Sketchwork in the Painting studio

Sketching on white wall; plummet, graphite, charcoal, metal plates.
(17 photos, © HHW.)

I really like it at the graphic department. People are kind, and work hard. Workshop teachers are skilled, clever and generous. There’s one thing I miss, though: a wall. Fortunately, the Royal Institute of Art also provides us with a painting studio – huge walls, large windows – which can be booked for a shorter or longer period. I’m lucky enough to get access almost instantly, and spend a weekend transferring small-scale sketches into full-size ones.
First day, I arrive in the afternoon to unload: sketchbook, metal plates, tools. I notice the wall needs some white paint, I’ll have to bring it tomorrow. Dusk falls.

Next day: make space, whitewash the wall, hang the plummet, draw the outlines. Draw the circle, the grid.
A full day’s work.

Third day: add the plates. Arrange them according to previous sketches. Move them around until it’s truthful. Then stop.

Project work I

art, recent work

The new academic year begins tomorrow, Monday, so this should be the appropriate time to sum up my first semester as a project student at the Royal Institute of Art.

Mostly I’ve been working in the lithography workshop, where Patrick Wagner has an eye and a helping hand for everything and everyone. I’ve printed from two stones alternately; one fairly small, the other one large (and heavy)… The procedure for stone lithography goes something like this: grain the stone repeatedly with sand and water, until it has a clean, smooth surface; draw the image upon it; etch the image into the stone with acid and gum arabicum; roll up with printing ink; print. And then, clean up.

Upstairs from the litho workshop is the common area of the graphic department. Along the wall, tables are lined up in a row – one of those is at my personal disposal. I have chosen this place because usually, it’s just in the thick of things… Now, this early winter morning, the room is still dark and silent. I light the lamp and unpack my things. Dawn is breaking.

Getting a better grip of graphic techniques, following lectures and meeting artists, being likewise challenged and encouraged, seeing old things in new ways… I even think I’m beginning to see the outlines of what I’m doing here. Idiosyncratic as it may be, I’m working on a dictionary. An imaginary.

Project Student!

art, recent work

Registration day at the Royal Institute of Art (Stockholm)

And then… and then, one late summer day I found myself once more a student at the Royal Institute of Art. On September 1st, the new semester began – immersed in sunshine and jazz music – with a speech by new director Marta Kuzma. Then official photographing on the lawn. And for me, a space in the graphic department. I bring the object from Mr Benetton, and install myself.

Now, that’s already two full months since, and my main project is slowly evolving. It’s connected to my studies at the Södertörn University; I could say I’m attempting at bringing art to the academic world, as well as academia to the art world. Or: that I’m exploring what can be lined up in written sentences, and what can be reflected on a surface only.

Change

art, recent work

Time for a change; photo HHW.

For almost three years, I have given much of my attention to Art Lab Gnesta and the Karl Schultz-Köln and Marita Mörck-Schultz Foundation. It has been a lot of work, many encounters, much fun and not so few accomplishments. Here are some of the highlights, from the Art Lab Gnesta website…

Art Lab Gnesta/Research@Supermarket Art Fair 2013, six short films: Helena Hildur W, Auli Laitinen, Agnieszka Knap, Arne Widman, Madeleine Aleman, Ivar Sviestins; © Nigo produktion.

Art Lab Gnesta/Research@Supermarket Art Fair 2013, interview by the Swedish Exhibition Agency

“The Giant Corpse Flower Blooms”, performance by Ingela Ihrman at the Venice Biennale, Midsummer’s Day 2013

Green Lab

Karl Schultz-Köln (1921 – 2013) Memorial Exhibition, March 2014

…and, from the Swedish Exhibition Agency:

Concluding discussion at the Green Art Lab Alliance seminar in Visby, May 2014

However, now it’s time for a change. Parallel with my engagement in Art Lab Gnesta, I have been doing courses, reading and writing. The next semester will find me part-time at the Center for Studies in Practical Knowledge at Södertörn University, and full-time at the Royal Institute of Art – which opens the possibility for me to fully delve/dive into the intuitive and logical learning process. My dear colleagues in the former network of Art Lab Gnesta/Research (which is now likewise independent from Art Lab Gnesta) are still around, a valuable peer-review resource.

To Art Lab Gnesta, and all its crew, I wish the best of luck!