I just spent the weekend having back to back meetings in Copenhagen, what a whirl! Very exciting stuff.
Luckily I have some very good friends in Copenhagen whom I have known since I lived here in 1997, so I am always spoilt for choice with places to stay when I visit. This time I stayed with my friend Sara, a painter, and drove off all over the city for 2 days visiting different studios and artists.
First up was Victoria Ceramic Studio in Vesterbro, shared by 6 talented ceramists. Two of them, Pia Lund Hansen and Helle Hansen, are in my show, and Jane Holmberg met us there to hand over her work. We had an inspiring couple of hours talking about the project and choosing work. Since my last visit in September, when I went on a reconnaissance trip recruiting artists for the show, they have set up a permanent shop in the studio, which is fabulous, full of lovely ceramics displayed very artfully on wonderful antique shop fittings.
Then I rushed off to Nørreport to meet a journalist to talk about getting some coverage in the Danish press. Marie Varming is a friend I met here a couple of years ago, and she’s been to Brighton to visit The Ceramic House and, generously, thinks it is newsworthy. The Danish Embassy in London have just provided me with a press list, which is excellent, so that in addition to Marie’s idea to pitch an article to some magazines, is a really good basis. Of course you never know with the press, but I think that this exhibition set in the unusual context of The Ceramic House is definitely an interesting story. And it will certainly make for some great photo opps.
By this time I was running late for my third and final meeting of the day, but luckily Anne Nielsen is very laid back and didn’t mind. She is a character full of stories who lives in Birkerød, on the outskirts of Copenhagen, and we got along very well; in fact we had a great time. She works in an incredibly intricate way, layering and cutting and re-layering coloured clay until the end results play tricks on your eyes. Gorgeous stuff!
I got back to Sara’s after 9 hours non-stop rushing around, had a great evening and then did it all over again today!
I went to Sten Lykke Madsen’s beautiful house in Holte. It is a true artist’s house, absolutely crammed with artwork, mainly his – everywhere you look, cluttered on shelves, tables, in the garden; even arranged under tables and artfully placed on chairs! It’s a treasure trove. I met up with some artists from Guldagergård and we were treated to an incredible lunch cooked up by Sten’s wife and daughter. In the middle of it I rushed off to Anne Nielsen’s house to pick up the work she had wrapped for me; when I got back we played a ‘game’ – all of us had 5 minutes to choose 3 pieces of Sten’s work; this was to help me choose which pieces to take for the show, there were so many! I ended up with a car full of sculptures. I honestly don’t know how I am going to get everything back to the UK at this moment in time..!
