Beyond The Crane sat down for a one-to-one interview with established artist Maria E Harrysson. A graduate of Konstfack, Harrysson has enjoyed a long and varied artistic career. She has exhibited solo shows all across Sweden and contributed to group shows in London and Hong-Kong. Cover portrait: Aija Svensson.
Harrysson tells Beyond The Crane about her work process, her passion for nature and why she never throws anything she creates away…
BTC: Beyond The Crane: MH: Maria E Harrysson
BTC: Who are you and what is it that you do?
MH: My name is Maria E Harrysson and I am an artist. I work mainly with drawing and sculpture. And the themes that I touch on are the relationship between people and nature. That’s my elevator pitch.
BTC: How would you describe your art to someone who has never seen anything you have done?
MH: It can be perceived as quite spiritual, which is how some others have described my work. ‘New Agey’ I think has been described as but it’s not. I try to find the layers that you may not see or think exist. And also to question what we know about things – to have an open mind.
BTC: And how does this manifest in your work?
MH: It can be expressed in very concrete ways, such as in sculptural forms where I use materials that may have an inherent energy. I have used plastic spoons to create mussels as a comment on disposable cutlery and plastics that eventually end up in the sea. This is a way to open up thoughts, which is what art is all about.
I’m trying to find those things. For example, in my drawings, it may be a sunset that is caught up in something that no longer exists. To constantly question what is it we see? What do we know? What can we do? I’m not always successful, but that’s where I want to be.
BTC: Is there any subject that recurs in what you do?
MH: I’m more periodic. I have gone through different symbols. A decade ago, I worked a lot with tree trunks as a kind of symbol of nature; as an image for a kind of path choice. A unique shape that goes through everywhere. In flashes. In branches. In the bloodstream. Everywhere. I worked very hard with that form then.
BTC: Anything else that has inspired you?
MH: I have also been into shells as a form of what’s fragile in nature. Shells can stand as a symbol of what we romanticise and maybe even step on when we go to the beach. The shell has symbolised what’s feminine in the history of art.
I’ve also used the sunset as a kind of romantic motif that everyone knows and appreciates but still, it is the air and the sea that we pollute. What happens to humans when smog removes our horizon? These are recurring subjects just like the sphere – the sun, the moon, the planet. Human kind’s smallness in the universe.
BTC: Nature and taking care of it is a great driving force in you. If you want to inform and influence, then perhaps art is the first thing you think of. How did it get that way? What else drives you?
MH: It’s probably because I am very affected by works of art. I think there’s something there that I find exciting; being able to tell things in a different way. In addition, to be able to find a parallel way to reach the sensual and the spiritual, not the theoretical. To try to really reach people.
Maria in the studio. Photo: Aija Svensson
Details from Maria’s studio. Photo: Christian Skog
BTC: Did you wake up early one morning when you were five and decide to become an artist? Or have you tried other ways to get you where you want to go?
MH: I’ve probably been creative since I was born. I always, always, do different things. I think I thought early on that being an artist was probably too easy somehow (laughs). Who is not an artist when you are five?! When I was younger, I thought you had to have a profession and being an artist was a perhaps obscure profession. In primary school, art was my most important subject. In high school, I only got a grade 4 every semester. That was the only grade I looked at when I opened the envelope. But the last semester, when I was in the 9th grade, I got a grade 5 and I was so terribly happy! Then I studied aesthetics – art and form in upper secondary school and then I got the highest grade in all the art related subjects there so I felt understood for the first time.
BTC: Upper secondary school was a fruitful time for you it seems.
MH: Yes, I also discovered theatre and did some work in that area and wanted to become a director. I also did some films. But then it was like I was constantly coming back to the creation with my hands because it is a very important part for me. For me, sitting in front of a computer is very abstract, even if it is a creative process. I have to do things with my hands. After Konstfack (University of Arts, Crafts and Design), I did a lot of work with clothes and finally, I started working as a costume designer for film. It was a great deal of fun but every moment in the process took such a long time. The creative part was too small for me.
BTC: What does your process look like? How does it start?
MH: It varies a lot and can be very different. I work constantly. When I’m not working, I do not feel so good. And when I say work, it could be sitting and drawing when I am sitting on the couch in front of the TV. So I always do it somehow. Things come out of that.
