Not everyone moves to the country to fulfill a long-held dream or to satisfy a yearning for the bucolic country life. From country Sweden to Melbourne to country Victoria, Cecilia Fogelberg is actually a self-professed Cityphile. An adventurous traveler, mother, talented artist, qualified sculptor, art conservator and food gardener, Cecilia happened to buy a little weatherboard cottage in Kyneton because city real estate was too expensive.
“I do love the country life in many ways but I still miss the city; the excitement, the unknown, the energy, the melting pot of cultures and food and people. I think you could describe me as a country girl by birth but a city girl at heart.”
Nevertheless, Cecilia is making the most of what country life has to offer. Along with establishing a productive food garden, Cecilia has recently converted a little garden shed (formerly known locally as the ‘Tattoo Shed’) into a framing studio + store where she trades as Fogelberg’s Conservation Framers. As well as selling her own amazing art, Cecilia offers a full range of framing services for all budgets and has plans afoot to run handy workshops on how to best look after your personal treasures.
“I used to call myself an ‘economical refugee’ when I first moved to the country. But hey, fresh air, friendly folks and a richer lifestyle really grows on you!”
Oh Cecilia, I get the feeling us Countryphiles might win you over yet! {cheeky smile}
Enjoy! {d} x
Tell us a little bit about your background – what were you doing before you moved to the country?
I moved from Sweden to Melbourne in 1999. Before the move to Kyneton, I spent my last 7 years in Brunswick. I have however also lived in Collingwood, East Melbourne, Elwood and St Kilda.
I have been an exhibiting artist since 1996. I graduated from the Victorian Collage of the Arts with a Bachelor Degree in Sculpture in 2004. My life after art school was to work part time and to operate my own art practice as a full-time business.
In 2009, I commenced a Master Degree in Cultural Material Conservation at the University of Melbourne. The focus then shifted from making the art to conserving the art and to the task of getting my head around all the chemistry involved in art conservation. During this time, I was also volunteering as a conservator at Melbourne Museum.
Life as I knew it was then interrupted by my wonderful daughter who came along in 2010. I might have been badly prepared for the changes that came with the parenting role; however I quickly made some big changes to create a situation that would provide my daughter and I with the daily life that we both needed. One of the early issues we were faced with (and which probably most new parents experience) was the fact that there was not enough time in the day to keep everything going. I soon understood that a move to the country could provide us with the life style I wanted to create for my daughter and myself.
You grew up in Sweden. Tell us how you came to move from Sweden to a little weatherboard house in Kyneton?
Ha, yes, when you put it like that it seems like a very long way! There were however many crossroads and bridges between the two destinations.
I grew up in a country town smaller than Kyneton in the southeast of Sweden. Before leaving Sweden in 1999, I tried living in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo. However, I could not find a place to call home until I arrived in Melbourne at the age of 22. I fell head over heals in love with Melbourne and I knew very early that I never wanted to leave.
Due to this ‘love story’ with Melbourne city, leaving Melbourne for Kyneton was not easy. I had, however, got to know Kyneton pretty well before I made the move as I have friends who moved to Kyneton in 2001 and I used to come for regular visits.
There is actually a funny story of how I had a failing attempt at moving back to Sweden in 2005. When I came to say goodbye to my Kyneton friends, I felt the need to buy a tree as a goodbye gift to the land of Australia. So, I planted a tree in Lauriston (just outside Kyneton) and now with hindsight I understand that you don’t plant a tree as a goodbye present, you plant tree as a symbol of planting new roots!
You are an artist. Tell us a little bit about your creativity.
I have been drawing and painting for as long as I can remember. I went to a private daycare as a child and the lady looking after us had a whole room dedicated to the arts. Once I started school, it turned out I was more of a visual kind of kid and I was lucky to have great supporting art teachers around me.
Once you finish Grade 9 in Sweden, you are made to choose your pathway for ‘high school’. I went on to study visual arts in another town from the one I grew up in. It was really amazing when you think back to it. It was similar to a boarding school with students from all around Sweden and we all came to this school to study visual arts, dance, music and theater. The difference in this set-up from a boarding school was that a lot of the students had to live in a private arrangement of small apartments or house-sharing in apartments our parents rented. I therefore had my first own apartment at the age of 16. Back then, all this was subsidised by the Swedish government but I’m pretty sure this would not take place today. Looking back at it, I don’t know if it was such a great idea or if I would ever send my child into an arrangement like that … but let’s just say that it was awesome fun and we certainly made friends for life.
I never really know if I chose the ‘art life’ or if it chose me. As a young teenager I dreamed about becoming an electrician and I think my reason to go with the arts was that the art offered me a pathway that could take me out of the town where I was born and later out of Sweden.
