• Jordana Loeb: "Each Process Has Its Own Dimension"

    Written by Natalia Muntean

    Jordana Loeb's practice bridges printmaking, sculpture, sound, and movement, creating deeply transformative works that connect natural materials with themes of memory, heritage, and interaction. Her experimental approach—most recently exemplified by her ongoing project Wooden Feedback—demonstrates an innovative fusion of traditional techniques with contemporary performance and sound. The American artist, who is based in Stockholm, has been awarded the Ann-Margret Lindell Stipendium by Grafikens Hus, in recognition of her contributions to graphic arts.
    In our conversation, Loeb offers insights into her creative process and the evolving dialogue between materials, movement, and sound.

    Natalia Muntean: Your practice merges printmaking, sculpture, and sound with influences from dance and movement. How do you ensure these elements communicate cohesively in your work?
    Jordana Loeb:     One aspect that has tied printmaking, sculpture and sound together in my practice has been the material, such as wood. Through hours of repetitive carving, I started to question the material. Does the tone of the wood change from carving at different depths? How do the density, hardness and type of wood also affect the sound? In the ongoing project, “Wooden Feedback”(2022-), a series of carved resonating boards, I have combined relief processes, sculpture and sound in connection with the moving body. Each of these processes has its own dimension, and the combination of the four, as seen in this work, allows for them to coexist. I am drawn to letting the material speak for itself and giving it the space to do so. This has been important as it shows the cause and effect. Specifically in how the sonic feedback loop is driven by the interaction between the body's movements and wooden boards.

    NM: What inspired you to merge your background in movement with traditional graphic techniques, and how has it evolved?
    JL:     During my Bachelor's at Syracuse University, I first thought I would major in Communication Design, yet I found myself stuck at a screen. By chance, I took a printmaking relief course and realised that I was spending more time in the studio as I was constantly moving. I think the lack of movement from my every day started this merge with printmaking. As I reflect on previous and current works, I’ve noticed a pattern of focusing on movements of balance, weight and tension. Especially in my sculptural work “Apple pillars: echo” (2024), a series of carved apple logs fused in steel, balancing from its own pressure and force. I find myself swaying between sculpture, print, sound and performance as each document the process from its own angle. I think this way of working helps me to understand what I am doing and to get closer to my work.

    NM: What does receiving this scholarship mean for you, both personally and professionally, and how do you see it shaping your future as an artist?
    JL:     I’m very honoured to have received this scholarship and to be recognized by fellow printmakers. Already this grant has helped me look forward and realize future projects. Specifically, helping with the new recordings and video documentation of the ‘Wooden Feedback’ performances, which will be later released as a tape with the Stockholm record label, Irrlicht. The funding will also assist with studio rent and give me the time to dedicate towards my practice.  

    NM: The stipend celebrates excellence in graphic art. What do you think makes your approach to graphic art unique, and how does it align with the values of this award?
    JL:     I’ve always been proud of my printmaking background and the community that I’ve been a part of in the States and Stockholm. My approach to printmaking has been motivated by other artistic fields, such as being a member of a Swedish cultural art space, Tropiska Föreningen, for 12 years. Being in this collaborative environment with musicians, artists and dancers, I’ve developed new skills and honed in on my own. My practice has also been influenced by the structure and rhythm of printmaking, where I’ve been encouraged to simplify, not dwell on the right or wrong way, and embrace the mistakes.

  • Jenny Carlsson Grip: “I Dig, Claw and Plough in the Colour”

    Written by Natalia Muntean

    Celebrated for her evocative blend of painting and graphic art, Swedish artist Jenny Carlsson Grip is one of the four recipients of the prestigious Ann-Margret Lindell scholarship, offered by Grafikens Hus. Based in a forest studio in Blekinge, Carlsson Grip’s art bridges the rawness of nature and the intricacies of human expression. Her work, often created through field observations and completed in the studio, captures the textures, moods, and contrasts of the natural world.

    In our conversation, we discuss her artistic process, the significance of receiving this recognition, and her plans to further explore landscapes through hand-printed graphic art inspired by weather diaries and Nordic terrains.

