Contemporary Tapestry Weaving

Swedish
Ceramic sculptures

Educated in ceramic art and sculpture at the famous art school, Capellagården, located on the island of Öland in the Baltic Sea, Ms. Österlind had her big break-through about eight years ago at her very first exhibit in 2001 when she gained instant recognition for her sculptured women and ravens. Her sculptured women are luxuriant and radiate warmth and confidence. The forms are simple and elegant and serenade the joy of life; a woman lifting a small child up in the air, a woman reading a book, a woman sitting on the window sill kicking her legs or a woman just throwing her arms up in the air to express her happiness. The ravens express the typical curiosity of the species and they are executed in the same fashion as the women, round in form, expressing tremendous humor and yet so well thought through in the design process; each sculpture has its own personality.

Visit the Artist’s website at www.ateljeannika.se. Read about the other artists involved in this summer’s show, Absolut Art, at the Gallery by the River.

German
Textile appliqué

Ms. van Wynsberghe’s artistic education started at the Staedelschule in Frankfurt/M, Germany where she studied painting under Professor Ferdinand Lammeyer. Her great interest in languages led to the combination of text and images. Words are an integral part of the design but they are applied with a quizzical humor that raises prickly questions in the viewer’s mind and give her work its unsettling undercurrent.

As her work matured, Ms. van Wynsberghe was invited to teach her appliqué techniques at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Antwerp, Belgium and in 1973 she had the opportunity to move to Divonne-les-Bains near Geneva. For the next 15 years, she was able to focus entirely on her textile work supported by a Swiss TV program and numerous exhibitions in France and Switzerland. It was during this period, because of the international nature of the community around Geneva, that a world-wide interest in her textile pictures began to develop.

Over the years, Ms. van Wynsberghe has had 15 one-woman shows in Sweden, Switzerland and France and participated in many group shows.

Visit the Artist’s website at www.stines.se. Read about the other artists involved in this summer’s show, Absolut Art, at the Gallery by the River.

Swedish
Knitted sculptures and wall-hangings

With a degree in fashion design, Ms. Rosengren started out designing and making knitted garments in wool and linen. Later on her craft of knitted textile art took a dramatic turn as she began to explore textile pictures and knitted sculptures and wall-hangings. As with her garments, Ms. Rosengren incorporates traditional imagery from old weavings of Southern Sweden with her own contemporary designs. The dramatic tension between the old and the new and the sharp colors against a solid background, brings tremendous life to her vessels and wall-hangings. Ms. Rosengren has exhibited in many galleries in Sweden and abroad; this will be her second exhibit in the US.

Visit the Artist’s website at www.kerstinrosengren.se. Read about the other artists involved in this summer’s show, Absolut Art, at the Gallery by the River.

Swedish
Textile wall-hangings

All of Ms. Norström’s imagery is taken from the landscape she sees around her studio in Southern Sweden; open fields with wind-whipped willow trees, or a quiet grove of bare tree-trunks, illuminated by the northern light. Working within a palette of muted colors and tones, Ms. Norström makes extensive use of mixed yarns and cut-up strips of fabric that are woven-in or applied when the weaving is off the loom. Ms. Norström has had several one-woman shows and she has been part of group exhibits in Stockholm and numerous galleries in the southern part of the country.

Visit the Artist’s website at web.comhem.se/dittevavare. Read about the other artists involved in this summer’s show, Absolut Art, at the Gallery by the River.

Swedish
Scrimshaw and enamel

Ms. Lancing utilizes a technique for etching images on the surface of goose eggs. Often using old sailing ships as her subject matter, she produces images of astonishing clarity and beauty. Ms. Lancing is also a highly accomplished enamel artist and here her inspiration springs from the daily life of the fishermen as she sees them with their boats and nets right outside her studio window. Ms. Lancing’s work is represented in most cultural and maritime museums in Sweden and Denmark and she has also exhibited in Greece, Denmark, Finland and England.

Visit the Artists’ website at www.marialancing.se. Read about the other artists involved in this summer’s show, Absolut Art, at the Gallery by the River.

Swedish
Silver

Over the years Mr. Johansson has participated in more than 50 exhibits around the world and he has received The State of Sweden Art Scholarship twice and several international honorable mentions. Mr. Johansson’s work is represented at the National Gallery in Stockholm, and at the Röhsska Design Museum in Gothenburg. His work can also be found in the silver collections of King Gustav Vl and King Carl Gustav XVl of Sweden. Besides making jewelry and utilitarian objects, such as small serving bowls and decorative plates he also produces pieces for liturgical settings.

Visit the Artist’s website at www.silversmed.nu (Swedish only)

Read about the other artists involved in this summer’s show, Absolut Art, at the Gallery by the River.

Slovakian
Silver and leather jewelry

Ms. Janosik is a graduate from Parsons School of Design & Eugene Lange College, New York, with a BA/BFA in product design/metals and creative writing. After graduating, she continued her education at the New York Studio School of Painting and Sculpture and the Lern Ort Studio, and later at the School of Fine Arts in Düsseldorf, Germany. Ms. Janosik has exhibited at “SOFA” in both New York and Chicago, and many other galleries And museums in the US and Germany. In 2008 she exhibited in a juried craft show at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.

Visit the Artists’s website at www.janosikny.com

Read about the other artists involved in this summer’s show, Absolut Art, at the Gallery by the River.

The Gallery by the River is proud to present Absolute Art June 14 trough September 7 2009 featuring artists Andrea Janosik, (Slovakian : Silver and leather jewelry), Owe Johansson (Swedish : Silver), Maria Lancing (Swedish : Scrimshaw and enamel), Ditte Norström (Swedish : Textile wall-hangings), Kerstin Rosengren (Swedish : Knitted sculptures and wall-hangings), Stine van Wynsberghe (German : Textile appliqué), and Annika Österlind (Swedish : Ceramic sculptures).

“Absolute Art” runs from June 14 through September 7. The gallery remains open through September. Friday and Saturday 10am to 5pm and Sunday 12 Noon to 5pm and by appointment. For more information about the artists, the gallery and the show, please visit the Galler by the River page.