Writing Christmas Cards

Advent Calendar / 14 December

Help. I’ve got so caught up this year in blogging about Swedish Christmas traditions that I’m getting behind with my own!

I got my few overseas Christmas cards sent off on time last week, but then yesterday I “suddenly” realized that I only had a couple of days left before I also need to post all the European and Swedish ones, which I hadn’t even got started on…

This year I ended up with a mix of cards; ordering about half of them printed from one of my own photos, making a few myself at home (but not as many as I over-optimistically thought I would), using some bought earlier in the autumn at a market, and having to buy some more from the bookshop. There is of course nothing really wrong with that - except that in my case it means too many last minute decisions! (who shall get which card etc)

As Paul Simon says in one of his songs on the album Hearts and Bones: “Maybe I think too much”. (Only in my case there is probably no maybe about it.)

Note to self: Next year, just order enough copies of the same card for everyone!!!

Oh well, I’m almost done now; I’ll put the stamps on tomorrow.

The two cards I chose for you in this blog post were painted by Swedish artist Jenny Nyström (1854-1946). She became famous as the person who created the Swedish image of the jultomte on numerous Christmas cards and magazine covers, linking “Santa Claus” to the gnomes of Scandinavian folklore. Some of her classic cards are still reprinted and sent around every Christmas.

These two hardly belong to the most commonly seen, though. Both are old ones in a small size which I’m not sure is even allowed to send in the post any more. I have a whole bunch of these small old unwritten cards, all different (and most of them by less well known  or even anonymous artists). I’ve had them for more than 30 years, and they seemed old to me even then. They belonged to either my grandmother or her sister.

The Christmas Bunny

Advent Calendar / 8 December

What? You never heard of the Christmas Bunny? Well, to me it makes as much sense  as an Easter Bunny bringing Easter eggs!

Actually, the bunny sculpture stands in our town park all-year-round, but the snow gives him an extra interesting face expression. The Winter Wonderland surrounding him also enhances the associations with Alice in Wonderland (which inspired the artist).*

Here is proof that the Christmas Hare actually exists:

I saw him through my window one night last week. He was digging through the snow to get at the grass underneath, poor thing.

Then another one popped up in the gadget at the bottom of my blog page. Apparently there were Christmas Bunnies as early as back in the 16th century:

Snowy footnotes:
* The name of the the sculpture in the first picture is Mate Hunting,
and the artist Marianne Lindberg De Geer (born 1946).
*  Thankyou to Picnik (now accessible directly from Picasa) for the Christmassy frames and the Santa hat.
* Apologies to Albrecht Dürer (1421-1528) and Random Classic Art.

 

Water and Wood

My camera dragged me out for a walk on Monday afternoon because we had such a dramatic sky going. (See more of that in the Picture Book blog.)

Approaching the river, I noticed that some trees had recently been cut down, which offered a new view of the waterfall.

Then I had a closer look at the tree stumps…
Isn’t this one just wonderful? Like a piece of art.

Permission To Move Hell

Looking through my pictures of the inside of the old church at the museum park (see Unexpected Flashbacks), I also spotted this one (above). I have thought of posting about it before, but never got round to it.

In old churches with painted ceilings you often find Heavenly pictures, with clouds and angels. You can see an example of that in one of the photos in yesterday’s post, over the pulpit.

Sometimes, at the back of the church, like here over the organ balcony, they also included illustrations of Judgment Day and/or Hell.

In the village where I lived as a child, we had that kind of church. It was a stone church, not a wooden one. But it had a painted ceiling including both Heaven and Hell. Now my family weren’t churchgoers, so I didn’t get to (or have to) look at those pictures very often. I’m not sure I even ever took any particular notice of Hell (which just like in the photo above was situated over the organ balcony) until in junior high school I got a teacher who came from the same parish, and who loved to tell a story about it. It took place before we kids were even born. I don’t remember all the details now, but in the mid 20th century, the church was to go through a major restoration. I think the building was to be made longer, and the tower added. Anyway, it involved the old painted ceiling in a way which caused headlines in the newspapers: “Will X (=name of the parish) be allowed to move Hell?” And after long – and I presume heated! – discussions in the episcopate council or whereever such things are decided, the answer was presented in new headlines: “X allowed to move Hell”. 

No small achievement for a country village church!

But of course the Church has always believed in the right to stir up both Heaven and Hell:

And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.

(Matthew 27:50-52, NIV)

 

The Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the Virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried;

he descended into hell.

On the third day he rose again;

he ascended into heaven,

he is seated at the right hand of the Father,

and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic Church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting.

Amen.

(Common Worship translation, Church of England 2000)

The earliest appearance of the full text we know as the Apostles' Creed is from around 710. Shorter versions go back much further.

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PS. Yes, I’m moving this post up from earlier in the week. Since I also had another post that day, I think some of the regular readers perhaps missed this one. (If hell can be moved once, why not twice?)