    NM: Nature plays a central role in your work, yet you avoid romanticising it. How do you strike a balance between abstraction and realism in conveying the rawness of the natural world?
    JCG:     I’m drawn to both the wild and the cultivated landscape and am intrigued by the ugly and frightening as well as the calm and beautiful sides of nature. My work is a place where energy, nature and colour meet.

    NM: Your dynamic brushwork and physical engagement with paint give your work a tactile quality. How does this hands-on approach enhance the storytelling in your art?
    JCG:     The physical process with the material, the paint and needle strokes, are central to my work. I dig, claw and plough in the colour, walk back 20 steps just to run forth again. In the large canvases, I can let the arms stretch and the nails scrape on the surface, in the small graphic plates the drawing carries the moment, and the printing refines it.

    NM: What does receiving this scholarship mean for you, both personally and professionally, and how do you see it shaping your future as an artist?
    JCG:     Thanks to this I can continue to work professionally as an artist in these rather uncertain times, it is of course also very meaningful to get recognition for my art so I’m very grateful for this. This will help me to continue using graphic art in my fieldwork exploring nature and colour.

    NM: The stipend celebrates excellence in graphic art. What do you think makes your approach to graphic art unique, and how does it align with the values of this award?
    JCG:     I come to the graphic art technique as a painter and find within it a materiality and an expression that complements my oil painting. I usually work outside and have found that the graphic copper and plastic plates also work very well in bringing them out into the landscape. I make the drawing with the needle outside and let the colours come in the printing studio, which leaves space both for the motif and for the act of painting, I like that process.

  • Linus Höj Krantz: "Finding Loopholes in a Medium with Set Rules"

    Written by Natalia Muntean

    Blending alchemical experimentation with graphic art and craftsmanship, Linus Höj Krantz, born in 1989 in Stockholm, Sweden, is an artist whose works explore themes of cycles, escapism, and environmental disruptions, often integrating unconventional techniques with traditional methods. In his latest project, Linus draws inspiration from Arlanda Airport, transforming its logistics and design elements into etched circuit boards, copper engravings, and sculptural objects that connect history with modernity.

    Discover more about the artist’s innovative approach to printmaking, the impact of being one of the four receivers of the 2024 Ann-Margret Lindell Stipendium, and the importance of creating a dialogue between art and the unnoticed systems that shape our world.

    Natalia Muntean: Your interest in unconventional methods of printmaking sets you apart. What draws you to challenge traditional boundaries in this medium?
    Linus Höj Krant:     I think perhaps the way I work around these boundaries has a lot to do with my personality. I enjoy haphazardness and a tiny bit of chaoticness, at the same time I crave boundaries and templates. Finding loopholes or possibilities to tweak a medium that has long-set rules and archetypes is just something that suits having that type of mindset. Also, I think it´s a medium that has a lot of potential to conversate with the present and its ways of transmitting images and information.

    NM: Your work often combines experimental techniques with traditional printmaking. How do you decide which techniques to integrate into a new project?
    LHK:     Accumulating techniques and finding out what works is a long and slow process, I would say. I might pick up a seed of a technique while working on a current project. Then a concept or a site or something that whispers to this technique gets added to the back of my brain and eventually, it becomes the foundation towards new work. For the last ten years, I´ve been travelling a lot by bus and train within the Nordic countries, partially because of studying in Norway, Denmark and Sweden. These constant journeys have made me subconsciously and consciously merge landscapes, energy and logistics with techniques such as electrolytic printmaking, circuit boards and sculpting found material/metal. Usually, I start a project with too many ideas, and as the project develops, I scratch and peel off what doesn´t need to be in it.

    NM: What does receiving this scholarship mean for you, both personally and professionally, and how do you see it shaping your future as an artist?
    LHK:     I think it means more than a lot. It´s a great encouragement to continue to try new and unwritten paths within my artistic process. Hopefully, it will bring more flexibility for me to spend longer periods on research and grinding new techniques.

    NM: The stipend celebrates excellence in graphic art. What do you think makes your approach to graphic art unique, and how does it align with the values of this award?
    LHK:     I guess what sets me apart could be that I´m very curious about how rare methods and artistic processes can have a dialogue with what surrounds us but often go unnoticed. Having your antennas both inside the box and outside of it, I guess resonates a lot with the ideas and core values of this incredible grant.

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