Anne Discovers Herself In 'The Bladholm Five: A Family of Artists'
/
‘Helioamphora Two’ by Sharon BladholmMy last front page post on A Day of Peace is highly personal. Anne of Carversville began in June 2007 as a very simple journal, one triggered by my sitting outside in Carversville, hearing the church bells on Sunday morning, while reading Angelina Jolie’s Esquire interview about civic responsibilities.
Square Peg | Round Hole
Anyone who is a regular reader knows that I am artistic, sensual, global, passionate activist on many issues. Growing up in my small town in Minnesota, I was a square peg in a round hole.
My mom swore they switched babies on her at the hospital. However did she get this handful of a daughter!
My strong entrepreneurial drive fits our successful family mold, but not the rest of the package. Simply stated, I was the odd person out in my family and remain that person today.
Bladholms left to right: Ann (wife & mom), twins Glen and Linda, Sharon, John and Eric. Sketches were done by John Bladhom when each of his children were young.
Bladholm 5 | A Family of Artists
A little over a month ago, my dear cousin Jo — who I regard as more of a sister — and her husband Les picked up my mother in Dubuque, Iowa and drove to Chicago for an art opening. My maternal grandfather was Swedish, last name Bladholm.
They were attending a show at the Swedish Art Museum Bladholm 5: A Family of Artists, running January 14-March 13, 2011.
My first trip to a big city came at age 13 or so, when Jo and I packed up our suitcases and headed off to Chicago with our great aunt Grace. We stayed with the now-deceased grandparents and parents of the Bladholm 5.
That week in Chicago was one of the best of my life, leaving me consumed with the culture and elegance of the Bladholms. There was such an inspiring, engaged, culturally and politically-aware vibe in their family life — one I wanted to transport home to Minnesota.
Jo and I were just wide-eyed girls at the table — with no understanding of art and ideas — but we sat taller and acted smarter around the Bladholms.
Neither of us wanted to leave Chicago and the family magic of Skokie. Those feelings were a long-bured memory that crept into my mind in quiet moments, until I opened Jo’s package of cards and her thoughts about meeting Bladholm 5: A Family of Artists.
The Emotional Roof Falls on Anne’s Head
It is very difficult for me to write these words and I haven’t been able to articulate a journal post on these Bladholm creatures for several weeks. Besides the obvious reality that the art show will be over in Chicago on March 13th, I haven’t found the right spot at AOC for the Bladholm 5.
They are too special to be just a post on the news page, sandwiched between Victoria’s Secret lingerie and the Paris designer shows. They fit fine in several other spots of the website, but not Les Artistes, which is going strictly sensual moving forward.
Perhaps to be attached to me is to be suddenly homeless, vagabond that I can be. Then again, perhaps it was worth waiting for this special spot in which to talk about the Bladholm 5.
In the Company of Artists
Today, when we are celebrating the Facebook dream of one young man for A Day of Peace and I just posted JR’s TED Prize video on global street art, I realize that this is the spot for the Bladholm 5.
The beauty of the Internet is that one can Google immediately, tracking people down There is neither the time, nor do I have the emotional capacity today, to articulate what I experienced bringing up the websites of my distant cousins.
I come to the Bladholm 5 with prejudice but not nepotism. Scandinavian cultures inspire me today, writing about their politics, values, women’s rights agendas and their growing influence on style, fashion and photography. Scandinavia is a vision of how more egalitarian societies function, and yes, their economies are doing well, too.
Admitting that I am partial to Swedes, I set about learning about the Bladholm 5, beginning with Eric. This digital journey was a bit traumatic. By the time I reached Sharon Bladholm, I was weeping with my head in my hands. For the first time in my long life, I felt my own misplaced family DNA.
I am not adopted; I didn’t get switched at the hospital as my mother fears. I am hers — for better or worse, and I am a Bladholm.
Eric J. Bladholm | Chicago Glassworks
Chicago Glassworks is a state of the art glass blowing facility and artist’s studio custom built into a former iron foundry. Reading these words, I knew I was on a journey.
Glass artist, sculptor and photographer Eric Bladholm got his start in glass and art early. At age 11, his older sister Sharon taught him how to make stained and leaded glass, which he pursued until his first year of college, where Eric discovered the art of glass blowing.