The process somehow never ends, it is continuous. Then it can be a specific idea that has a beginning and an end. But I always try to keep the process alive by looking for new ways to pick out what I want. A feeling/mood is probably how best to describe what I am looking for.
BTC: When in the process do you show things to others? And for whom?
MH: It’s also very different actually. Sometimes I can have a partly very open process where I show things I do quite quickly via Instagram for example. Sometimes I can work very secretly in my studio and not even let anyone in for maybe two months. It all depends on what it is.
I also think that I have become even more careful with my work process in recent years than I was before. In the past, I was probably more generous with my work process. It’s something I think about, I cannot really decide what happened there. I think the whole development of society also affects things.
BTC: Is it that you are more careful about your work process or that you are more aware of your process?
MH: I think I’m more careful about it. I have always been aware. I was educated at Konstfack and when I studied there it was Process! Process! Process! The process was more important than what the end product became. When a course was over, it was not the work itself that was important to look at, but how did you arrive at it. I love processes! It’s amazing to be able to see it.
BTC: And social media is a part of that nowadays…
MH: To me, Instagram is like a diary. I never remove anything. There I can see my creative development over the last 10 years now and it’s great to observe that. You can see how you as a person and artist intertwine. When you look at other artists and can see their process through decades and to also be able to see that in oneself is very exciting.
BTC: What is your relationship to throwing away things you have created?
MH: It’s not that good. I don’t throw things away! If something doesn’t go as I thought it would, it may help me get mixed into something else or become something I build on. It’s very rare that I actually throw something away. Privately, I’m also a bit of a ‘hoarder’ I must confess…
BTC: How do you avoid becoming comfortable? To always return to what you are good at.
MH: I think that is a very difficult thing. I know I have some comfortable things that I fall into sometimes. Then I have to challenge myself. I do this through hard work quite simply. What if I turn upside down? If I change materials? If I do the opposite? How can I change this so it becomes a level stronger? It’s a huge fear to get caught up in something I’m comfortable with.
For example with drawing. Now I have been drawing in the same way for 7-8 years. It can be very well appreciated but it can also be very dangerous. It makes one comfortable for people wanting to see similar things. I was in a group exhibition with two sculptures. Then the comments were about ‘Well, I thought you would bring drawings.’ Those expectations are a bit dangerous.
At the same time, some artists have done the same things all their lives and that’s okay too. But I like to do new things. Materials, for example, are a great deal of fun. To invent new materials. When I work sculpturally, I work mainly with reusable materials and then you have to invent things.
BTC: What about the feeling of being finished. Does that come easy for you? Or is it anguish?
MH: I do not suffer that much actually. I always have some form of communication with what I work with. Some drawings draw themselves. I’m just a hand. It may sound fuzzy but it really is like that. Then it knows for itself when it is ready. So I have not really had a problem with that.
Maria working in the studio. Photo: Aija Svensson
BTC: How do you feel about collaborations?
MH: Preferably not during the creative process. It is quite interesting because I have collaborated a lot before and it has gone very well. But in some way, you always have to give up your vision. Some seem to find collaborations that enhance their vision. I’ve never really experienced that. It’s more that you to constantly have to explain to the other what you think. It’s very exhausting.
In other contexts, you have your given role. Like when I worked as a costume designer. I had to decide about the costumes, but I noticed that I wanted to be a part of the whole process. I felt then that I had to own the whole project; that’s how I work. But I collaborate in other ways, for example when I work with offentlig gestaltning. But then it’s usually more around technical issues.
BTC: Is it important that your style is recognisable? That you are visible in what you do?
MH: Exciting. I probably never thought about that. It is not a conscious thought I have with me when I create i.e., that it should be seen that it is Maria. I don’t think so. What I want to access is the commonality that we can meet in. The experience of belonging to the world in some way. And then I’m just a channel for it. This is how I try to think – to channel the collective consciousness. It is filtered through me, then I become the sender.
Then again I move with a certain visual realm. For example, I never portray people.
BTC: Why not?
MH: I have wondered about that a lot. I think it’s super difficult because it takes focus away from something. Then the focus is on who it is and what kind of story you are telling. And that’s not what I’m interested in. Maybe it’s also because we are living in such an individual-oriented world. I want us to see ourselves as a collective – all people and nature. The human gaze is interesting but not the individual.
