IMELDA ALMQVIST ART: JOURNEYS TO OTHER WORLDS, INNER WORLDS AND AROUND THE WORLD IN PAINTINGS!
What's On & What's new?!
September 2010
I am delighted to announce my appointment as a SOUL CAFE EXPERT on Soul Cafe, an initiative by Alice Grist, author of The High Heeled Guide to Enlightenment and The High Heeled Guide to Spiritual Living. Soul Cafe is an on-line network where spiritual people can share ideas, resources, publicise events, post blogs and generally find FOOD FOR THE SOUL! Check it out on www.soul-cafe.net and join our Healing Circle or some other groups I have just started there like SPIRITUAL KIDS!, CHILDREN OF THE MOON GODDESS and THE ART OF DOING LESS....
August 2010
FIAT LUX
August 2010 Tales of the Earliest World
Newsflash! The painting FIAT LUX will appear on the cover of Edwin M Good's book, tentatively titled 'Tales of the Earliest World' this autumn. The book will be published by the Stanford University Press. Edwin M Good is a literary scholar of the Hebrew Bible, he translated the first 11 chapters of Genesis. He taught at Stanford for 35 years. The book is a translation of the text from Hebrew and a discussion of the “tales” in terms of how they work as stories. Mr Good is also a musician and historian of the piano. He owns a wonderful copy of a 1722 Cristofori piano. The link for his site is www.arpicimbalo.com. He is married to Anita Sullivan (see next entry).
July 2010 Garden of Beasts
In the Fall of 2010 The 'Tree Of Life' painting from the Sacred Trees Series will appear on the cover of a book titled Garden of Beasts! It is a book by Anita Sullivan, a poet in Eugene, Oregon. This is her first full-length book of poems. The publisher is Airlie Press, www.airliepress.org , They publish books written by poets from the Willamette Valley region of the Pacific Northwest. As they put it: "We like to think that the quality of art on our covers is matched by the quality of our poems". I feel flattered!
The book can now be viewed and pre-ordered on Anita's website! www.seventhdragon.com.
July 2010
I am quite proud of this one and I am looking forward to painting more portraits in the future! Here are Bella, Kuuti and Tom and their dog Lena. They live in Helsinki! More detailed information about this painting can be found on the Commissions page.
2010-2011 Dream Raisers Project in Australia
WANDJINA I
Vesna Tenodi is the author of a book titled 'Dreamtime Set in Stone'. Based in Australia she has organised a Dream Raisers project. The link is www.modrogorje.com Her initiative is about encouraging all of us to re-discover the spirituality of Australian Aboriginal peoples by connecting to spirit beings called Wanjinas. However, her project has triggered a great controversy and debate in Australia. Some people agree that breathing new life into the ancient sacred ways of indigenous peoples is our only option is our only forward in repairing our relationship with Gaia. Other people feel that she has no right to "steal" concepts from a cultural group she does not belong to. The debate rages.
Asked for a comment, this is what I recently wrote in a statement posted by the ABC Law Report:
My observation as an artist and shamanic practitioner is that all over the world indigenous leaders and shamans are starting to share sacred information that used to be secret. This is all part of our world entering a new era of greater spiritual awareness. My feeling is that the Wandjina controversy is part of a greater process of The Dreamtime being brought to a wider audience, inviting more people to connect with sacred ancient teachings and the world of spirit. Knowledge and inspiration isn’t a static dead thing: it is living breathing evolving energy. People engaging with ancient sacred concepts breathes life into those concepts and sends them out in the world reborn... It is a very great honour.
I hope that the indigenous peoples of Australia will see that maybe the time has come to share the ancient teachings and wisdom of the Dreamtime. After all: the teachings and knowledge of industrialised Western society have brought our beautiful planet to her knees. Western people live in a culture that has lost its soul and its spiritual underpinnings. Maybe it is time to embrace the ancient sacred teachings of the Dreamtime, the Wanjinas and other Spirit Beings. This may just save our planet from self-destruction.″
Wandjina II
FROM FEBRUARY 2010 WRITING A WEEKLY COLUMN ON ART & SPIRITUALITY FOR THE OVERSTRAND HERALD IN SOUTH AFRICA
February 2010
I am very pleased to announce a brandnew cooperation with a newspaper in South Africa! The Overstrand Herald in Kleinkoop and surroundings (about 100 km from Cape Town) has invited me to write a weekly feature based around one of my paintings. In these pieces I write about art, spirituality and indigenous peoples, much as I do on this website, to provide food for thought. Thank you Dries Vermeulen for the opportunity of 'joining forces' and reaching a wider audience!