Did I meet Sharon and Eric on my trip? Did we sit at the same dinner table in Skokie?
After completing his BFA in fine art and glass at California College of Arts and Crafts, and a season in Europe working with several renown glass masters, Eric returned to Chicago to meet the challenges of building a studio of his own. Several years of working in the construction trades and a partnership with his sister’s studio evolved into the formation of Chicago Glassworks over 20 years ago.
The glass created at Chicago Glassworks is all made by the artist himself. The colors and textures of nature are the departure point for many of Eric’s inovative explorations with hand blown glass. Summers in Door County, Wisconsin as a child, and extensive travels in Europe have influenced his work in functional objects, sculpture and photography. Eric also produces custom lighting products for many national and international designers and lighting firms.
Reading about Eric Bladholm, I love these words and images on his website. I try to remember if Sharon Bladholm was running around making stained and leaded glass, when I met her as a young girl..
I vividly remember my introduction to Frank Lloyd Wright houses in Highland Park, Ill, and this impression has never left me as recently as Thanksgiving 2009 when I visited Taliesin West.
Sharon Bladholm
It was only natural that I would next turn to Eric’s older sister Sharon for my next Bladholm introduction. Within 20 minutes, of roaming through Sharon’s website, I was sobbing.
My time spent in the living libraries of Latin American jungles, amidst various indigenous peoples has profoundly influenced my art. My participation on scientific expeditions has allowed access to remote and pristine ecosystems where people still live in direct interface with nature. Numerous onsite sketches of the botanical exuberance in rain forested areas becomes an internal deposit of plant anatomy, leaf, stamen, stem, seed, blossom and thorn, creating an inherent intelligence that informs and infuses my work.
Through my artwork I intend to visually engage the viewer and communicate the importance of human relationships and interaction with the biological wealth that delights, surrounds and sustains us. I hope to integrate the sometimes separate disciplines of art, science, conservation and the natural world into a seamless visual experience that can affect a subtle shift in perception.
Once again Facebook enters the picture in AOC relationships. I wrote to Sharon on FB and heard back from her in minutes.
Here are details of Sharon’s expedition to the Brazilian Amazon: The Yangomami. If you know AOC, is any of this sounding familliar?
John E. Bladholm
Reading about the exhibit, this is the John E. Bladholm that I remember vaguely but in an influential way.
Of course, he was a much younger man when I last saw him. In a very real way, something about John Bladholm and his wife Ann —- inspired me to follow my own path, one not embraced by my family.
When I left the Bladholms in Chicago at age 13-14, I was convinced that I was going places. I wanted their life, their values, their embrace of ideas, art and global cultures to be mine. I flew over Chicago to get it, but the memories of Bladholms propelled me East.
There is no doubt that the Bladholms like flying, too, based on their resumes.
Speaking of flying, here is a story about the day I turned around a 747 airplane at JFK on my first trip to New York. I wrote it after Sept. 11, 2001, another time of deep reflection for me.
In Praise of Family
Artists weren’t valued in my family. We were much more nuts and bolts, work hard, save your money and prosper types.
I am intrigued now with this man John Bladholm — whose dad and my grandfather were brothers, producing a very different lineage of decendents.
Why did they become artists, embracers of global cultures and world travelers, while our side of the family became so practical? (Note: my mother has changed since I was a child and her many trips with my father broadened her perspective.)
Our side is very successful, but we are more left-brained and not creatives. When my seventh grade art teacher moved me into an advanced calculus class, telling me “It’s better for you because you’re not creative”, I was devastated. My aspirations were to be in this Bladholm group, which I valued higher than all others — given my lack of talent to be an esteemed cancer doctor like my brother Chuck.
Today — finally, I am home — even if I never meet the Bladholm 5 or John Bladholm, whose influence was so dominant in my memories.
John E. Bladholm obtained an art degree at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Afterwards, he painted and exhibited his work in San Francisco and completed a Masters degree in Art Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He maintained a career in teaching art in Highland Park, Ill. for 33 years as well as exhibited his own work in Highland Park, Chicago, and Evanston.
Linda Bladholm
The plot is thickening here. I’ve honestly been so distraught and elated over this Bladholm discovery that you and I are both learning about the last two Bladholms at the same moment.
