Happy 100 Hemslöjden!

The Swedish Handicraft Societies (Svenska Hemslöjdsföreningarnas Riksförbund) celebrates 100 years with a huge and hugely inspiring exhibition at Liljevalchs konsthall.

Enjoy my selection of favourites! (sorry for not posting any names - I got lost, the numbering/catalogue wasn't optimal).

Sara's masks

Sara is a friend, also living in Sigtuna. Apart from being an extremely nice person, she writes books  and she is also a trained mask and puppetmaker in the Commedia dell'arte tradition. My personal favourite is the pest mask (top left). During the summer her masks have been exhibited at Sigtunastiftelsen.

Umeå 2

Just outside of Umeå centre, on the premises of an old mental hospital, there is a beautiful sculpture park Umedalen Skulptur and Galleri Andersson/Sandström - go there if you have the possibility! Great place to bring kids too. This is only a fraction of what could be seen - there were sculptures by Louise Bourgeois, Charlotte Gyllenhammar, Meta Isaeus Berlin, Anish Kapoor and many more, couldn't show them all...
 

Galleri Andersson/Sandström, a horse on a chimney by Lin Peng, and myself going into Cristina Iglesias Vegetation Room

Alina and Rosa on Nina Saunders Hardback and Joar on Kari Cavéns arch made of aluminium chairs

Antony Gormley's Still Running and Roland Persson's Untitled, painted bronze shoes

Alliansring by Anna Renström and Omphalos by Grönlund-Nisunen

Jaume Plensa; Irma's White Head and Yorkshire Soul II. He was also exhibited in the gallery.

160 men's jackets on steel wire high up in the trees; A Path by Kaarina Kaikkonen. Tim took a classy photo of me :)

One of the sweetest dog's I've ever known: Nova and Everything's gonna be alright by Mikael Richter (love it!)

Umeå 1

I went to Umeå with my youngest daughter, Rosa, to visit her best friend that moved there during the summer. It's a university town in northern Sweden and a real cultural centre  - the Umeå Arts Campus (Fine Arts, Design, Architecture) together with the Museum of Arts, all situated at a walking distance right by the river. I visited Bildmuseet (the Museum of Arts) together with Kirsi and Tim. There were three exhibitions, I enjoyed Mario Merz most. Kirsi and Tim enjoyed Björn Berg, one of Sweden’s most beloved book illustrators. You could sit and draw and also touch some of the art :) which was not allowed on the other floors...

Umeå will be European Capital of Culture 2014, there were building sites all over.  

artipelag outing

Today we went to Artipelag with my brother and family who are visiting from Göteborg, and our mother. We took the charming Gurli there, a beautiful 1 hour and 20 minute trip through the enchanting Stockholm archipelago.

The art hall is embedded in the surrounding nature and the architecture is very appealing. Concrete, natural materials, white walls, glass... Photography was not allowed inside - except in the entrance hall, where the giant windows create a breathtaking picture.

Maria Miesenberger made the leaping figure. I like her work and David Svenssons, especially his book collages and his glass piece Old World Rise Again.

Tomorrow,  I'm off to Umeå with my youngest, Rosa. I hope to visit Bildmuseet.
Have a nice weekend!

bottles and chains

 

The weekend before last we went boating with a pedalo on Djurgårdskanalen in the center of Stockholm. I WANT one of those boats - what a great way to travel! That's Strandvägen behind the girls, the most fashionable part of the city and Kaknästornet behind Mattias and myself. You can go all the way up to the top of the tower, where there's a restaurant. If you don't suffer from fear of heights that is.
We even found a message in a bottle - it was a desperate note saying they were out of Swedish Punsch.

Check out the Creative Chain! 
Lene Due Jensen is inspired by Lisbeth Svärling who is inspired by me, and I'm inspired by... check out next week who inspires me and so on and so on... Lots of talented people the previous weeks of course.

Tomorrow we're going to Artipelag.