Never Leave The Camera Behind

I really should know better by now. Going into town today, I left my camera at home. It was a gray day, bad light for photography, an ordinary Friday morning, no special events day or market day, and I wasn’t going anywhere interesting (or so I thought), just to the pharmacy and the grocery store, and then the bus straight back home…

I really should know better by now. I really should.

As I crossed the town square on my way to the grocery store, I noticed something in the corner of my eye. A new statue? But oddly placed. And the summer’s sculpture festival is over. It was a figure of a man… natural size… silver coloured… but a very odd face? Sort of lion-like… no, not really lion… Wait. Wasn’t the whole thing swaying a little??? Yes, definitely… In a flash I realized that what I was looking at was a “living statue” (a mime artist posing like a statue, wearing realistic statue-like makeup).

I’ve never seen one of those before – not “live”. Only on TV. And I hadn’t brought my camera!!! (And I don’t have one in my mobile.)

20-30 minutes later, walking across the square again on my way back to my bus stop, he seemed still to be standing in the exact same position. On the ground beside him was a little golden bowl. I was in a bit of a hurry to catch my bus now, and didn’t stop to watch how long he could keep it up, or how other people reacted. I didn’t see anyone put money in the bowl.

This evening I took a look at some living statue clips on Youtube. It seems sometimes they move when you give money, and some make random moves to scare people…

 

The Dance (Again)

The answer to yesterday’s mystery picture: It is made from the photos in Sunday’s Turn Around post. I.e. the seven pictures of the Peacock butterfly slowly turning on top of cone flower, all mixed together.

The Dream of the Secret Garden

1. Sprouting   2. Flowergate   3. Live Rust
4. New Wave   5. Seed   6. Vine
7. Tradition?   8. Skansen-inspiration   9. Song of Songs 4:12

For a week and a half, I have been showing pictures of these gates at my DawnTreader’s Picture Book blog. I also showed most of them at the Soaring Through The World blog during “Fences and Gates” week. So some of my followers are probably tired of them by now… But for those who have not been following the other blogs, I thought I’d throw in a summary in the form of a collage here. The gates are all from an open air exhibition Gates - The Dream of the Secret Garden.

I was asked in a comment to reveal at the end of the show which one is my personal favourite. I have to say I find it hard to choose. It so much depends on the context – what kind of house, garden, fence, surrounding… I don’t have a garden, and any of them would look rather silly on my balcony!

The ‘Song of Songs’ gate I cannot imagine as entrance to somewhere I’d actually live. But as a sculpture, I love the mystery of it. All the other gates are of the kind you can see through. They are inviting kind of gates. This one however is the shutting out kind; but at the same time makes you wonder all the more what’s on the other side.

In that particular setting in the museum park where they were exhibited, with all the old buildings as background, I also took a special liking to the ‘Live Rust’ one. But if I actually had to use it daily, I would prefer one that was not rusty.

In an “imaginary real life” I would probably go for either the simple but elegant ‘Vine’; or possibly the somewhat bolder ‘New Wave’.

Resurrection

Now where are all these people headed on a warm summer evening?

A graveyard chapel? You must be kidding?
Doesn’t really look like a funeral…

Actually it’s rather the opposite of a funeral.
More like a Resurrection!

Guests of honour arriving from the past: A 19th century district judge with his wife, greeted by a woman journalist from their own time; she too brought back from the dead to do one more scoop.

Must be an odd feeling looking at one’s own headstone…

So, what’s going on? It is a live history lesson: a guided tour around a 19th century graveyard. Represented by actors, some old prominent citizens are brought back to life for a short visit, to be interviewed and tell us a bit about their own lives, and the history of the town.

The resurrected old car they arrived in. (No use asking me for car details; I don’t have them.)

Another guy risen from his grave – local artist and art teacher John Hedaeus (1872-1967). I managed to find only two of his paintings on the internet. He also did some paintings in churches.

Left: Watercolour by John Hedaeus
Right: Oil painting by John Hedaeus

 
Another (less well known) artist, son of the journalist who was our guide for the evening, also turned up to “surprise his mum”, and escort her back to their own grave:

 

Actually three more people were “raised from the dead” on this Tuesday evening, but I think I’ll let these photos be enough for one blog post.

However, with a theme like this I can’t resist also “doing a Ginny” at the end (referring to my friend of the blog Let Your Light Shine), and finish off with a Bible quote:

“… we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence.”
2 Corinthians 4:14

Uno’s Animals: It’s a Wild Life

 

 

Uno often went out into the woods and just sat there observing things; and animals would come up to him and let him get close to them.

His attitude to his own art was that he just “released” the animal shapes that were already there in the pieces of wood he found. He would study the piece of wood and see what was “hidden” in it.

Uno’s Animals: Birds

Uno was 53 years old when he started making wooden sculptures. Altogether he made about 250 of them, big and small. He never sold any of his them. He gave some away, but most of them he kept in a private museum in a barn on his farm. As rumour or his work spread, he got more and more visitors. A few years after he died, the family offered the local folklore society to take over the collection, and a new museum was built next to the village hall. Some of the sculptures have also been exhibited in Stockholm and other cities in Sweden, and even overseas in Mexico, the United States and Canada.

