Spotlight on Swedish artist, Hellen Soderberg

2022-09-29

Immigrants from all over the world come to Taiwan, where they find work, build homes, and contribute to making the island so special. In Today’s installment of “An Immigrant Story,” we meet Hellen Soderberg, an abstract artist from Sweden. FTV reporter Stephany Yang sits down with Soderberg to learn about her works.

She introduces her artworks on the wall. This is Hellen Soderberg, a Swedish artist who has been living in Taiwan since 2005. Helen began abstract acrylic painting in 2020. She taught herself how to paint through experimenting and watching tutorials. She said her paintings are greatly inspired by Taiwan’s architecture and people.

Hellen Soderberg
Artist
For inspiration with the abstract art, it’s a lot about Taiwan, being out in the community and seeing. I love the rough facade, and the rustic, the old. I find beauty in all of that. If you see my abstract art, that is what i’m doing. The rough textured style.

Before moving to Taiwan, Soderberg was a children’s TV show host and scriptwriter in Sweden. She later moved to Taiwan in 2005 with her husband and daughter. She originally planned to only spend a year in Taiwan, but quickly fell in love with the country, and has been living here for 17 years.

Hellen Soderberg
Artist
Taiwan. I love the people. They’re so friendly and it’s so safe. The weather is nice. Food is of course really good. It’s Taiwan, what’s not to like about Taiwan?

In her first few years of living in Taiwan, she sold craft supplies online. She later began making scrapbooks, handcrafted jewelry, and also taught creative workshops. In November 2021, she created an art program called Lutetia ART-at-TAC at a coffee shop in Taipei, which provides an exhibition space for artists to exhibit their creative works.

Hellen Soderberg
Artist
ART-at-TAC first started with me coming to Cedric, who owns this coffee shop, asking if me and a friend could display art here for a month. He was just like, "of course." When that was done, Cedric said that he loved having art up because he has it before, but not on a regular basis. I said I can help you find people because I know a lot of people who are creative in many differnt mediums. He was just like, "Yeah, okay that would be great." Then, Cedric said, "Would you mind running it”? I was like, "OK." Since then, I’ve been doing all the advertising and work to find the artists, curate, and look at the art.

So far, Art-at-TAC has showcased works by 26 artists through monthly exhibitions. It is free for artists to exhibit and sell their works, but artists are asked to donate 10% of the sales to a local charity of their choice.

Hellen Soderberg
Artist
I just love doing this and then especially coming in when we are doing the display and hanging because we do that during the day. Seeing the kids come in and people being of awe at the art we put up on the walls. It’s pretty cool to see their reactions beause otherwise they might not be exposed to this kind of art. I’m hoping this will continue. I plan to be and hope to be in Taiwan forever.

Soderberg hopes to continue to provide a platform for artists and share the beauty of Taiwan to more people.

來台17年瑞典藝術家施海倫談創作與策展

2022-09-29

台灣有來自世界各地的移民，在這邊工作、建立家園，並發揮所長。今天帶您來認識一位來自瑞典的抽象藝術家施海倫，聽她談談關於創作以及策展等歷程。

鏡頭前介紹自己作品，她是瑞典藝術家施海倫，2005年來台定居，2020年透過實驗和看影片自學，開始創作壓克力抽象畫。施海倫說，她的畫作深受台灣建築和人民的啟發。

[[藝術家施海倫]]]
"我的抽象藝術作品，靈感有很大一部分來自台灣，在身邊看到的種種。我喜歡粗獷的外觀，質樸的、古老的美學。看我的抽象畫就知道了，帶著粗獷的風格。"

定居台灣之前，施海倫是瑞典的兒童電視節目主持人和編劇，2005年，她和先生還有女兒搬來台灣，原本打算只在台灣待一年，但很快就愛上這裡，一來就是17年。

[[藝術家施海倫]]
“我愛台灣人的友善，而且這非常安全、天氣很好，食物當然也超棒。是台灣耶，能有什麼不喜歡的地方？”

剛來台灣的那幾年，施海倫在網路上賣工藝用品，後來開始製作剪貼簿、手工製作的珠寶，還在創意工作坊授課。2021年11月，她在台北一家咖啡廳展開了一個名為Lutetia Art-at-TAC的藝術專案，為藝術家提供了展出的空間。

[[藝術家施海倫]]
"Art-at-TAC這個專案，一開始是咖啡廳的老闆Cedric問我跟另一個朋友，能不能在那邊辦一個月藝術展。結束之後，Cedric說他喜歡藝術創作，因為他以前就會展出一些作品，但不是常態性的。我說我可以幫你找到人，因為我認識很多人，他們在不同的媒材中都能發揮。他就說，好，那太好了。後來，Cedric還問我願意管理嗎，我回說，好啊。之後，我就一直在做所有的宣傳、找藝術家、策展等等。"

施海倫已經幫26位藝術家辦過作品展，藝術家可以選擇無償展出，也可以做交易，條件是要將收益的10%，捐給他們指定的慈善機構。

[[藝術家施海倫]]
"我很喜歡這樣做，特別是在我們在把畫作掛出來的時候，因為是白天，小朋友會進來、客人讚嘆我們牆上的藝術品，看到他們的反應很棒，因為平常他們可能不會接觸到這種藝術。我希望繼續做下去，我也打算永遠待在台灣"

施海倫期盼，能持續讓藝術家有展出的機會，將台灣之美分享給更多人。