BTC: What do you wish someone to feel when they see your art?
MH: I wish they had some kind of spiritual experience; I cannot make it more concrete than that. That they get a little mini spiritual experience so that the next time they look at the horizon line, they think about it differently. The sculptures are often much more direct; it’s there I want to create some anxiety.
BTC: Nature is a central part of what you do. What else inspires you?
MH: The creations of others. Absolutely! Everything I can see with my eyes inspires me! I think physics and natural laws are very interesting on a more esoteric level.
I constantly posit that science is super interesting, but I also think that man assimilates science in a wrong way. We always think we know everything. Although we largely do not know anything. Then we reject everything we do not know.
As a researcher, I want to look for what we do not know; that is where I want to be. Not to always take things for granted. That the atom was indivisible is perhaps the most symbolic of that, I think. We have lots today that we do not know yet.
BTC: Can you and do you want to be able to turn off your creative side?
MH: No. I took the train to Croatia with a friend two years ago. We went to small deserted beaches where we were completely alone. It was absolutely wonderful. Then I drew all the time! I was happy when I realised that I started a drawing the day before and that I could continue on. It’s probably my dream scenario. To hear the surge of waves. Feel the sun. Adjust your horizon and see shells and stones, see different types of rocks that I have never seen before. It inspires me so much so I have to process it by drawing. That’s my favourite creative state.
BTC: Do you have a dream context where you would like to show your works?
MH: No, not really. No particular art gallery or art museum although there are probably other places though. I think the art world can be so boring in that it is so limited and elitist quite often. I think this is a huge problem that I dislike. I thought about that a lot a few years ago as regards democratic art, i.e. not to exclude anyone in what you show.
I want to encourage people to say what they think about what I have done. And that I prefer not just to show things within white walls. In the autumn I exhibited in a church, which was great fun. There was a completely different audience like those who dared to go in there or who are used to going there. Public art is great in that way. That is something I would have liked to continue to do.
BTC: What is it like to be an artist in Malmö?
MH: I think it’s fantastic! There are a few different aspects. Moving from Stockholm about eight years ago was perfect for me. I became a very anxious figure in Stockholm. I think that the breeding ground for a creative creation in Malmö is fantastic because everyone is usually happy and positive and loves when someone just does something.
BTC: And it’s a supportive artistic community here.
MH: The artists here have to stick together in a different way and we support each other. It is a very favourable climate for me. And probably also for many others. It’s a bit unique, I would say. But Malmö also has exactly the same problems as all other cities with urbanisation and urban planning that does not really allow all activities. For example, the survival of studio space in the city.
BTC: What is your favourite place in Malmö and why?
MH: Pildammsparken has been a very important place for me. It’s my nearest park from where I live. There’s just something about it. Kallis is also a given, of course. But there is something special about Pildammsparken for me.
BTC: If we look ahead. What are you doing? Where are you in your career right now? What have you achieved?
MH: That question is very tiring right now. I support myself as an artist. This is something that 10 years ago I hardly thought was possible. It’s something I’ve been striving for and I’ve achieved it. This does not mean that just because I do it today that I will also be able to do it in two years’ time. There are no guarantees although it has started to feel a bit safe now in recent years.
I also aim to have a little more peace and quiet in my studio. Not to be interrupted all the time. Of course, it’s also a bit of my own fault, but also that financial struggle you always have. I would like to be able to work on bigger projects. Spread out a little more. To have a project over a longer period of time that swells out. More grandiose stuff!
BTC: Why are you still doing what you do?
MH: Because it’s the most fun I know! Of course, it’s not always fun, but I cannot think of anything more amazing to spend my time on. I’m so privileged to be able to make this work. Not everyone dares to make the choice to become an artist with the enormous insecurity it can entail.
To me, it’s worth the world to be able to do this. I do not take it for granted. I’m also grateful that I’ve had parents who have given me this in some way. My mother dragged us around museums and exhibitions when I was growing up. It has given me so much! If you do not know what an artist is then you cannot choose to become one. And to have people who support you is vital too.
BTC: What advice would you have given yourself as a young person with dreams of becoming an artist?
MH: Have patience and just carry on. If you just keep going, you will become an artist. But do not be in such a f-ing hurry. Try to dare to listen inwards, not outwards.
