Cecilia Levy

kurbits and zickermans

2012-01-30T16:52:00.002+01:00

Yesterday: beautiful weather, hot chocolate, oranges and ginger bread cake - a perfect day for skating on lake Mälaren.

I have been interviewed by Frida for Zickermans Värld, a swedish DIY blog. She also did a post on me on her own blog Kurbits, one of the most reknown swedish craft blogs. You do need to know swedish though!

My website is down due to some technical problem over at the host :( Very annoying. Hopefully fixed tomorrow.

in the paper

2012-01-22T18:20:00.001+01:00

Dagens Nyheter (Lördagsdelen), featured one of my cups yesterday :)

bits and bobs

2012-01-21T09:10:00.000+01:00

We all made our own sketchbooks, filling them with our bits and pieces from the experimenting fase. Good to be able to go back and, together with instructions on paper, refresh my memory.

During the last hour of the course I suddenly realized exactly what I want to do with my new skills! I set off in a frenzy making collaged images and booklets. The coating of wax gives everything that special look I find so appealing. More... want to do more!

Ebbas beautiful doilies/cake-paper and 3-d "flowers"- made of waxed paper and trapped fresh flower petals

a mosaic of what the rest of the group made - bibs, a tie, handbag, gloves, dress and stilettos... all unwearable :)

the end! waxed pattern paper and book page

diving into paper

2012-01-20T17:45:00.000+01:00

old Alice in wonderland - with Asta look-a-like! (our dog)

Ebba, colleague from Kaleido (maker of hats and textile artist) suggested this workshop could be of interest to me - and ended up going too. Partners in craft!

The 3-day course Storybooks & Stilettos; Paper Craft took place in the Sackler Centre at The Victoria & Albert Museum. Paper artist Jennifer Collier was our teacher and she generousely shared her techniques and patterns with us. To begin with we had a look at some of the antique childrens books from the museum - only for inspiration. Then began some serious experimenting; cutting, glueing, bonding, layering, trapping, waxing... There are so many photos of our results, I will post them tomorrow.

Fantastic museum, although there wasn't time to see more than a fraction of it. Don't want to miss the Morris room next time, couldn't find my way there, it was like a labyrinth...

flinging London

2012-01-17T22:04:00.002+01:00

All squeezed up in our cosy threebed room with extra foldout bed!

This was London day 1.
Didn't manage an awful lot that day - we arrived starved, so we went on a mission to find good and plenty of food. We succeeded more than well. Close by our hotel we found YoSushi, Fast Fun and Fresh Japanese Food just as the advertisement says. Little flying saucers passed by with various delicacies.

Outside the Brunswick Centre we found lots of eyecatching objects trapped in the pavement. These symbolized small tokens that mothers left with their abandoned children at an orphanage, in order to identify them later when/if they could pick them up again. I'm not sure I got this right, we read about it on a small sign.

I will blog more about the course I attended at the V&A tomorrow!

(n)ice!

2012-01-11T22:22:00.001+01:00

Things are happening - so many things at once suddenly!

Just sold five of my cups - they will be off to Louisville, Kentucky, next week! Makes me especially happy since I spent 3 of my childhood years in Lexington, Kentucky. Sort of feels like "home" - or at least one of them... Cups have been sent off to Hamburg Germany, today for a photo shooting and an assortment of objects are lent to a home stylist in Stockholm. Which will lead to appearances in home styling magazines in Germany and Sweden - new experience for me :)
Some of my work was featured on french Deco'in yesterday, and a few days ago on dutch Brekend.

And tomorrow I'm off to this!Yay!

champagne!

2012-01-06T23:46:00.000+01:00

Tonight we celebrated!
Yesterday I was contacted by... oh sorry, can't reveal by whom just yet (not until payment has been made), but it's a museum and I'm thrilled and amazed and so so so HAPPY - they are buying two of my paper objects! My work had been seen in the book The New Artisans, and I received a visit to my exhibition at Aniara Gallery. This was before Christmas, but the decision wasn't just up to one person and so I had to wait... Plenty of time to get nervous, though I worked hard not to think too much about it :)
Stay in touch, more info will follow...

happy new 2012!

2012-01-05T00:08:00.000+01:00

I wish you all the very best for 2012!

