhibition opened in the Galway Arts Centre on Thursday the 3rd and I am very pleased with the turn out for the opening and the positive feedback I’ve got on my work and the show overall, well done to Maeve who curated it and to all the artists taking part!

I spent a while today updating the website with a section for the {un}familiar project and some photos from the opening. Check out the paint section and the studio section. Some screen caps from the ‘Doubles’ video I made for the show are up in the video section, the video itself will follow at a later stage. If you get a chance, do drop into the Arts Centre and have a look at the show, it will be on till the 2nd July and the video is being projected in a room of its own, so it looks quite good.

video room

Today I was out at the GMIT (Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology) and looked at the degree show. I have to say I was very impressed with the paint department this year, some really good work there. I met several old college friends I hadn’t seen in a while and some other great people so it was fun!

Next week will mark the launch of the Dock Discourse exhibition down in the 126 gallery by the docks. Aideen Barry is producing “An artist’s Impression“, a publication where a handful of artists, including myself are responding to the Galway Docklands through drawing. It will be added as a supplement to the Galway Independent newspaper on Wednesday and also be available down in the gallery space when the show is on. Click the image below for more info!

I also have a few other things in the pipeline, including an exhibition featuring Engage Art Studios members in the White Room Gallery in Galway as part of the Arts Festival. The title for the show is ‘Enrage’.

Alive and painting

I am alive and working, just to let you know. My brother came over from Sweden and stayed with us for two weeks around my birthday and went home yesterday. He was meant to stay only one week but ended up staying two due to that well known ash cloud. Didn’t mind really, I enjoyed spending some more time with him.

Here he is visiting my studio:
brother

I’m working on a large painting at the moment. Here are a couple of close ups, it’s still in progress.
crane
digger

I’ve also started a new series of paintings based om my Berlin research. The sky isn’t utopian blue anymore though…
me

Attended a studio meeting at Bar no. 8 this evening, and am now going to continue my current Greta Garbo DVD season with “Anna Karenina”. I truly admire that woman, so captivating on screen! Watched Mata Hari and Queen Christina last night. Check her out those of you who haven’t!

That’s it for now!

(Un)familiar

unfamiliar postcard

(Un)familiar, curator Maeve Mulrennan’s group show about out of body experiences that I have work in, opened in the Red House Arts Center in Syracuse, NY USA last Thursday the 18th March. Here is a link to an article about the show from the Syracuse City Eagle.

While Maeve went to New York to oversee the installation of the show and do a gallery talk on the opening night I went over to Glasgow for a few days. Really, really liked the place and visited a few exhibitions at Trongate 103, Transmission and The Centre for contemporart art. However, it wasn’t the main reason for my going over there, but that’s for another post entirely.

I have read some amazing books recently. “Do Androids dream of electric sheep” by Philip K. Dick (the nover Blade Runner was based on), “The Journal of Eugene Delacroix”, “The Castle” by Franz Kafka (I had read Metamorphosis and The Trial a few years ago) and now I’m reading “The Double” by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, which really ties in with the (Un)familiar project so well. I see myself more and more drawn to metaphysical questions about who we are and our experience of the world and all the books I’ve been reading tie in with this. I am also a big fan of intelligent Sci-Fi movies, since they ask these same questions, such as Blade Runner, Metropolis, Planet of the apes, 2001 and Forbidden Planet.

I am well underway with making work for the Dock Discourse project at the moment as well, which is also informed by my interest in the things previously stated.

Docks and Doubles

I’ve had a busy few weeks since I last updated. I completed my pieces for the Syracuse show by the end of January. I ended up making a video as well as two paintings. The paintings are based on two models I made of locations I shot in Sweden and which also feature in the video. The video is called “Doubles” and is just over 13 minutes long. I am dealing with the notion of original vs. copy and how we can ever be sure to distinguish one from the other. I feel that I’ve gained a lot from working with this particular subject and I’m dying to show the work I’ve made to the public. I think it will influence my future practice, which is great to be able to say about a project.

drawing

The crate containing the works created by the six participating artists is now on it’s way to New York and the show will open in the Red House Arts Centre in Syracuse on the 18th of March. I am very excited about it! I will post more information about the show and the work I have in it in due course.