LEARN MORE
You can follow Maria’s latest work on Instagram @ariaharry
Also, check out her website for more info: www.ariah.se
Beyond The Crane sat down for a one-to-one interview with established artist Maria E Harrysson. A graduate of Konstfack, Harrysson has enjoyed a long and varied artistic career. She has exhibited solo shows all across Sweden and contributed to group shows in London and Hong-Kong. Cover portrait: Aija Svensson.
Harrysson tells Beyond The Crane about her work process, her passion for nature and why she never throws anything she creates away…
BTC: Beyond The Crane: MH: Maria E Harrysson
BTC: Who are you and what is it that you do?
MH: My name is Maria E Harrysson and I am an artist. I work mainly with drawing and sculpture. And the themes that I touch on are the relationship between people and nature. That’s my elevator pitch.
BTC: How would you describe your art to someone who has never seen anything you have done?
MH: It can be perceived as quite spiritual, which is how some others have described my work. ‘New Agey’ I think has been described as but it’s not. I try to find the layers that you may not see or think exist. And also to question what we know about things – to have an open mind.
BTC: And how does this manifest in your work?
MH: It can be expressed in very concrete ways, such as in sculptural forms where I use materials that may have an inherent energy. I have used plastic spoons to create mussels as a comment on disposable cutlery and plastics that eventually end up in the sea. This is a way to open up thoughts, which is what art is all about.
I’m trying to find those things. For example, in my drawings, it may be a sunset that is caught up in something that no longer exists. To constantly question what is it we see? What do we know? What can we do? I’m not always successful, but that’s where I want to be.
BTC: Is there any subject that recurs in what you do?
MH: I’m more periodic. I have gone through different symbols. A decade ago, I worked a lot with tree trunks as a kind of symbol of nature; as an image for a kind of path choice. A unique shape that goes through everywhere. In flashes. In branches. In the bloodstream. Everywhere. I worked very hard with that form then.
BTC: Anything else that has inspired you?
MH: I have also been into shells as a form of what’s fragile in nature. Shells can stand as a symbol of what we romanticise and maybe even step on when we go to the beach. The shell has symbolised what’s feminine in the history of art.
I’ve also used the sunset as a kind of romantic motif that everyone knows and appreciates but still, it is the air and the sea that we pollute. What happens to humans when smog removes our horizon? These are recurring subjects just like the sphere – the sun, the moon, the planet. Human kind’s smallness in the universe.
BTC: Nature and taking care of it is a great driving force in you. If you want to inform and influence, then perhaps art is the first thing you think of. How did it get that way? What else drives you?
MH: It’s probably because I am very affected by works of art. I think there’s something there that I find exciting; being able to tell things in a different way. In addition, to be able to find a parallel way to reach the sensual and the spiritual, not the theoretical. To try to really reach people.
BTC: Did you wake up early one morning when you were five and decide to become an artist? Or have you tried other ways to get you where you want to go?
MH: I’ve probably been creative since I was born. I always, always, do different things. I think I thought early on that being an artist was probably too easy somehow (laughs). Who is not an artist when you are five?! When I was younger, I thought you had to have a profession and being an artist was a perhaps obscure profession. In primary school, art was my most important subject. In high school, I only got a grade 4 every semester. That was the only grade I looked at when I opened the envelope. But the last semester, when I was in the 9th grade, I got a grade 5 and I was so terribly happy! Then I studied aesthetics – art and form in upper secondary school and then I got the highest grade in all the art related subjects there so I felt understood for the first time.
BTC: Upper secondary school was a fruitful time for you it seems.
MH: Yes, I also discovered theatre and did some work in that area and wanted to become a director. I also did some films. But then it was like I was constantly coming back to the creation with my hands because it is a very important part for me. For me, sitting in front of a computer is very abstract, even if it is a creative process. I have to do things with my hands. After Konstfack (University of Arts, Crafts and Design), I did a lot of work with clothes and finally, I started working as a costume designer for film. It was a great deal of fun but every moment in the process took such a long time. The creative part was too small for me.
BTC: What does your process look like? How does it start?
MH: It varies a lot and can be very different. I work constantly. When I’m not working, I do not feel so good. And when I say work, it could be sitting and drawing when I am sitting on the couch in front of the TV. So I always do it somehow. Things come out of that.