October 2009 NEW: MOTHER EARTH WEBPAGE
I have created a webpage honouring MOTHER EARTH, allowing her to speak through some truly spectacular photographs. Use the link to check it out!
I have received a number of requests for posters or prints of my paintings. While I don't stock those, there is the option of having large photographs printed off from j-pegs. Always feel free to contact me about any inquiry or request!
The paintings of the Sacred Trees Series are featured in an exhibition titled 'THE TREE OF LIFE' in Monaco this month. The Private View is on June 9th, 2009. This exhibition shows the work of "contemporary artists reviewing spiritual and cultural images introduced by our ancestors', quoting from the Carre d'Or Website: www.carredor-monaco.com A little book has just been printed up featuring these paintings. I haven't seen it yet but I hear it looks very good!
The mission statement of the Carre d'Or Gallery in Monaco is:
"It seemed natural to dedicate the gallery's work to this theme (of reviewing spiritual and cultural images introduced by our ancestors) in the principality of Monaco, a remarkable crossroads of ears and cultures" Mila Griaznov
The Carre d'Or website quotes the Russian sculptor Daniel Mitlanski and master of modern art Bruce Nauman:
"The creators - artists, musicians, writers, architects, painters - are the vectors of the Divine Spirit ' Daniel Mitlanski
"The true artist helps the world by revealing its mystic truths' Bruce Nauman
June 2009, on line now: COSMOS Webpage!
The COSMOS Webpage went on-line in June 2009! This new web-page features paintings inspired by deeply intriguing concepts from the place where Cosmology and Quantum Physics meet Mythology and World Religions: a truly dynamic web of connections and possibilities....
March 2009
The Telegraph Hill Festival 2009 has just been and brought many interesting visitors to my door! Mathematicians, musicians and someone doing research in particle physics... As always I am blown away by the Talent On The Hill! All in all 120 people visited in the space of 2 afternoons! This was a good opportunity to show new work and receive feedback and suggestions. I used this opportunity to display recent Greenland paintings and the Mathematics paintings as well as inviting all visitors to walk the labyrinth in our garden and to comment on the experience!
CATHEDRAL IN ICE
Shamanic painting inspired by a trip to Greenland, August 2008
Spring 2009
I am about to start the shamanic practitioner training with the Sacred Trust in here in the UK. For years I have been painting following my intuition, paying close attention to dreams and themes that come to me through coincidences and from unexpected sources. In the year 2006 I started building this website from scratch and realised how all these themes come together and how Shamanism appears as an overarching structure connecting all these very different subjects.
SPIRIT BOAT
Painting inspired by the Way of the Shaman workshop with Simon Buxton in 2008
January 2009 THE MATHEMATICS PAGE
I have just written a webpage about MATHEMATICS. I did some paintings about mathematical subjects as part of the LANGUAGE series about concepts from world languages. (I was trying to illustrate the fact that mathematics isn't actually a language, just as musical notation isn't a language). These paintings made it onto a webpage about theorems run by a mathematician, then I got an email from another mathematician in LA.... and so the ball started rolling. To read more and see paintings about mathematical concepts, please visit the MATHEMATICS page.
The Lazy 8 Bus to Infinity!
MARCH 2008: The launch of KIDS FOR KIDS! Art
In March 2008 we launched the Kids for Kids! ART webpage. Our children make paintings and books to sell and the money raised goes to children in orphanages all over the world. In November 2008 the boys and I all donated paintings to the CHOICES Fundraising Auction in Victoria on Vancouver Island in Canada. The boys paintings sold like 'hot cakes' and CHOICES has already received phone calls to inquire when they will sell more art by children... To see the paintings and read more, please visit the Kids for Kids! ART webpage!
WOLVES I , WOLVES PLAYING IN THE SNOW IN CANADA, Elliott (6)
Elliott (7) did a painting 'WOLVES PLAYING IN THE SNOW IN CANADA' that so impressed a Canadian art expert that he was commissioned to do another 'WOLVES' painting (the title was: MOTHER WOLF & CUBS PLAYING IN THE SNOW IN CANADA'). This painting now has pride of place on the wall of an art gallery in Victoria. Well done Elliott!
