Monica Sjöö Memorial Trust

If you have looked through our online Art Gallery you may agree that Monica created an absolutely extra-ordinary body of work. She fully deserves further recognition as an outstanding artist of international importance.
Reproductions can alas not equal the experience of standing in front of a real-life Sjöö painting! Many of them radiate out from the wall and speak to the visitor in a language that overcomes barriers of time, race, culture and yes, also sex!
It is sad that her lovely treasure of numerous paintings are presently in store due to lack of funds (see photo on the right). It would be wonderful if they were displayed somewhere for everyone to enjoy and to be inspired.
We welcome your help through donating and by taking the time to read this page.

The importance of Monica's work
We live in a world where we are saturated with images from all the media. However, if we have seen the difference between a reproduction of a 'Van Gogh', 'Rembrandt' or any of the other acknowledged Masters of Art and then see their original works in a museum on the wall, vibrant and alive, we understand why people make such a fuss about their work!
Monica was such a very special talent, a 'Mistress', or rather a 'Mother of Art', an international treasure. Her writings, although important and innovative in their ideas when they were written, maybe have their limits as documents of our time, but Monica's paintings belong in a timeless class beyond that, truly inspired as they are by the source that created us all.

Throughout the centuries some of the finest artists all over the world have created works of deep meaning and beauty in honour of and in the search of this source. Work that always transcended the boundaries and dogma's of their paymasters. Monica was an artist in this tradition. She defied contemporary fashions and commercial considerations and lived all her life on a minimum income. She was dedicated to creating these astounding visions of dimensions we can feel, but which challenge the limits of what can be explained by logic and the spoken word.
In doing so, she also created a whole new school of eco-spiritual art, which has influenced many other artists, especially women, through exhibitions, slideshows, her books and the "We'moon Diary".

Creating a Permanent Exhibition
It would be wonderful to find a building (maybe a disused chapel, church or an abandoned industrial building, etc.?), which can house a permanent Monica Sjöö exhibition. The first aim would be to create an attraction where the general public can have the experience of seeing her work. In addition such a building could maybe serve as some sort of centre for ecological spirituality. A focus point of evolving awareness of our intimate interactive relationship with our environment and its energies. The city of Bristol in England might possibly be a good choice for such a place, since Monica was based there for most of her adult life, apart from a 5 year interlude in the West Wales countryside.

An invitation to all who read this to help with the Monica Sjöö Memorial Trust
In order to accomplish setting up a permanent exhibition a Monica Sjöö Memorial Trust needs to be created. We are looking presently into how to bring this about.
Monica's only surviving son Toivo, his partner Annie and their children are living close to the Earth by being subsistence farmers on a small organic holding in Portugal. Therefore we invite anyone who is moved by and interested in Monica's work to join in this project. Please don't be shy to respond!
Contributions and talents on all levels are needed:
People with skills (or willingness to acquire these skills!) in areas such as finance, grants and subsidies, setting up and running an Arts Centre, running a Trust.
People willing to invest some time.
People to make donations, small and large, to get the project started.
People on the look-out for a suitable building.
And so on......
Please write to the webmother@monicasjoo.org, or write an ordinary letter or phone: 
Annie and Toivo, Quinta Do Boiço, 3420 Póvoa de Midoes, Portugal. 
Tel. 00351(Portugal) 235 465 255

Once a number of people have registered their interest (and this may take a while, since this is a new website, which needs time to get known on the World Wide Web) the best way forward maybe to set up an email discussion group to coordinate all efforts, organise meetings in virtual and real space, and generally aim to bring together the people who support a permanent exhibition.
We also hope that many of the visitors to these pages will respond by making a donation, which can be done easily online through our donations page. Any amount, small or large, will be much appreciated and put to good use.

Thank you!
Meanwhile, we all owe Monica's longstanding good friends Maggie Parks and her partner Phil a great debt of gratitude for taking considerable trouble to store the bulk of the Sjöö legacy of paintings in their house in Cornwall. Thank you Maggie and Phil!

Thank you also to all who read this and are willing to spread the message of the above plans to all other people who may take an interest. Networking is vitally important.

With love and hope from Annie, Toivo and Anna

Monica photographed at her Exhibition 
"The Stones And The Goddess" in San Francisco 1990