The process somehow never ends, it is continuous. Then it can be a specific idea that has a beginning and an end. But I always try to keep the process alive by looking for new ways to pick out what I want. A feeling/mood is probably how best to describe what I am looking for.
BTC: When in the process do you show things to others? And for whom?
MH: It’s also very different actually. Sometimes I can have a partly very open process where I show things I do quite quickly via Instagram for example. Sometimes I can work very secretly in my studio and not even let anyone in for maybe two months. It all depends on what it is.
I also think that I have become even more careful with my work process in recent years than I was before. In the past, I was probably more generous with my work process. It’s something I think about, I cannot really decide what happened there. I think the whole development of society also affects things.
BTC: Is it that you are more careful about your work process or that you are more aware of your process?
MH: I think I’m more careful about it. I have always been aware. I was educated at Konstfack and when I studied there it was Process! Process! Process! The process was more important than what the end product became. When a course was over, it was not the work itself that was important to look at, but how did you arrive at it. I love processes! It’s amazing to be able to see it.
BTC: And social media is a part of that nowadays…
MH: To me, Instagram is like a diary. I never remove anything. There I can see my creative development over the last 10 years now and it’s great to observe that. You can see how you as a person and artist intertwine. When you look at other artists and can see their process through decades and to also be able to see that in oneself is very exciting.
BTC: What is your relationship to throwing away things you have created?
MH: It’s not that good. I don’t throw things away! If something doesn’t go as I thought it would, it may help me get mixed into something else or become something I build on. It’s very rare that I actually throw something away. Privately, I’m also a bit of a ‘hoarder’ I must confess…
BTC: How do you avoid becoming comfortable? To always return to what you are good at.
MH: I think that is a very difficult thing. I know I have some comfortable things that I fall into sometimes. Then I have to challenge myself. I do this through hard work quite simply. What if I turn upside down? If I change materials? If I do the opposite? How can I change this so it becomes a level stronger? It’s a huge fear to get caught up in something I’m comfortable with.
For example with drawing. Now I have been drawing in the same way for 7-8 years. It can be very well appreciated but it can also be very dangerous. It makes one comfortable for people wanting to see similar things. I was in a group exhibition with two sculptures. Then the comments were about ‘Well, I thought you would bring drawings.’ Those expectations are a bit dangerous.
At the same time, some artists have done the same things all their lives and that’s okay too. But I like to do new things. Materials, for example, are a great deal of fun. To invent new materials. When I work sculpturally, I work mainly with reusable materials and then you have to invent things.
BTC: What about the feeling of being finished. Does that come easy for you? Or is it anguish?
MH: I do not suffer that much actually. I always have some form of communication with what I work with. Some drawings draw themselves. I’m just a hand. It may sound fuzzy but it really is like that. Then it knows for itself when it is ready. So I have not really had a problem with that.
BTC: How do you feel about collaborations?
MH: Preferably not during the creative process. It is quite interesting because I have collaborated a lot before and it has gone very well. But in some way, you always have to give up your vision. Some seem to find collaborations that enhance their vision. I’ve never really experienced that. It’s more that you to constantly have to explain to the other what you think. It’s very exhausting.
In other contexts, you have your given role. Like when I worked as a costume designer. I had to decide about the costumes, but I noticed that I wanted to be a part of the whole process. I felt then that I had to own the whole project; that’s how I work. But I collaborate in other ways, for example when I work with offentlig gestaltning. But then it’s usually more around technical issues.
BTC: Is it important that your style is recognisable? That you are visible in what you do?
MH: Exciting. I probably never thought about that. It is not a conscious thought I have with me when I create i.e., that it should be seen that it is Maria. I don’t think so. What I want to access is the commonality that we can meet in. The experience of belonging to the world in some way. And then I’m just a channel for it. This is how I try to think – to channel the collective consciousness. It is filtered through me, then I become the sender.
Then again I move with a certain visual realm. For example, I never portray people.
BTC: Why not?
MH: I have wondered about that a lot. I think it’s super difficult because it takes focus away from something. Then the focus is on who it is and what kind of story you are telling. And that’s not what I’m interested in. Maybe it’s also because we are living in such an individual-oriented world. I want us to see ourselves as a collective – all people and nature. The human gaze is interesting but not the individual.
BTC: What do you wish someone to feel when they see your art?