Now I have another project underway. It’s the Dock Discourse project, curated by architect Aoife Considine, which has been going on for about a year. I made some work for it last summer. (See Dock Discourse section of my site). Aoife is currently chairing a series of talks in the Galway Arts Centre on the notion of local/public space and its development. The talks go under the name Genius Loci. The speakers so far have included Michelle Browne, Maeve Mulrennan and Aine Phillips. Very interesting to listen to!

There will be a Dock Discourse group show in the 126 gallery in June, which we are to submit proposals for by the end of this week. I am, as before, concentrating mainly on the structure of the two multi-storey car parks in the area and the view of the dock from there. I am planning to make some large paintings. Today I sketched the motive I’m going to paint onto a 1×1 metre canvas I’ve stretched and primed over the past week.

Yesterday I made this drawing on grease proof paper over board:
drawing

drawing

I’ve been experimenting with different surfaces and materials over the past week. I am really looking forward to working large again since it’s been a while!

model

Improvised shapes based on structures within the car parks.

Ard Bia Exhibition

I was asked by Aoibheann at Ard Bia Nimmo’s in Galway to put on an exhibition in their Café/Restaurant. I spent a few hours this afternoon hanging a selection of paintings I’ve made to date. I am showing some large paintings from my degree project, some work from the Dock Discourse project and some paintings from the Sthlm vol. 2 project. I am really happy to get a chance to show my large paintings again and they ended up fitting the space very well.
The exhibition will be on for four weeks and the work is for sale. Drop by Ard Bia for coffée and cake (or dinner) and have a look for yourselves if you’re around Galway.

ard bia interior

Back in Galway again.

I am back in a frosty Galway after spending the Christmas in Sweden. This weekend selecting and uploading footage from DV tapes onto my Mac for the video I’m making. It’s colder than usual in Ireland at the moment, but I suppose I don’t suffer from the cold the same way as the Irish do since Sweden was a lot colder. I was skiing around shooting video in -20 C. On four occassions in the same week I returned home with toes and fingers burning with numbness. Fortunately the temperature had rose to -5 when we were shooting in my neighbours’ green house. I don’t think I would have managed walking around without a jacket if it had been colder than that. But I am happy with the footage I got so it was worth it.

video still

video still

Next week I’ll be busy editing.
Happy 2010 everyone!

10×10 opening and new project.

The opening of the “10×10” show in the White Room Gallery was on last night. The turn out was great and I really enjoyed it! The fact that we sold a lot of work made it even better! Thanks to everyone who came to the opening and thanks to Anna who curated the show and the rest of the White Room crowd. And well done to the other 9 artists who participated!

opening night

Take a look at some photos from the opening here: https://www.ceciliadanell.com/pictures.html

You can view the whole series of paintings for the “10×10” show here: https://www.ceciliadanell.com/everafter.html

However, if you didn’t make it to the opening, remember that the show will be on until the beginning of January, so feel free to pop down to the White Room in Liosban to have a look. There are still works left for sale and at €100 a piece it is really quite a bargain!

Two days ago I also had a meeting with Maeve, curator at the Galway Arts Centre, about a group show that she’s curating that I am going to take part in. It is dealing with feelings of depersonalisation and issues with the perception of the ‘self’ resulting in out of body experiences, the seeing of doubles, phantom limbs etc. The material I’ve been going through so far is very interesting and I am currently planning a video piece, to be shot mainly in Sweden when I’m there over Christmas.

The show will tour to a town in upstate New York in March before being shown in the Galway Arts Centre at the beginning of the summer. Very exciting indeed!

research

So far I’ve done quite a bit of reading as well as collecting ideas and research material.

research

That’s all for now. Hope you have a lovely weekend!

All paintings for the show completed!

Yesterday I completed the 10th and last painting for the 10×10 show. I’m really happy to have them all done, especially since I was quite pressed for time. I don’t think I’ve ever been as productive in such a short space of time before!