Uno’s Animals: More Farm Animals

Impossible not to smile at that laugh!


The cow except for the horns was carved out of one huge piece of oak, which is a very heavy kind of wood. After he had finished the shape of it, he hollowed out the inside to make the sculpture somewhat lighter.


What came first – the chicken or the egg?


Hedgehogs.

Scroll down for more posts of Uno's wooden sculptures. There was also a post yesterday at my other blog DawnTreader's Picture Book, which includes photos of the museum building.

Uno’s Animals: Pigs

Uno Axelsson had artistic ambitions already at an early age, but it was when he began to work with forestry that he found his niche. From 1975, when he began his career as a wood sculptor, until 2002 when he passed away, he created approximately 250 sculptures.

His work was always preceded by careful studies of the object to be recreated in wood. One can only be amazed at Uno’s ability to see a living creature captured inside a lifeless piece of wood and to release it in such unbelievable and striking detail.

~From the English brochure~

This sculpture of a sow and her piglets (in more or less natural size, I think) was carved out of one single piece of wood. This one took the artist 4 months to make, according to the guide at the museum.

A piglet who missed out on lunch (according to the sign)

When Uno first started doing artistic woodwork (which was not until at the age of 53, I think the guide said!) he made bowls, following the natural shape of odd-looking pieces of wood; then he began to carve animal heads on the edges of bowls; and from there went on to do bigger sculptures.

The eyes on his sculptures are not glass but painted with water colours and then lacquered to be made shiny and life-like.

More of Uno’s animals will follow.

Quotation of the Week (29/2010)

The page of life that was spread out before me seemed dull and commonplace, only because I had not fathomed its deeper import.
~Nathanael Hawthorne~

Wooden sculpture by Uno Axelsson

Come to me , all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
~Matthew 11:28~

Most of Uno Axelsson’s wooden sculptures are of animals, but this one is entitled “My Hands”, and includes the Bible quote from Matthew 11.

See more of his sculptures in yesterday’s post, and there will be even more to come.

Hi!

Last week while my brother was here for a few days, among all the other things we had to do, we also took a little time to visit a museum exhibiting the works of a local artist, Uno Axelsson (now deceased), who made the most fantastic wooden sculptures. I will be showing more of them in posts to come.

Uno’s art often started as nodules, obstinately growing against the grain. Large knots and gnarly trunks that for some reason did not stretch straight for the sun, are typical of pieces that inspired Uno’s fantasy. Such natural mistakes were the platform on which Uno created unique artistic treasures to wonder and delight.
~ From the English brochure ~

Over the weekend I’ve been very tired, so have been withdrawing into my shell and taking things very slow…

 
To give you an idea of the size of the snail…
(It is made all in one piece.)

Never-Ending Stories

A few weeks ago, I reported that our Town council had decided to give away (and yet keep) the [in]famous sculpture Cloned Frogs on Gala Dress, as a wedding gift to our Crown Princess Victoria and her husband-and-Prince-to-be Daniel. (The wedding takes place this Saturday.)

This story seems to just go on and on... Today the newpaper reports that the artist (you know who) decided to make a miniature, and donate that to our Town, in order for the Town to actually pass that one on to the royal couple.

Actually, for a miniature it's rather big. The Town representative who is supposed to take it to Stockholm and give it away was a little taken aback when it arrived. He seems to have been thinking he would be able to just put it in a bag...

Picture scanned from the newspaper.

What the paper does not comment on is the fact (to me rather obvious!) that this "mini" is not at all an exact copy of the bigger statue.  Take a minute to compare:

Do you see what I mean? Look at the waistlines. The new one seems to be made to "grow" in... 

I hope for the royal family's sake that they will be able to find some obscure nook of the castle to put this in, where they don't actually have to look at it every day. I would also really like to know (or on second thought - perhaps I wouldn't!) how the minds of our local politicians work. As for the artist, well... I still suspect that he is his own biggest fan, and loving all the publicity.

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We have another sculpture in town that has been here for a few years now: Bodhi. I think on the whole he is rather popular. He has however also become a popular target for student pranks. Because he is not really easy to get to - standing in the river as he is - I guess it has become somewhat of a challenge...

Last year, someone put a wreath of flowers on his head:

This year, he was decorated with a graduation hat:

Photo from the newspaper

Last year, that wreath remained on his head for weeks. But this year - with sculpture festival and all going on - he was not allowed to keep the hat... I only saw the hat in the paper, so I borrowed their photo.

Guess Who?

  

 

If you have been following my previous posts from the sculpture festival, you should be able to guess the artist behind these smaller… er… works of art, I suppose… ;) that I found exhibited in an art gallery. *

Well. Not all of them small…

Try putting that giraffe in a park and pretend it’s not meant as a toy…!

 Fans of the artist

 Click to enlarge

* If you have not been following, you will find some additional information here.