About Bodil Magnusson

"The creative process is a lifeline for me - constantly ongoing"

I am a glass artist and work sculpturally with both cold glass and cast glass, often in combination with metal and stone. I was born and raised on a farm located by Seby burial ground on southern Öland. About twenty years ago I returned there and now work in my studio / glass studio there.

Already at the age of 7-8, I decided to become an artist.

 

My artistic expression is characterized by the landscape of my childhood, an environment in the middle of the cultural heritage among stone axes, stone settings and rune stones. I often start there, but I also include international impulses in my artistic work. I have made trips in i.a. traces of the Etruscans in Italy, in the Egypt of the Pharaohs and to Ankor Vat in Cambodia. Places that have become important sources of inspiration for me and made an impression in my works of art.

I have always needed to do something physical / a picture of thoughts, moods and impressions. I want to tell, especially in image and sculpture but also in poetry and in installations. In my glass sculptures there is a story that emerges in an artistic exploratory process. The sculptures often become a kind of messenger or visionary in dialogue between then and now, between myth and reality, between you and me.

Creating cultural heritage and highly charged places is a challenge for me. For a few years now I have been working with the theme past, present and future…

I live and work in one of UNESCO's World Heritage Sites and have since 2016 been active in the project Experimental Cultural Heritage, a collaboration with Lund University and Linnaeus University.

Poetry is a consistent feature of my production in recent years and a great source of inspiration. I read poetry and sometimes write my own poems such as resulted in a poetic art film: Message in the Wind.

My artistic process is about inspiration, creative joy and patient work, but also about the silent knowledge I gained through many years of work in the studio. One must try, reject, test again and again, to understand the limitations and possibilities of the different materials.

It takes time to work so focused, often for weeks and months, to get where I want to go.

All my works are unique, sometimes I make several variations with the same theme or motif, it can be something I especially stick to.

I am represented in The Swedish Parliament, several county councils and a number of churches and public buildings.