This week the people of Sweden and Swedish living abroad will celebrate Lucia and the celebration will look very similar to this painting with Santa Lucia arriving with candles alight in her hair.  More about the Swedish tradition later but first I want to share with you some exciting news.

ART NAIF FESTIVAL

I had a lovely email a few weeks ago from Błażej Krajczewski in Poland who had come across this painting of mine above.  At first I thought he may have been familiar with my work and naive art through the Art Naif Festival in Katowice, Poland where I have been exhibiting for the last 3 years but as it turns out he had just found my image on the internet somewhere.

In any case he had been commissioned to make an animation to celebrate Lucia and Christmas which will be shown on the facade of the historic building; the Embassy of Sweden in Warsaw Poland, at the entrance of the Royal Baths this weekend.

PROJECTION MAPPING

This will be done by something called Projection Mapping (video mapping) formerly known as spatial augmented reality.  By using special software photos, films, paintings, animations are then projected onto buildings and the images can fit onto any size of industrial landscape.  It is often combined by sound to create an audio-visual narrative and in this case the music is all Swedish Christmas Carols and Lucia songs.

SPATIAL AUGMENTED REALITY

Projection mapping is rather new however the history goes back to Disney and 1969 when Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion ride used 16mm film and projected fake disembodied heads to make them look real through optical illusions.  Later on artists and advertisers started to catch on to this idea and were greatly helped by Microsoft and their technological advancements.

PAINTINGS IN ANIMATION

So I am so excited to have this painting brought to life by animation and really wish that I was in Warsaw this weekend to see the festivities in real life, to have my work shown in this beautiful European city on a cold and snow covered landscape projected across the whole building for all to see would be a treat.  Blazej has promised to film the event and I hope to be able to share this with you on Youtube eventually.

If you would like to know a bit more about the Swedish Lucia Traditions and how my family celebrated it here is a link 113 Art & Swedish Traditions, Another weird one

SWEDISH TRADITIONS

Another version of the Lucia tradition is according to folk tales the nights of the 12 and 13 December were the longest and darkest nights of the year and very dangerous as the animals spoke with a human voice and had supernatural powers.  So it was recommended for the people not to go to bed.

THE ART OF LIGHT

Luckily then arriving was Lucia the girl dressed all in white with bright burning candles on a wreath in her hair bringing light to brighten the terrifying darkness.  She would lead the procession dressed in a long white gown and have a bright red sash around her waist and of course the wreath with candles all alight in her hair.  ST Lucia was followed by Tarnor, who would also be wearing white although their wreath was somewhat smaller and made out of silver tinsel.  Not to be outdone the boys would also join in, some dressed in the long white gown too with a long white pointed hat (LOL actually the hat would look like one of those dunce hats you wear in the naughty corner) although it was decorated with stars and the boys were called sjarngossar – starboys!  All carrying a burning candle in their hands.  A couple of boys would also be Santa’s little helpers dressed in red.

These days the processions with St Lucia visits every workplace and school with the celebrations starting early in the morning and celebrated with traditional cakes, biscuits and coffee.

So if you are in Warsaw this weekend come along enjoy the festivities and eat some gingerbread at the Swedish Embassy too.

Here is a quote by Edith Wharton which I think fits well here;

“There are two ways of spreading light; to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it. “

Till next time happy painting, sculpting and projection mapping to you all.

Love Marie xxx

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALEand SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.

Even during this economic downturn in Europe the members of Fivan, Szyb Gallery and Jacques Dubois particularly, has manage to pull off the impossible – another successful Naive Art Festival in Katowice, Poland.   As this exhibition is continuing into August I sincerely hope that you will try to some and see it.

This painting “Playing hide and seek” was in last year’s festival in Poland and crisscrossed the world as it ended up selling to a Japanese client.

This exhibition whereby artists from 32 countries around the world are chosen to take part is only the 5^th Art Naif Festival held in Poland and the host gallery is again the amazing Szyb Wilson Gallery.  It is the privately owned gallery in Poland and I would think one of the largest if not the largest private gallery in the world at 2500 square meters on two big halls and a balcony.  It is situated 10 minutes away from the city center in the Nikiszowiec district which is a historical settlement of Katowice.

The area where Szyb Wilson Gallery stands was in fact an old coal mine construction, a virtual wasteland.  As Jacques says it is very fitting that the naive festival is held in this place: “to change the image of a dirty and black city into a place where happiness and colors are together to warm the heart.  There’s nothing like naive artists to believe in things like that.  Improve the world, little by little and all together.”

ARTnBED

Last year Cuba was the guest country and this year we celebrate Israel and their wonderful Naive artists, they have a great history of Naive art with a terrific gallery that supports them in Tel Aviv called Gina Gallery of International Naive Art.  It is also from Israel that my latest venture with ARTnBED comes from with art works on duvet and shams (quilt covers and pillowcases) that were recently released both in Israel and USA.

NAIVE ART IN ISRAEL

The philosophy of Dan Chill the owner of Gina Gallery is as follows “GINA Gallery seeks to support the naïve artists‘ quest for “Paradise Lost;” to encourage them to share their timeless vision of everyday life; and to provide them with a forum to bare the child-like ruminations of their hearts and souls. In parallel, GINA Gallery hopes to facilitate the entry into this field of talented, mostly self-taught artists (young and old) who strive to relate – by means of brush, paint and canvas — the fairy tale figments of their fertile imaginations.

ART WORLD

GINA Gallery also seeks — by gathering and displaying worldwide naïve art — to expand the existing art lovers‘ awareness and appreciation of this multifaceted art form, and to introduce the wondrous beauty of this unique, easily-accessible genre to those who have been reluctant (for whatever the reason) to visit art galleries, thereby allowing naïve art, and those who paint it, to assume their proper place in the pantheon of the art world.”

ART WINNER

Last year’s winner of the Grand Prize of the Public 2011 was Stefen Lewis from Tanzania which means he has the honor of designing this year’s poster for the Festival.  This year Museum PASZIN, located in south eastern Poland was invited to submit 100 sculptures dating back from the early 60s.  Also the Museum of Lodz followed suit and presents 50 pieces on the theme of Mary, mother of Jesus.

This year even the best major Taxi companies have gotten behind the festival and are acting as “Ambassadors” handing out cards to the tourists with naive paintings on the back.  This is another ingenious idea by Jacques Dubois and his wonderful team from Fivan, Szyb Wilson Gallery and helpers from Poland and France.  We salute you!

Here is a great quote from Danny Kaye that I love;

“Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.”

Till next time happy painting and sculpting to you all,

Love Marie xxx

If you enjoyed this art blog you may also like this one: 117 Henri Rousseau Naive Artist

Why not come and have a look at Marie Jonsson-Harrison’s PAINTINGS FOR SALE, GICLEE PRINTS FOR SALE and SCULPTURES for sale or WALLBASED SCULPTURES.  Enjoy an original artwork on your walls or perhaps one on your bed ARTnBED.