Home » Exhibits & Collection
The Museum has a special exhibit gallery with four exhibits each year, and a permanent exhibit featuring the immigration to Chicago at the end of the 1800s.
The collection has approximately 12,000 objects that have been donated by members and friends of the Museum over the last 32 years. We annually update sections of the permanent exhibit so that we can showcase many of the beautiful donated items.
We often feature a donation or Swedish tradition in our newsletter, Flaggan, and you can find the most recent article in the section Notes from Curator.
On Friday, March 16, 2012 the Museum’s new exhibit Images of Sweden: From the Artist’s Brush and the Photographer’s Lens opens at the Swedish American Museum. This is a display of photography and paintings by
Rev. Tord Harlin and his wife, Gunnel, a Swedish family involved in education and fighting poverty through the Lutheran World Federation in Sweden.
The exhibit features photography from Rev. Tord and paintings from Gunnel. Rev. Tord conveys the message of the Cathedral in Uppsala, Sweden, in his photography. “[There will be] photographic canvas pictures of the cathedral from the air and ground level plus inside views,” he says. “The emphasis is on symbolic features with a central Christian message.”
The Harlins’ art derives from their decades of education and missionary work. Rev. Tord is a teacher who worked in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe from 1964 to 1975. In October 1975 he became head of the Church of Sweden International Study Department, and ten years later he was named the director of the Department for Inter Church and Ecumenical Affairs in the Church of Sweden´s newly built central office. He served as Diocesan Bishop in Uppsala from 1990 to 2000 and was named bishop emeritus of Uppsala. “I have chaired the Church of Sweden Aid (Lutherhjälpen) and still have active engagements for Zimbabwe,” he says.
At a young age, Rev. Tord’s life brought the church and photography together—his father was the cathedral organist in Luleå, and his mother would lend him her camera when he was as young as 12 years old. “During studies in [my] hometown, I was chairing the school’s photo club and the Ecumenical Christian student organization,” he says.
This coexistence of his passion for the church and photography continued to flourish in his adult life. During his military service he was photographer for the Swedish air force, and he used photography in his missionary work as well. “After ten years in Africa I began using digital technique for photographic books and exhibits,” he adds. “Since retirement in 2000, I have published more than twenty books and booklets together with different authors.”
Known as “The Tulip Artist” in Uppsala, Gunnel’s theme for Images of Sweden is “golden splendor—flourishing earth.” Her acrylic and gouache paintings capture Christian symbols and botanical subjects. “The nature in Sweden and the traditional ‘dalecarlia’ patterns, as well as Christian symbols in old and new church buildings, have inspired me,” she says.
Gunnel enjoyed a successful career as an artist and teacher who taught and exhibited globally. As a young student in Sweden, she was part of a jury chosen exhibit in 1957 at Liljevalchs Art Museum in Stockholm. Besides sharing her husband’s missionary work abroad, she worked as an art and specialist teacher at the high school level in Uppsala from 1990 to 2001. She has been exhibiting her own artwork since 2009, particularly annual exhibitions in the Uppsala region, as well as exhibitions in New York, Warsaw and Harare.
The exhibit Images of Sweden will be on display until Sunday, June 10, 2012. The following events scheduled for this exhibit are:
This exhibit is sponsored by City Arts Grants, Illinois Arts Council, the MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at Prince and the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation.
Swedish-Canadian Jennifer Saxell captures images of her adopted homeland with a naive perspective, bringing winding medieval streets and little houses to life in distinctive landscapes. Her work is characterized by bold, rich color and a playful energy that speaks directly to the observer. To learn more about Saxell, please click here to visit her website.
Traditional Swedish textiles are renowned for their beauty and quality. This exhibit will focus on textile art produced by Illinois and Chicago-based artists of Swedish descent. More information to come.
No permanent exhibitions
