Kirsten Holm – Artist in life.
By Anna Powers

I recently had the privilege to visit Kirsten Holm in Uppsala, Sweden where she lives in a small apartment on the edge of a well known university town one hour north of Stockholm. From this visit I got to observe firsthand how she lives her life to create art. I must admit, I have never met anyone like her who lives just to be the artist she is. She is rare among the many artists I know.

Kirsten Holm lives her life simply and it is reflected in her art. She purposely has created a simple lifestyle in order to connect deeply with the spirit within and it shows in her paintings and music. In order to create this space to create, she has made a point to eliminate all distractions – no television, no mobile phone, no automobile. (She has a simple mobile now, no smart/Iphone though)

She occupies very little space and owns few possessions. In creating her large paintings and drawings, Kirsten is solely inspired by what she sees around her – she does not go far, it is just beyond the large picture window of her apartment. She lives on the border of a nature reserve providing her with the backdrop for her landscapes and sky paintings. You can notice the changes in seasons reflected in many of her paintings and she reflects it so delicately through colors and lines.

She is a purest in creating her drawings and paintings as she prepares herself mentally and spiritually with quiet solace and focus before beginning a session to create on paper. Her tools are simple; a small box of pencils, charcoals and pastels. She doesn’t need much, but what she creates on paper speaks volumes to illuminate what she sees and feels and she is successful at it because we can feel it too. This speaks volumes to her audience and this is why I am drawn to her paintings.

Her music is as much a handiwork as her pictures. She is learning to make pictures by listening And to play by focusing her eye on a picture, on nature. In her opinion, nature is always filled with patterns and of interest.

In Kirsten’s own words:

Pictures when shown need no music,
Music when played need not pictures.

Each branch of art lives an independent life perfectly
But sometimes they are together.