I come from a family of teachers and the artists. From the former, in particular my mother Kerstin and her father Effe, I learned about the value of intellectual curiosity and learning. From the artists I feel I learned not just about aesthetics, but also about the value of a creative interpretation of the world around you.
And most of all an attitude: when you have something to do, do it. When you have something to say, say it. Even if it isn’t what’s popular at the moment, even if it isn’t easy, even if it costs you a lot.
I see myself more as an artisan than an artist, but that heritage is precious. I think of it when people look at my sometimes almost-impossible five- or six-year projects and tell me that in my place, they might have given up.
My father Arne Isacsson founded an art school, Gerlesborgsskolan, on the Swedish Atlantic coast in 1944. It soon operated summer courses in Provence and a division in Stockholm, and it soon grew to become the biggest private art school in Scandinavia.
When I was young my dad was mostly busy running the school, but since he retired some twenty years ago he has had more time to devote to his own art. Working mainly in aquarelle, he has pioneered new techniques, notably with laminates of watercolours, which make it possible to produce large-scale works for public installations.
Last year, he completed two “watercolour sculptures” together with the sculptor Pål Svensson. Totally original works, they stand several meters high and look out over the ocean. If I had lived in Sweden and not in Canada, I would have made a film about their joint creative process.
Still innovating, at the age of 93, my father really is an inspiration!
Arne’s wife Margareta Blomberg is also an artist, often they exhibit together. My sister Eva, also an artist on the Swedish west coast, combines the heritage of Arne and my uncle Torsten Renqvist in sensitive drawings and more conceptual collages.
Thanks to Tobi Elliott for her help with this post.