Linda, obtained a Bachelors of Fine Art degree from the University of San Francisco and the Art Academy of San Francisco, and she currently works as a food and travel writer in addition to working with photography and collages comprised of various papers, found matter, watercolors and other paints.
My cousin has authored several excellent cookbooks, based on ratings, and her travels have taken her far and wide. I’m on her blog now Food India Cook.
I’m a world traveled published author, artist and photographer. I also lived in Southeast Asia, Japan and England for a decade with lots of travel to places like Australia,Korea,Hong Kong,Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Europe.Travel has shaped who I am, opened new worlds and cultures and inspired much of my art and writing. I’m very much of the philosophy you can’t take it with you but you live life the fullest here and now. Experiences are more valuable that lots of things. I also love animals, especially cats. Naturally I enjoy cooking, mostly Indian food but I also make killer Thai and other cuisines. Live, Eat, Pray….
Glen Bladholm
The final Bladholm — Glen — is the oldest of the four children and has utilized several different art media throughout the years, including paint and collages, photography, and performing arts. Glen lives in Syracuse, New York with his family.
If I was smart, I would rename Anne of Carversville: “Anne and the Bladholm 5” and make them all contributors to our content. The synchrony in our world views has me shaking my pretty blond head, when I’m not reaching for the Kleenex.
Anne is moved immeasurably by this cast of characters that is so close to me, and yet world’s away. Not to worry; I am working on fixing the situation.
First up, we will bring Sharon’s South American travel and field work stories and artistic vision that springs from her studies and relationships to Anne of Carversville, where they will get a large audience.
Round Peg | New Round Hole
The Bladholm 5 are such a perfect fit, I just may jump a plane to Chicago.
One of my most profound impressions of a young woman hell bent on moving to New York and the whole world, when she was seven years old, has connected with the people who inspired her to believe that her dreams and world view were actually possible.
When you are the square peg in a round hole, there are moments when you think you are just the family misfit. But looking at the Bladholm 5, I understand now that I am totally normal — just plunked down on the wrong side of the family tree.
In finding the fabulous 6 — we do have another Bladholm not featured in the art show but in the photo and that is Ann — I have found my own roots in a way that I cannot explain, beyond what I have written. The fabulous 6 are a tremendous beacon of light to me, one that I have not fully digested yet.
America was built with the talent, labor and vision of many different kinds of people and cultures. The Swedish-American Bladholms are mine. And I know their values will align with the research I’ve posted about life in Scandinavia.
Tomorrow: my cousin Jo’s first-hand impressions of meeting the Bladholm 5: A Family of Artists, at their opening in Chicago. Your Anne is drained over the emotional nature of such a pround discovery as the Bladholm 6, and she has to go to bed. Anne
Fragments from Jo Collins’ trip to the opening reception for ‘The Bladholm Five | A Family of Artists’:
The exhibit was AWESOME!!!! which sounds trite, but it truly was extraordinary. Just wish you could have been there, too… . Even Les admitted that all the driving was worth it. The exhibit itself was well attended; the art walk Sat am especially interesting, as we learned more about the personalities behind all the creative geniuses.
An added bonus was visiting both Sharon and Eric’s studios that afternoon, giving great context to the show… You can’t imagine the tremendous variety of artistic expression … John’s acrylics, oils, pencil drawings — all pulsing with color.
Sharon’s scluptures and prints heavily infuenced by her travels into Central and South America. She’s even been on Field Museum, scientific expeditions.… Eric’s extensive travels in Croatia, Ukraine, Bosnia are reflected in his glass work, many with his metal art and also photography.
Glen lives in Syracuse and is the only one with a family — two grandchildren. He’s a rugged, extreme outdoorsman and hikes often in the Adirondacks, where he photographs nature’s seasonal palette…
Linda does amazing collages as a hobby. They’re also very colorful, but fantasy and whimsical, too. Now Linda is writing a series of 13 scripts on Indian cooking to be aired on the Food Network.
What impacted me more than anything is that all 5 (and 6 including Ann) are charming, very congenial and so close. It was so beautiful so see this America family express themselves with individuality but also a common theme about living life that is so you. Love, Jo