Last chances to see my exhibition Java at the Aniara Gallery and the tray above, called Längtan (Longing), at Kaleido's gallery. They both end Sunday, January 8th.

the table is set...

2011-12-05T00:59:00.000+01:00

... at Kaleido!

This is our x-mas show "Julbord" - 11 different tables laid by us members. Some more traditional than others... Have a seat!

Veronica Gardetoft

Lisa Malmgren Åberg

Ebba Stålhandske

Katarina Persson

Christina Larsson

this one is mine, it's called "Längtan" ("Longing"), a coffee tray for two. Made with the white margins from an old book.

Java

2011-12-03T00:20:00.001+01:00

paper collar

coffee constellations

Finally, photos from my exhibition at Galleri Aniara! I went there yesterday with friends - colleagues from Kaleido. After my paper objects we had lunch and then proceeded to Edsviks konsthall to see Odd Nerdrums paintings - strange and haunting.

two cups

2011-11-22T21:30:00.001+01:00

My exhibition opened on Saturday and all went well, everything was ready on time and I am very satisfied with how it turned out. But I forgot to take photos..! I'll post some later on. Meanwhile I'm posting some close-ups of the cups. Enjoy.

I was quite stressed during the days before the show opened - Mattias being away in France for several days (enjoying the good life at Rendez vous Carnet de voyage conference in Clermont-Ferrand), leaving me to deal with all my preparations, two children with activities, a dog to walk and all those meals to cook (sometimes it feels as if you start right over with the next meal as soon as one meal is finished?)... ;)) He returned home yesterday - and now it's my turn to leave for a few days. It's time the yearly bookbinding workshop at Nyckelviksskolan. Byebye!

welcome to Java

2011-11-15T20:50:00.001+01:00

Welcome to my exhibition Java - paperobjects and coffeeconstellations - at Aniara Gallery in Sollentuna! Opening of the exhibition on Saturday November 19th, 11 am – 16 pm.

on the telly

2011-11-07T15:26:00.000+01:00

I'm not - but my paperbowls were! These three made an appearance on the Go' kväll Lördag show (fast forward to 03.44) on Saturday Nov 5th. They were brought there by Frida Ramstedt who runs the blog Trendenser. She spoke of coming trends in interior decoration and design, paper being one :) the revival of the '80s another :(
My name wasn't mentioned on the programme - I was only referred to as an artist from Gothenburg (because my work was exhibited there at the time... *sigh*). Anyway, if you want to read about me, Jay Anderson over at the red road blog did an interview with me the other week, and it's up now!

going there

2011-11-04T21:12:00.003+01:00

I love going by train, so relaxing...
Our little trip to Göteborg consisted of days well spent. I brought some material so I could work in the borrowed apartment (tack Pia!). Did a wonderful discovery among the books there: Mingering Mike - The Amazing Career of an Imaginary Soul Superstar!

The girls and I met with friends and family. We did some shopping, the girls went to the cinema, we ate too much and walked until our feet hurt. I saw Karin Johansson at Röhsska and Frida Kahlo and Jan Lööf at Göteborgs Konstmuseum.

I packed the remainders of my exhibition at Rum för Papper - some of my paper bowls will appear on swedish television(!), Frida from the blog Trendenser will be interviewed about trend spotting, tomorrow, Saturday Nov 5th, on Go' kväll. Here's one that'll be glued to the screen!

All in all, we were very content with our autumn holiday.
Hope you have a nice weekend!

my brothers' newest family member doesn't have a name yet

care for a cuppa?

2011-10-29T21:37:00.005+02:00

This is what I'm doing now - cups cups and more cups. And saucers. It's for my next exhibition at Aniara Gallery, which I have named Java (which is an island in Indonesia where I lived 2 years during my childhood, but it's also Swedish slang for 'coffee' (!).

But tomorrow my girls and I are leaving for Gothenburg. They have a week off from school and are going off to see friends. I'm planning to see some exhibitions, meet with friends and bring back the remainders of my exhibition at Rum för Papper.

needlework

2011-10-20T21:02:00.000+02:00

A day off to go to my colleague Ebba for an embroidery workshop with some other fellow Kaleido members. Pure pleasure!

we started off by drawing each other without looking at the paper

then we chose an interesting detail

on my way...