In many ways I think I just took the road that was the easier road for me. The arts could also offer me a lot of intellectual freedom, which is something I have always valued highly. Creativity can, however, have so many different outlets. Creativity for me is daily problem solving. It’s a way for me to understand, organise and process the past, present and future.
Is there a particular philosophy or approach that guides or underpins your work?
I have lately come to understand that the approach to my work is constantly changing and that you must allow it to change with the changes of life. Sometimes you walk hand-in-hand with your creativity but sometimes it runs in front of you and sometimes it gets left behind. It’s not always that you are aware of where you’re at until you have reached a position where you can see it from a different perspective.
During the first two years after my daughter’s birth I was constantly worried about losing my title as an artist. I was walking along with the daily conundrum, “Can you be a bus driver without a bus? Can you be an artist without making art?”
Before my daughter’s birth, my daily routine had been in my studio. Back then, I was never interrupted in my daily thoughts and art dialogue. I had lived a whole life like that and I was ill-prepared for the reality of motherhood. Sleep deprivation and my baby’s needs required me to put my energy in different places. I found it very hard to relate back to my previous studio practice. I can now laugh about it, however, I must admit I felt very lost in this process and I was not prepared to be a parent artist.
I am at present finding my way again. It is a different approach and it has now so many other layers to it; I have recently launched Fogelberg’s Conservation Framers, I’m renovating, I’m establishing an edible garden, as well as being a single parent. Amongst all this, my art becomes my diary notes and my meditative practice. My art becomes the glue in the gaps that makes it the full picture.
Having said that, I do think my art has always had a meditative aspect as well as; I often subconsciously seem to visit the same subject matters. I presume that the essence of me underpins everything I do and a whole lot of it can probably be categorised as an interest in cultural and gender identity.
Can you give us a little insight into your creative processes?
I wake up. I do stuff. I go to bed.
Where or who or what do you draw your inspiration from?
I draw my inspiration from the inside and the outside; from the ordinary and the extraordinary.
You recently launched Fogelberg’s Conservation Framers your conservation framing business. Tell us about how your new venture came about?
To start my own home-based business means that I can do what I love and I can work as hard as I have done for others, for myself. The journey of getting Fogelberg’s Conservation Framers up and running has been challenging but very rewarding.
Before my move to Kyneton, and while I was undertaking my master in Conservation, I worked as a picture framer at Eckersley’s in Prahran. I really love the picture-framing job and I decided it was time for me to go out on my own. I could also see that Kyneton and surrounds was in need of a conservation framer; though I should point out that Fogelberg’s Conservation Framers do all kinds of framing to suit all kinds of budgets and needs.
Fogelberg’s Conservation Framers allows me to combine all my previous skills and to finally have them all operating under one and the same roof. I am also hoping that the business will add to the local economy and the growth of Kyneton village.
Your studio was once a ‘Tattoo Shed’. Tell us a little bit about this curious history and the ups and downs of renovating it into a home studio.
Sometimes, when I look back at the photos of my house as it was when I bought it, I think I must have been mad to buy it! Or, at least I was happily ignorant about what a DIY house renovation involves! However, we are now 2 years down the track and it’s certainly starting to feel like home. I always say that the renovations are going forward at a pace of ‘3 steps forward, one step back’.
I don’t know the exact history of the property. According to the building inspection, the original cottage was built sometime in the 1890s and the ‘shed’ (where I now run my framing business) was previously known as ‘Tin Shed Tattoo’. I think most people in Kyneton knew this place as a landmark and I have met quiet a few local people who had their first tattoo made in this shed.
According to my neighbours, the shed was used by previous owner for radiator repairs. I know very little about the history of the house and I would be very happy to hear some tales if anyone knows any.
You hope to run workshops in your gorgeous garden studio. What might such workshops be?
I am, with time, hoping to run a few different workshops. One workshop I’d like to run is how to use sound materials while practicing DIY framing. Many people don’t know that a lot of the ready-made frames (bought at i.e. IKEA) include acidic materials that actually speed up the deterioration process of your framed items. Framing in a bad frame can be detrimental to your items and the damage is often irreversible.
I would also like to put together ‘domestic conservation’ workshops. These workshops will focus on how to best care for precious items such as your family’s photo albums, a wedding dress or other personal/family memorabilia. Preventative conservation and safety procedures applied to items in domestic homes are an important part of being prepared for events such as bush fires.
What does a typical day in the life of Cecilia Fogelberg ‘The Artist Framer’ look like; from when you wake to when you go to sleep?
At this point there is no typical day apart from the family routines.
You have established a productive vegetable garden. Tell us about your green thumb! Are there any Swedish influences/foods you really miss that you can’t grow here in this part of Australia?
One of the main reasons I returned to the country (if so on the other side of the world) was the fact that I wanted to teach my daughter how to produce her own food. I believe this was, for me, as much a political standpoint as it was a lesson in spirituality.
