What is the link between a Peak District (England) artist and farmer’s wife and the revival of an 18th century Swedish folk art tradition? The answer is the BESST project! Sue Prince tells the story:
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“In rural southern Sweden, in the late 1700s, a tradition started of creating painted wall hangings (bonads) to decorate the dark interiors of the small farmhouses at Christmas. These narrative paintings traditionally depicted Bible stories. The tradition grew as skills were passed on locally. |
“Swedish bonads were created on linen, grown and woven locally. The surface was probably rabbit skin glue and chalk, and the paint was egg tempera - natural pigments, ground and mixed with egg yolk. They were aspirational paintings, with rich costumes and well fed elegant people and horses and record many features of life in the 1700s.
“I live on an organic dairy farm and provide farm B&B and cottages, I run sustainable business development projects, currently connected with food, I am also a working artist, producing narrative art work.
“In March 2004 I visited Unnaryd (Sweden) during a BESST business exchange. I had been studying the Bayeux Tapestry so when I came across these traditional Swedish paintings it seemed that all the different strands of my life had come together.
“I researched methods and materials and now produce my own bonads inspired by the original Swedish work. I want to show aspects of our rural life now in this Swedish style. I paint on gesso on canvas using egg yolk and natural pigments.
“In November 2004 I studied the original bonads of Johannes Nilsson (1757-1827) at the Unnaryd bonads museum. It was fantastic to see his brush strokes and textures, it was as if he was speaking to me and teaching his methods. I also met 83 year old Torsten Bengtsson, the only remaining bonad painter in Unnaryd. Unfortunately Torsten died in April 2005, I was so grateful to have met him, a kind and gentle man with a good sense of humour.
“There is a real interest in this Swedish tradition and I was invited back to Sweden in July 2005 to run a bonad painting course in Unnaryd. The course was a great success, with 13 Swedish people producing their own small bonads, to their own designs.