Christinas stitches

coffeebreak after hard work :)

homeward bound, happy!

exhibition walk

2011-10-14T17:55:00.001+02:00

Take a walk with me and see Resor utan mål / Travels without destination at Rum för Papper.Very nice photos of the exhibition over at beautiful blog trendenser.se - thank you very much Frida!

last minute prep

2011-10-12T20:58:00.002+02:00

Last minute preparations; books for the shop and a quick combing of dog before leaving her to the dog trimmer. Too long haired as usual. These journals/sketchbooks will be for sale at Rum för Papper during my exhibition. The covers are of different materials; paper (with illustrations on the endpages), book cloth and leather. The sheets inside are acid-free, white, suitable for writing or drawing. Lousy lighting, not very flattering photos.

Tomorrow morning I'll catch a train at 7.40 am for Gothenburg. Now a walk with Asta - back from the trimmer with a crew-cut, and then to bed. Good night!

books in the making

2011-10-10T21:00:00.001+02:00

Febrile activity in my studio making journals & sketchbooks for dear life. Leaving as I am for Gothenburg Thursday morning, to attend the small exhibition, Resor utan mål (i.e. Travels without destination) at the paper shop Rum för Papper. I'm exhibiting a selection of paper art objects, and in a corner there will be my handmade paper goods. Aside from my stuff, the shop is full of paper in all sizes, textures and colors. Feel the need for something to doodle in or to jot down your genius ideas in? This is the place to find it.

featured and proud!

2011-09-26T14:44:00.006+02:00

It's arrived! Wonderful surprise in the mailbox last Friday - The New Artisans, by Olivier Dupon (Dossier37). More than 70 artists/artisans/designers are featured, and I'm one of them!

Below are a couple of spreads - it was so hard to choose, all are gorgeous - to give a hint of what the rest of the book looks like. It's full of inspiring images (850 of them!). I can hardly put it down :)

(my copy was quite roughly beaten up by the postal service - hence the dented corners...)

see through red edge

2011-09-15T15:47:00.010+02:00

I've finally created a link list to other paper artists. Each one is truly amazing, check some of them out. Endless creativity and inspiration.

I need to make a correction on my previous post: this coming weekend is not the last chance to see my exhibition - it runs until the 25th of September!

In October there will be a chance to see my paper art in Göteborg at the paper shop Rum för Papper. Details about that later on :)

Just one thin layer of paper.

Colored red edges.

paper pools

2011-09-12T20:11:00.008+02:00

More photos from my exhibition at Österbybruk. This coming weekend is the last chance to see it - hurry hurry :)

Heart of darkness

In search of lost time

Dream interpretation

Size: 60 cm ø (23.6 inches)
The titles are from books I have read, at least the first two). But the paper comes from other books.

koloni closeups

2011-09-08T17:01:00.004+02:00

Koloni is the name of the 21 paper bowls in my show. I haven't given them individual names since they are part of a larger piece.

This one is made of book pages that have aged beautifully. The paper has turned brown in the edges and brittle.

I let coffee stain the rim of this bowl.

sadelmakarlängan art show opening

2011-09-05T13:24:00.003+02:00

Pics from Saturdays art show opening at Sadelmakarlängan in Österbybruk.
Ulf Johnsson stone sculpture and myself paper objects. Beautiful day, beautiful setting!

Even though our work methods and materials are very far from each other, the pieces communicated well together, and so did we. Ulfs work is quite unique, his bowls of stone are extremely thin. In their smooth surface lay many hours of grinding and polishing. My photos don't do them justice, but give you a hint I hope.

The show is on until September 28. Open Wed-Fri 12 am-6 pm and Sat-Sun 10 am-4 pm. Welcome!

Koloni; 21 paper bowls

Ulf Johnsson (back to camera), and myself (far right), gallery/shop owner Katarina Persson (in pink top) she herself is a ceramist and lives and works in Österbybruk.

paper & stone

2011-09-01T14:17:00.004+02:00

Welcome to my exhibition at Sadelmakarlängan, Österbybruk, Saturday, 3rd of September!
Open: Sat-Sun 10 am-4 pm, Wed-Fri 12 am-6 pm

My co-exhibitor is Ulf Johnsson, stone sculptor from Arvika.