I think it is a necessary life-skill to be able to feed yourself and especially with the unknown economical future and our growing population. I felt that it was a skill that I had to provide. I definitely see myself as a representative of the ‘food not lawn movement’ and I only plant things that will either attract bees or feed us.
I also believe that a garden makes you ‘streetwise’. A garden answers life’s deeper questions about life and death and these subjects can easily be discussed and understood in a garden. We learn to understand that everything that lives will die and that everything we see around us is a part of this cycle.
Another reason to grow our own food is my disapproval of western diets and we see more and more reports about how our diets are making us sick. Organically-grown food is expensive and any food organically produced at home makes your money last longer. Furthermore, I have a great interest in lacto-fermented vegetables and how fermented vegetables, alongside with kombucha and kefir, have enormous health benefits for our guts and general wellbeing.
Our garden has, however, required a lot of new learning. Even if I, to some degree, learnt about how to grow food from my grandfather and my parents, there is still a lot of knowledge lost. I have at this point read numerous books about such things as permaculture and I am still learning about the seasons and what works and what doesn’t. I know that if you can grow it in Sweden you can definitely grow it in Kyneton! But what works in Melbourne does not work in Kyneton (hence I lost my passion fruit plant last winter!). And even after 16 years in Australia, I find it astonishing that you still can grow stuff in the middle of winter. Last summer, I put down a 150m drip watering system and I am hoping to soon have more of our own produce on the table.
Do you consider yourself to be a ‘Countryphile’? Do you love country life? Why?
No. Or maybe no, not yet … I do love the country life in many ways but I still miss the city; the excitement, the unknown, the energy, the melting pot of cultures and food and people. I think you could describe me as a country girl by birth but a city girl at heart. I do pretty well in both locations. Having said that though, I don’t miss the traffic in the city … and the ever-growing population of Melbourne … and the overcrowded public transport … hmm, maybe I have become a Countryphile after all!
What aspect of country life are you loving MOST at the moment?
The time. There is more time in the country.
The space. There is more space in the country.
The community. There is a very strong community in Kyneton and I know that life would not be the same without that around us.
What is the most CHALLENGING aspect of country life?
You learn that everything is not on your doorstep and that you need to plan for things that in the city you could do on impulse.
You definitely need a working car. I never had a car when I lived in the city.
However, I think I adapt pretty well wherever I am and I don’t consider it a challenge.
Do you prefer Coffee or Tea? Your favourite country café and why?
Depending on the time of the day. I don’t have a favorite café and I prefer my coffee at home as it both taste better and is cheaper!
What and where was the last great meal you enjoyed/shared in the country?
We eat well nearly every day. I love cooking.
Where would we find you on a typical Saturday morning?
There are no typical days in our week.
Would you ENCOURAGE others to live a country life? Why/why not?!
I don’t know; each to their own maybe. I probably wouldn’t have moved if I had been in the financial position to do what I wanted in the city. However, considering the rising house prices and the increasing density in the city it’s not a bad idea. I don’t believe in having a big mortgage that you have to slave over for the rest of your life. I used to call myself an ‘economical refugee’ when I first moved to the country. But hey, fresh air, friendly folks and a richer lifestyle really grows on you!
What are your Top 5 tips for moving to the country?
Could you ask me again in another 2 years’ time? I think I am still working this one out for myself!
What one major piece of ADVICE would you give those dreaming of making a TREE CHANGE?
Consider how you will support yourself economically and then have a backup plan as your first plan might fail for one and the other reason i.e. commuting to the city everyday can be quite taxing.
What can we expect NEXT from you/Fogelberg’s Conservation Framers in the future?
The future is here! I am just one month out the launch of the business and just working away meeting new clients and working in the workshop!
What are you looking FORWARD to and why?
A holiday in Sweden during the Kyneton winter in 2015 as I have not seen my two sisters for 5 years.
What would be your DREAM project?
I really don’t know. I suppose I don’t dream much as I am mainly focusing on enjoying the now. Or maybe you could say that I am living my dream…
Can you list for us 5 specific things you turn to/do when you need of a ‘dose’ of city life?
1. A lunch-picnic with a lovely friend at Elwood beach
2. A gig at The Tote in Collingwood
3. A coffee in Richmond
4. A visit to Savers in Sydney Road
5. A breakfast in Preston
6. A lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in Victoria Street or at Backstreet Eating in Fitzroy
7. A visit to the Vic Market fish market
8. A rooftop drink in the CBD
9. A galley/studio visit to see friends
10. A sleepover in Northcote
11. A stroll in Fitzroy/Carlton
12. A coffee in my old street at St Ali.
Oh you said 5? I could still go on …
Cecilia Fogelberg
Fogelberg’s Conservation Framers
A great read, Loved reading about cecilia’s story
Isn’t she wonderful! x Danielle