Panoramic views of our adventures in Sweden all shot by Dennis. FULL SCREEN, PLEASE.
Already the article about our exhibit and our stay at ARNA has been posted. Here is a VERY ROUGH Google translation for the part of my interview segment (with an errors…West Chester, PA is my hometown):
Gabrielle Vitollo is from her hometown of Baltimore, USA, is also considered as “difficult”. She interprets pain, blood, flesh and violence through abstract paintings with lots of color.
In Harlösa born several of her paintings are inspired from Sky’s work. Even for Gabrielle, dissected bird bodies were inspiring.
“The viewer sees what they want to see. But they must take the time to look,” and above all, to ask and talk about plants and landscape. The fact that we will be exhibiting our art in a church is just “awesome,” she says.
http://SF1red.publicus.com/article/20120704/ESLOV/707049935/-/nu-lyfter-fagelriket
Also, my blog is mentioned in Maria’s blog entry on the Flea Market. Here’s a translation:
The American artist Gabrielle Vitollo has lived in Harlösa the last month and blogged about her exotic experiences, see here. The website also offers more pictures of funny and odd flea market findings!
http://hemmetsveckotidning.se/2012/07/04/borta-bra-men-hemma-bast/
Alright, today is my last day in Harlosa, so here for the future ARNA residents is my list of “Ten Things I Will Miss at/in ARNA/Harlosa/Scania” (aside from painting and the openminded, upbeat, fun, interesting, generous, and awesome people I met in Harlosa) in no particular order…
1) Motorcycle rides on Lars’ Nimbus
3) Eating fermented fish
4) Learning about Chinese painting from Lars Berglund
5) Flower picking (including poppies)
6) Exhibiting my artwork in badass spaces
7) Ales Stenar
8) Crazy Swedes (and myself) dancing, cooking, and making floral wreaths at Midsummer
9) KEBAB (actually…sort of…healthy compared to the fast food we have in the US)
10) Kerstin Jackobsson, who is a wise mentor, a Wonder Woman, and the hard working person who made my amazing time at ARNA possible. Thank you! You are inspiring.
Also, thank you to all of my readers. Best of luck to the future ARNA Residents…kick some ass! And remember that experiencing Harlosa and Sweden at large is just as important, as the artwork you produce. Of course everything you do will affect the artwork.
This concludes my ARNA Sweden blog, but you can follow my upcoming adventures in Copenhagen, Bergen, Berlin, and finally a residency in Iceland at http://gabotravels.tumblr.com/
I may update this blog from time to time with recently obtained images.
You can also see my future artwork and upcoming exhibits at my blog http://gabriellevitollo.tumblr.com/ and my website http://gabriellevitollo.com/
Hej då!
(Source: gabovitollo)
Day 28: Today was our last day in Harlosa. In conclusion we had a reception for the artists and a celebration for the guys who built the mini houses across from the church. Sky and I both gave speeches on our artwork we made at ARNA and on our time in Harlosa.
Arnold was generous to give me a one of a kind, beautiful, hand-painted etching…by Arnold! Dennis’ family also gave me a fancy Ales Stenar coaster! Wonderful gifts all around.
Later we went to Dennis’ parents’ house for fika…and to watch hedgehogs eat the cat food.
Dennis sent me a panoramic photo of the flower field from the other day! Sweeeeeeeeeet.
Day 27: Alright, so it turns out that I AM exhibiting in the Lutheran church, not the little houses across the street. We installed our artwork today in the church AND IT LOOKS AWESOME. There is some carved wooden family crest (I believe) hanging above my artwork. It commemorates the family that built the church with wild boars, lions, and horses symbolizing the family’s strength. It goes very well with the organic elements in my paintings. Rock on!
After installation Sky and I were interviewed by the press.
