My favorite time of the year… fall! Though I actually enjoy certain aspects of all four seasons there is something so special about the harvest time. Fall welcomes shorter days with more cozy time. It is also the time for reaping the benefits of the garden that was started in spring and nurtured during the summer. In Mariestad, like many places around the globe, we celebrate hösttiden with a big culture and harvest festival that takes place at the end of September. This year is the 5th year, but 2 years ago during Mariestad’s Culture and Harvest Festival, I accidentally stumbled across an artist’s studio visit that left me feeling inspired by this small town that I now call home.
mats westelius studio (side view): photo credit cecily ferguson
Mats Westelius is what I consider one of Mariestad’s Masters, he has been creating art for over 35 years. Mats has a diverse portfolio that expresses his love for the sea, coastal/harbor towns and for his travels to Africa, Australia and throughout Europe. In addition, he has created multiple series of works that depict the fall harvest. Mats has exhibited professionally throughout Sweden since 1980 but this is his first online exhibition that promises international exposure. He is also represented by the National Museum (Stockholm), Moderna Museet (Stockholm) and Sjarfartsmuseum (Gothenburg). Donna and I are so excited about presenting this season's online exhibition which features a trip to Spain that Mats took during the fall of 1992-1993. Appreciating Coastal Towns in Spain is an exhibition of pencil and red clay drawings of the coastal towns Mats visited during this sojourn. In addition to the online exhibition, we are sharing snippets of Mats's studio you can see that here via Vimeo and if you are following us on Instagram I am sharing videos and live stories from the studio over the next couple of months.
mats westelius skörde art detail: photo credit cecily ferguson
We are incredibly grateful that this season promises to be exciting because we are announcing our first popup exhibition that will take place during Mariestad’s culture and harvest festival – save the date September 29th – 30th. My Mariestad is a konst collabs (all female) event with D+ C Contemporary x Kreativ Collabs x Anna the Råw that features a few of our favorite D+C artists along with a few artists from The States and locally from (or connected to) Mariestad. We are hoping this is only the first of many more D+C popup exhibitions.
And with a new season comes a refreshed platform. We want to make sure we bring more awareness to issues that are important to women and the expat experience. Carolina Mayorga, for My Mariestad, created a series of pink works that focus on Mariestad, but these works are part of a much larger series titled Pink: The Art of Infatuation and Embellishment. These works and this series are important reminders that October is the time to think pink and bring awareness to breast cancer.
carolina mayorga pink boots with raspberry: photo credit cecily ferguson
And as this exhibition will come to an end during the Thanksgiving holiday in The States we would like to wish all of you in The States (Thursday November 23rd), Sweden (actually referred to as tacksägelsedagen Söndag Oktober 8th) and Canada (Monday October 9th) a Happy Thanksgiving!
xox, Cecily