WOLVES II, by Elliott (6)
"MOTHER WOLF & CUBS PLAYING IN THE SNOW IN CANADA"
'MINISCRUDDAN'
Quinn (then 8) was commissioned to make this painting.
This painting now lives in Stockholm where it has become the focus of this Cat Called Sandy's on-line art gallery designed by Peter Almqvist! Here is the link: den här länken
In May I designed the cover for a book on Motherhood that was published in Australia in 2008. For more details please see the Commissions webpage.
March 2008 Launching the Kids for Kids! ART webpage
March 2008 was also the month that we launched the Kids for Kids! ART page, to support 'superstar social worker' Cheryl Fix in her work with children in need all over the world. Our three boys wrote three books and sold a lot of colourful amazing paintings to raise funds for children in orphanages. Now (one year later) they have raised £1115 (that is $2230 in Canadian dollars!) and the best news is that the Director of the Board of Governers of Choices doubles the money at the Canadian end as we raise it!! View the Kids for Kids! ART page to see the artwork or reserve a copy of your 'Part of London' book!
December 2007
Fundraising Event for the victims of Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh
I was invited to participate in a Fundraising Event for Bangladesh. In the future there will be more events as part of a larger fundraising campaign, all to raise money for the victims of Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh. As my contribution to this, any proceeds from sales of paintings the Bangladesh Series or Rabindranath Tagore Series will be donated to this cause.
More on Cyclone Sidr : Cyclone Sidr slammed into the south east coast of Bangladesh on Thursday 15th November. Reports are that around 4000 people have so far been killed by the storm, but government officials fear the total death toll could rise to over 10,000 people. In addition a staggering 650,000 people have been forced to leave their homes. Sidr lashed the coastline with winds of more than 140mph, creating storm surges which reached more than a metre high. The heavy rains caused widespread flooding which destroyed thousands of homes. Trees were uprooted and power lines knocked down, leaving thousands without power. Officials says that it is the worst cyclone to hit the country in years.
More on BRAC UK : BRAC UK have already invested a lot of time and money in immediate relief efforts and are starting their rehabilitation programs which include; microfinance in form of small loans to help restart local businesses; rebuilding schools and tube well construction and the improvement of sanitation systems in the area
June 2007
Language Progression Event at the London Metropolitan University in Islington. Some paintings featuring concepts from modern European languages were made especially for this occasion.
THE PAINTINGS OF THE LANGUAGE & MARK MAKING SERIES AT THE GRADUATE CENTRE AT THE LONDON METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY IN ISLINGTON
May 2007
'An Evening With Imelda Almqvist' - a talk about The Art of Language at the Peckham Library as part of Adult Learner's Week 2007.
Interview in Southwark Life:
April 2007
Interview in The Gate Post about the Art of Language
March 2007
THE NEW CROSS GATE LANGUAGE FESTIVAL
Forty different paintings of the LANGUAGE & MARK MAKING SERIES appear on posters all over the area in the run up to the Festival.
Publication of 'THE ART OF LANGUAGE AND SOME RANDOM FACTS, a pocket picture gallery to celebrate Languages in New Cross Gate', a pocket book featuring paintings from the LANGUAGE & MARK MAKING SERIES, commissioned by Family Learning NDC.
Exhibition of posters of the LANGUAGE & MARK MAKING SERIES at the New Cross Library for the duration of the Festival.
The 'The Polish Bear' painting appears on a poster announcing a World Book Day Celebration on March 1st
Exhibition of all paintings of the LANGUAGE & MARK MAKING SERIES at an event titled 'From Mandarin to Mime - A Celebration of Languages' at Kender Primary School
Art & Language Workshop for children and parents at St James's Primary School
'A Look at Languages through Art', a talk at the New Cross Libary on March 13th
March 2007 The SOAS
The paintings of the Language & Mark Making series move on to the
SOAS The School of Oriental & African Studies, London University, Thornhaugh St, Russel Square, London WC1H OXG
to accompany a project aimed at language learning amongst 14/15 year olds funded by the Aimhigher Trust (government funding to encourage more young people who have no previous knowledge or experience of higher education to consider university). The event at SOAS on 26 March included taster sessions: one in the students own language, one in a completely new one; the sessions are led by undergraduates so they can see how languages are dealt with at university level; and sessions on careers with languages.
Imelda Almqvist(Last Updated August 2010)
If you enjoyed this page, please consider a link to
