This year it will be exactly 30 years since Sabeth Holland’s first show, her solo exhibition at Galerie vor der Klostermauer St. Gallen, which took place from Aug 16 to Sep 08, 1991. The gallery is run by a dedicated art society and comes with a grand reputation. It is quaintly attached to the ancient monastry wall of the St. Gallen Cathedral. The prominent location and the agreeable gallery conditions help to enable newcoming artists to set a fine start to their career, while showcasing their works without the pressure of having to succeed. – Nevertheless, so many artists, including Sabeth Holland, pride themselves years later, to have made it from there and are now reknown and established, often even internationally.

www.klostermauer.ch

The 1991 exhibiton was a great success and the start to a long journey for Sabeth Holland. At the time she used the means, that came from nearly fourty paintings that were sold, to join a co-working space in an atelier at Teufener Strasse in St. Gallen, where she continued an intense self taught learning process. It took her five years of trial and error, and amazing passion and diligence, to produce her first large works on canvas. Eventually they were showcased in 1996 at Galerie Raubach St. Gallen and shortly after at Galerie Altesse Liechtenstein, with her three daughters playfully mingeling among the guests of both openings.

What a long way it was from those days to her first solo exhibition with Galerie Koo in Hong Kong! What a story of success! So much had to happen, had to go right! So many decisions, loads to carry, ways to drive and so much joy and artistic power, competence and courage! And as one can see, it was all there right from the beginning. Please look at the beautiful floral arrangement on the invitation card for a longer moment. Can you feel its positive power, too? – This is Sabeth Holland, still!

Sabeth Holland on her first solo exhibition:
«I would like to thank all those who made this possible: My late husband Peter N. Holland, Moritz Wyss and Hélène Kaufmann-Wyss and all the numerous members and helpers of the gallery. – Pregnant with my third daughter, I most likely was the happiest artist painter ever. I showed selected watercolors on paper, that had fine lined ink drawings added. They were very different from all I knew, and far too colorful for artworks of the time. All my paintings were framed, and rather modest in size and price. Nevertheless, they were precious tokens, because they all came from my heart, depicting impressions, emotions, filled with love, joy and positive vibes. I painted my happiness.»