Emmy Dijkstra

Three weeks ago I arrived in New York City, this time we were going to stay there for two weeks. We stayed in Queens one of the boroughs. I have visited this borough before and I always had the wish to come back again. Now we got the opportunity to stay with a friend. I like this borough very much because it has so much variety, from very residential to large apartment buildings but also these typical wooden houses with a porch.
Also, like the rest of New York City, it is a mix of different cultures. I feel at home there. For me it was the third time I visited New York and every time I feel that I can breathe again. I know the way of living, and making a living in New York can be a struggle. But at the same time you are completely free in how you want to live your life.

Because the Manhattan Graphics Center gave me the opportunity of doing an artist talk they offered me a week of studio time in return. First I panicked a little bit; in New York you could walk for days just to find out how many layers this city really has; every day you discover new things or meet new people. So where do I start? What to draw about when everything is an inspiration?
To keep it simple I decided to use my daily life as an inspiration: to wake up in our friends house every morning. I saw the Virgin Mary in the garden on the other side of the street. Every morning I ordered a bagel cream cheese at a deli. Before I could really start a day I had to buy a coffee. After buying my coffee I walked to Bryant Park which became my living room/office/studio during those two weeks. Because that is what you need in New York: a place where you can return to every day and enjoy the things you have seen. So after spending some time in my living room it was time to do some printing at the MGC and to meet people. Just to end the day in Bryant Park again with a couple of drinks.

You see, I kept my life very simple during my stay and still there was a lot going on!

‘I consider Bryant Park as my livingroom now’, paper litho, 2014

First I’ll get my coffee in the morning, paper litho 2014

The Virgin Mary in the garden of the church, paper litho, 2014

Running through some of my older etchings, I discovered this one again after a long time, I had almost forgot about it. My etchings were more about things that happened in the world. Things that I had read in the newspaper about fugitives and displaced people. The prints were more political involved. This print for example is about an article I read in the newspaper, it was about a tribe that lives very deep in the jungle; they weren’t discovered yet until a plane flew above their village and the tribe pointed their arrow at the plane: they never saw a plane before. So after this it was of course very interesting to find out who those people were. Back then I was thinking after I read this article; that tribe can’t continue their way of living because soon people from the outside world start to arrive out of curiosity. The anonymity of the tribe will just fade away.

It is summertime in Sweden. The fields are covered with yellow flowers. And we are surrounded by all sorts of green. The sky is bright. One evening we were walking home and all the yellow flowers in the big meadow close to our home were suddenly turned into fluffy balls. It was beautiful; de sky was ultramarine blue and in the dark the fluffy balls were like luminous stars.

I want to make a print of this picture that is still in my head. First I have made a sketch. Still don’t know how to turn it into a print. I’ll let it linger for a while.

(picture made by Rense Nieuwenhuis)

The last couple of weeks I have been working on an edition of 300 paper litho’s. I have made them for a Dutch printmakers magazine to send to all their members. It wasn’t difficult to came up with an image. I wanted to tell about my life here in Sweden. Immediately I had to think of this person sitting in his kayak in the middle of a huge lake. I saw it from a distance so the person and his kayak were very tiny. It all looked so peaceful: the kayak was moving so calm in the middle of this huge lake; it was like it all came together.

A couple of years ago I saw this movie about two friends who were traveling through
South-America on their motorcycles. Right after college. Before they are going to live their lives like responsible grown ups they first want to see what’s out there. But after their journey ends they parted. One of them decides to take another path in life; he gets into an airplane that brings him into the deep jungle. The one who stays behind watches him go. Beautiful scene; It always reminds me that you really should take your own path in life. Sometimes by airplane, bus or train or in your own home and mind.

Paper lithography, 30 x 40 cm, 2014

Sitting in the metro going through the night; still fully awake.

That’s what people say here at the end of the day: ‘jag åker hem’ which means ‘I go home’.

Twice a week I take pendeltåg 25 to Nacka Station to work at the printshop. Sometimes I can’t sleep at night, thinking of all the new places I go to, with names I had never heard of before and now those places have  become part of my daily life.

paper litho 2014

No matter where I am there will always be ‘mitt lilla hus’ to go back to. I think you can create a home everywhere. As long as you find books there to read and a table to work on.

paper litho 2014

My second print of my new series paper litho’s. I’m becoming more accustomed to my new life here in Sweden: like discovering ice flowers on my window and going Swedish lessons for immigrants.