Some people make sketches in their head, others in a 3-d program, some people with a pen and a pencil. In my sketchbooks there are many sketches made with pen, pencil, charcoal, ink. There are drawings, studies, collages, meditation pictures and small gouache paintings. and so forth.

I have chosen 22 sketches of different kinds, enlarged and embroiderad them on cotton. Many of them are related to pubic commissions, but some of them have never lead to the intended installation, sculpture or painting. They are just sketches.

But sketches live a life of their own and carry a very direct expression for an idea or a vision. When embroidering them I have followed the rather irrational, wobbling lines as closely as possible and I have found them charming.

The sketch is often underestimated as an artwork and I would like to emphasize their importance with this production.

These embroidered sketches are all executed between June 2022 and March 2023.

Set Söderholm

When working with my stencils close to the window in mystudio the sun shone in and through a slot in one of them. It looked like a golden ring. I frequently use stencils in my work, in paintings, drawings and “anti-graffiti”.

The Art Museum Vandalorum at Värnamo has initiated the exhibition “Under prevailing circumstances” in these corona times, when artists have difficulties selling their work. So 145 professional artists were invited and now show one work each from September 19 until November 29 and the whole income goes directly to the artist. My contribution is this “Labyrint” (“Maze”) which I made with dandelions in my garden in 2017.

Perhaps it seems a bit strange but during the past 20 years or so I have noticed traffic signs and building details that are covered with dirt, usually a mixture of algae, fungus, soot and particles. And it easily comes off using water and a cloth washing the details through a stencil. This sign was found outside a local school at Ryssby in Southern Sweden earlier this year.

Last Winter we didn´t have much snow in the province of Småland in the Southern part of Sweden, but enough to make a few snow drawings and installations which gradually melted away.

Tempera paint is made using very simple ingredients: one egg, a little water, pigment. The canvas made of cotton is grounded with animal glue and chalk. The motifs often derive from my fascination for anonymous design in the landscape or in cities, a chimney, some tools, a pair of scissors, a glass bottle or something.

A wooden building was deconstructed in Stockholm, one out of many over the years, and the wooden beams were sent down to Småland where I live. The company in charge of this work wanted me to make two wooden sculptures using the old material. With the beams there came some of these old hand-forged suspending irons. Two of these  arranged together were my motif in the painting executed in 2016. Using these simple materials, far from to-day´s conventional acrylic paints and plastic coated canvases,  created quite different conditions and limitations. It was like turning back 20 000 years and feeling the kinship with cave painters of those years.

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