Studio

The weather is miserable as you would expect in November, but today we even had thunder and lightning! At least I don’t need to feel bad for spending most of my time indoors. I will now be shifting focus to my next project which will be curated by Maeve Mulrennan of Galway Arts Centre, (more info to follow). I have been aware of this project since the summer and had it in mind, while I was in Berlin etc. but haven’t started working on it yet.

Studio
They’re the new paintings behind me, but that’s all you’ll see until the opening on the 4th December.

This evening I was at a debate in the Nun’s Island Theatre run by the GMIT in conjunction with Tulca season of visual arts about art education and how it equips artists for life after college etc. It was interesting to listen to. Helen Carey, Deirdre O’Mahony, Michaele Cutaya and Aideen Barry were on the panel amongst others and the turn out was good.

On Thursday I’m heading to Dublin for a couple of days to attend the launch of the debut album of Sending letters to the sea and I will check out a couple of exhibitions as well while I’m there.

On painting no. 8

I am almost finished with painting no. 8 for the “10×10” show now. I have felt so inspired lately it’s a joy being in the studio. I even feel a bit restless when I don’t paint. I even dream about gesso boards, but it’s not a bad thing.

I was at the Tulca – Season of visual arts opening in Galway on Friday and the video art on display in the Fairgreen building was excellent. I have yet to visit the other venues, was planning on doing the rounds yesterday but got struck down with a head cold for the last couple of days so it didn’t materialise. Am feeling better now though.

Here’s one of the completed paintings. I am not going to show you all of them until the exhibition, so as to make it a bit of a surprise. The series is titled: “Ever After”.

Ever after no 1

You can read about all the other artists involved in the exhibition on the White Room Gallery website.

I don’t think anyone could have missed that it was 20 years since the Berlin Wall fell yesterday. I’ve watched a couple of programmes about the wall, life in the East etc. and I find it very interesting since I’ve been to the places they mention about and seen all the different parts of the city. It makes me even more inspired to work with all this focus on Berlin.

Oh, by the way, if you’re on Facebook and like my work you can check out my ‘fan’ page there. Just search on my name and you’ll find it.

That’s all for now folks!

Happy Halloween!

The days are getting darker and winter will soon be upon us. I bought a little oil radiator for the studio a couple of days ago, so now I can keep myself warm on all those cold and rainy days ahead. I have completed five of the ten paintings so far, so things are going according to plan.

I bought a pumpkin in Anne-Marie’s dad’s shop today and tomorrow I’m planning on making pumpkin pie. I love pumpkin pie! I am also considering a little trip to London around late November. Haven’t been there since February 2008, way too long ago!

me and a pumpkin
Hope you have a great weekend!

Studio update

Just over a week has passed. For me it was quite a busy one, and I spent most of it in the studio. Between Sunday the 18th and Saturday the 24th I managed to complete 4 paintings. Pretty good going I have to say, given that they were very time consuming and detailed. I went through large parts of my music library on my computer, with great bands such as The Velvet Underground, Kate Bush, Mazzy Star and Portishead to keep me company.

studio 4

I will wait and show you the finished paintings later on.
studio 5

So, that’s four done and six to go. I am enjoying it though, despite getting slightly carried away once I get started which has made me leave the studio after midnight a few of the days. Anyways, that’s what I’m at anyway!

This week in the studio

I’ve arranged my postcards, collected photos, fliers, map etc. from the Berlin trip on the studio wall. Things that I like and that will act as inspiration. The photos I took myself so far only exist in digital form.

Studio 1

The process of preparing the gesso boards for painting. It sure takes time, as my fellow artists would testify. For the uninitiated, gesso is a traditional ground created for oil painting. It is made by mixing French chalk and white pigment with a rabbit skin glue and hot water solution. Since I’ve never quite liked the idea of boiling my favourite animal to make glue I am currently using a synthetic rabbit skin glue imitation. The mixture needs to reach a certain consistency and is then brushed onto board in thin layers, and sanded inbetween. College students may challenge each other to who makes the smoothest surface. At least we did at some stage.