MH: I wish they had some kind of spiritual experience; I cannot make it more concrete than that. That they get a little mini spiritual experience so that the next time they look at the horizon line, they think about it differently. The sculptures are often much more direct; it’s there I want to create some anxiety.
BTC: Nature is a central part of what you do. What else inspires you?
MH: The creations of others. Absolutely! Everything I can see with my eyes inspires me! I think physics and natural laws are very interesting on a more esoteric level.
I constantly posit that science is super interesting, but I also think that man assimilates science in a wrong way. We always think we know everything. Although we largely do not know anything. Then we reject everything we do not know.
As a researcher, I want to look for what we do not know; that is where I want to be. Not to always take things for granted. That the atom was indivisible is perhaps the most symbolic of that, I think. We have lots today that we do not know yet.
BTC: Can you and do you want to be able to turn off your creative side?
MH: No. I took the train to Croatia with a friend two years ago. We went to small deserted beaches where we were completely alone. It was absolutely wonderful. Then I drew all the time! I was happy when I realised that I started a drawing the day before and that I could continue on. It’s probably my dream scenario. To hear the surge of waves. Feel the sun. Adjust your horizon and see shells and stones, see different types of rocks that I have never seen before. It inspires me so much so I have to process it by drawing. That’s my favourite creative state.
BTC: Do you have a dream context where you would like to show your works?
MH: No, not really. No particular art gallery or art museum although there are probably other places though. I think the art world can be so boring in that it is so limited and elitist quite often. I think this is a huge problem that I dislike. I thought about that a lot a few years ago as regards democratic art, i.e. not to exclude anyone in what you show.
I want to encourage people to say what they think about what I have done. And that I prefer not just to show things within white walls. In the autumn I exhibited in a church, which was great fun. There was a completely different audience like those who dared to go in there or who are used to going there. Public art is great in that way. That is something I would have liked to continue to do.
BTC: What is it like to be an artist in Malmö?
MH: I think it’s fantastic! There are a few different aspects. Moving from Stockholm about eight years ago was perfect for me. I became a very anxious figure in Stockholm. I think that the breeding ground for a creative creation in Malmö is fantastic because everyone is usually happy and positive and loves when someone just does something.
BTC: And it’s a supportive artistic community here.
MH: The artists here have to stick together in a different way and we support each other. It is a very favourable climate for me. And probably also for many others. It’s a bit unique, I would say. But Malmö also has exactly the same problems as all other cities with urbanisation and urban planning that does not really allow all activities. For example, the survival of studio space in the city.
BTC: What is your favourite place in Malmö and why?
MH: Pildammsparken has been a very important place for me. It’s my nearest park from where I live. There’s just something about it. Kallis is also a given, of course. But there is something special about Pildammsparken for me.
BTC: If we look ahead. What are you doing? Where are you in your career right now? What have you achieved?
MH: That question is very tiring right now. I support myself as an artist. This is something that 10 years ago I hardly thought was possible. It’s something I’ve been striving for and I’ve achieved it. This does not mean that just because I do it today that I will also be able to do it in two years’ time. There are no guarantees although it has started to feel a bit safe now in recent years.
I also aim to have a little more peace and quiet in my studio. Not to be interrupted all the time. Of course, it’s also a bit of my own fault, but also that financial struggle you always have. I would like to be able to work on bigger projects. Spread out a little more. To have a project over a longer period of time that swells out. More grandiose stuff!
BTC: Why are you still doing what you do?
MH: Because it’s the most fun I know! Of course, it’s not always fun, but I cannot think of anything more amazing to spend my time on. I’m so privileged to be able to make this work. Not everyone dares to make the choice to become an artist with the enormous insecurity it can entail.
To me, it’s worth the world to be able to do this. I do not take it for granted. I’m also grateful that I’ve had parents who have given me this in some way. My mother dragged us around museums and exhibitions when I was growing up. It has given me so much! If you do not know what an artist is then you cannot choose to become one. And to have people who support you is vital too.
BTC: What advice would you have given yourself as a young person with dreams of becoming an artist?
MH: Have patience and just carry on. If you just keep going, you will become an artist. But do not be in such a f-ing hurry. Try to dare to listen inwards, not outwards.
LEARN MORE
You can follow Maria’s latest work on Instagram @ariaharry
Also, check out her website for more info: www.ariah.se