Studio 2

An old Sandmännchen toy, a picture of porcelain owls, a DDR “Wunder Tute” containing a 3D jigsaw in the shape of a bear, which took me and another person who managed to built one each, about 15 minutes to figure out. Which calls to question how many 5 year olds in the former DDR ever managed to build the Berlin bear without help from their parents! It’s all there on the wall.

Studio 2

White Room Gallery 10×10 show

While I was in Berlin I got asked by the White Room Gallery in Galway to exhibit in a group show in December called “10×10”. The idea is that 10 artists will create 10 pictures each, which are 10×10 inches in size and will cost €100 a piece. I was delighted with the proposal since it meant that I would be able to make use of my Berlin research straight away. Other artists in the show include my friends Jennifer Cunningham, Aideen Barry and Shane O’Connor and Felicity Clear, who’s work I really like, so I am very excited about the line up.

I am really looking forward to the show and I think it will be a great one. However, the time leading up to the middle of November, when we need to have the pictures ready, will be a busy one for me since I missed out on a few weeks of working when I was in Berlin and then went directly on to Sweden to visit family and friends for two weeks before returning to Ireland. It’s only this week that I’ve been able to get back to working in the studio again, after having my mum over visiting us for all of last week (which was great by the way).

I have decided to make 10 oil paintings on gesso board, and thus the preparation takes a few days. So far I’ve got the boards cut and sanded, equipped with hangers at the back, and now I’m in the middle of the slow process of adding the layers of gesso. I do not doubt that I will get the work done on time though, since there are no two ways about it. I have a deadline to meet if it’s going to mean working around the clock.
But, I am not fretting, because I am LOVING being back in the studio, am full of ideas, and there is nothing like doing what you love!

After Berlin

Do I need to tell you what I think about Berlin or could you figure that one out for yourselves? Berlin is Amazing. The polaroids could tell you that.

Berlin polaroid2Berlin polaroid6

Berlin polaroid3Berlin polaroid10

I got a young artists’ training award from Liljesonska Stiftelsen in Sweden in May and I used the money to go to Berlin for almost three weeks in September. I wasn’t sure if it would live up to the hype, I mean, there’s hardly any place as hyped up among artists as Berlin, except for, say, New York (if even). I am happy to report that Berlin turned out to be everything I wanted and more.

I rented a room in a lovely neighbourhood just off Boxhagener Strasse in Friedrichshain. The weather was gorgeous for most of the time. The colours were amazing; the street art, the second hand shops, the flea markets, the galleries, the parks, the neighbourhood cafés… I could go on forever.

I borrowed a bike belonging to the guy I was renting the room from. I cycled along Karl Marx allée with the wind in my hair. I had waffles and ice cream at Glucklich am Park near Rosenthaler Platz. I bought a stack of vinyl records. I visited the lovely Nina Hynes. I went to numerous art galleries and museums. I criss crossed the city in all directions on the U-bahn, S-bahn and metro trams. I had my boyfriend visiting for six days and went with him to the hisitorical sites and museums. I collected old DDR toys and postcards. I went to numerous lovely cafés. I visited Kunstlerhaus Bethanien and Kunsthaus Tascheles. I looked at the view from the Fernsehturm.

I also had time to visit a number of modernist suburbs and developments on both sides of the city. One which looked like the perfect utopian fantasy, complete with a lake, fountain and willow trees. I took loads and loads of pictures that I’ll use for my new paint project.

I felt at home there, it was absolutely amazing. I am eternally gratefull that the award gave me the chance to spend a bit longer in the city, which gave me time to explore the different parts. I am absolutely brimming with inspiration. No place will ever feel quite as cool again after Berlin…

This is.

So, this is my new blogging solution. The old blog I had on my site was never really a blog in the true sense of the word since it didn’t allow for comments etc. But now I’ve thrown myself into the hands of the WordPress platform and am currently exploring what it can do for me.

If you want to read the old blog, which dates back to May 2006, when I had just finished building the first version of this site, it can be found :Here:

The new blog is supposed to get updated a bit more regularly than its predecessor since the task of updating has now been made a lot easier, and do feel free to comment as much as you’d like, I’d be ever so happy!

Enjoy!