Home » Museum Info » News
Join the Museum for a special preview of all our treasures! The Preview Sale and Party is Friday, April 20 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Admission $5 with music, food and beverages.
Be one of the first to pick your new treasure at our Treasures Sale Preview Party!
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 naïve 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.
The Enduring Designs of Josef Frank is a traveling exhibition of textiles and furnishings by this Austrian-born designer made famous for the Modern Style movement in Sweden. This exhibit is currently on display at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis, Min. More information to come.
The Swedish American Museum and Brunk Children’s Museum of Immigration will be closed
Friday, April 6 and Sunday, April 8
in celebration of Easter.
We will be open regular hours on Saturday, April 7, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.T
Chicago television station WCIU-the U! aired their latest edition of “Now-Chicago,” a community-centered program which will feature Andersonville’s Swedish American Museum, Edgewater Historical Society and Andersonville Chamber of Commerce the weekend of March 30 and March 31st. To view the Andersonville segment or learn more about “Now-Chicago,” please click here to visit their website.
Mark your calendars, clean out your closets and bring your wallets! It’s that
time of year–our Tantalizing Treasures Sale is here!
The Tantalizing Treasures Sale is a benefit sale at the Swedish American Museum, where new and/or gently used donated items are sold during a day-long event open to the public and proceeds benefit the Museum.
Find your next treasure and share stories about your old treasures while helping the Museum! Click here to learn more about the Sale, Preview Party, and Donating your treasures to the sale.
On Friday, March 16, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., the Museum’s new exhibit Images of Sweden: From the Artist’s Brush and the Photographer’s Lens opens. The exhibit opening is free and open to the public. 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 of Sweden.
To learn more about this exhibit, please click here.
The Brunk Children’s Museum of Immigration’s BEING 10 family birthday party was featured on the front page of the Swedish-American newspaper, Nordstjernan! Click here to view the complete story and additional photos on their website!
Want to learn more about the Museum, discuss what happened in 2011, and talk about our future? The Museum’s Annual Meeting and Volunteer Recognition dinner is an opportunity to do just that. Held on Tuesday, April 10, 2012, we will join Museum members, volunteers, staff, board members and more in reflecting on the past year and recognize our dedicated volunteers. Dinner begins at 6 p.m. and the annual meeting is at 7:30 p.m. Cost for the dinner is $15 per person. Volunteers are guests. Reservations are required–contact the Museum to place a reservation or click here to reserve online.
Do you see your favorite event on our front page? If not, scroll through our sidebar menu (the top-right of the page) or click here to visit our complete online calendar of programs and events! Stay in touch with us too on Facebook, Twitter, or our E-blast mailing list–all of which you can sign up for on the lower right of the page!
Join the Swedish American Museum for their 6th Annual Jenny Lind Concert on Thursday, June 21, at 7 p.m.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Music has selected the 2012 “Jenny Lind” winner to perform in Sweden and the United States. This year’s winner is from the Stockholm area, mezzo soprano Josefine Andersson and she will be accompanied by Stockholm’s Nigar Dadascheva, winner of the Royal Academy of Music Accompaniment Scholarship Award. For more information about the winners, visit www.fhp.nu.
Cost: $15 members, $20 non-members. Light supper will be served. Reservations are recommended.
We welcome back Marvin Makinen and Ari Kaplan, prominent investigators on the fate of Raoul Wallenberg on Wednesday, May 23, at 7 p.m. These investigators will present new information about the possible whereabouts of Swedish humanitarian Raoul Wallenberg.
Delicious Swedish open-faced sandwiches and beverages will be served. Cost: $15 members, $20 non-members. Reservations are recommended. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Independent Investigation into Raoul Wallenberg’s Fate, Inc.
Below is biographical information regarding the presenters:
Ari Kaplan: A prominent business and sports analyst but, more importantly, a consultant to the former Swedish-Russian Working Group, investigating Raoul Wallenberg’s disappearance into the Gulag. Ari is also President Emeritus of the Independent Oracle Users Group, an influential software association. After the disbanding of the Swedish-Russian Working Group by the Russian and Swedish Ministries of Foreign Affairs in 2001, he has helped to found the Independent Investigation into Raoul Wallenberg’s Fate, Inc., (www.raoulsfate.org), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to uncovering the complete history and fate of Raoul Wallenberg after his arrest and incarceration in the Soviet Union.
Marvin Makinen: Professor at the University of Chicago in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He worked closely with the late Professor Guy von Dardel, the maternal brother of Raoul Wallenberg, to form the Soviet-International Committee on the Fate and Whereabouts of Raoul Wallenberg in 1990. This was the first time that individuals without direct government association were given access to archives of the Soviet political prison system. He was later a consultant with Ari Kaplan to the former Swedish-Russian Working Group. He has applied his experience and knowledge of the Soviet political prison system to investigate the fate of Raoul Wallenberg, having been a prisoner himself in the Soviet Union in the early 1960s. He presently serves as president of the Independent Investigation into Raoul Wallenberg’s Fate, Inc., (www.raoulsfate.org).
Welcome to the world premier concert with the Merula choir. Join us on a journey through time and space and listen to both Swedish and non-Swedish music in our search for the ultimate spring and summer song on Sunday, May 20, at 5 p.m.
Merula was founded after a traditional Lucia performance in late December 2011 as a reaction to the lack of a quality Swedish mixed choir in Chicago. Under the artistic direction of Göran Anner the choir has the ambition to spread good music to Chicago, be it traditional or non-traditional, Swedish or international choral music.
Light supper will be served before the concert. Cost: $15 members, $20 non-members. Reservations are recommended.
Join the Swedish Male Chorus for its annual spring concert at the Swedish American Museum with great music, great food, and great friendships. Tickets are available from chorus members or at the door. Call Bryan Knipper at 773.814.8529 or knippbryn@aol.com.
Celebrate Valborg (Walpurgis Eve) together with the Swedish American Museum, Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce (SACC), SWEA and North Park University on Saturday, April 28, 2012.
Family fun starts at 6 p.m., with games, singing and dancing for all. Feel free to bring your own folding chair to sit on. Hot dogs and soft drinks will be served. The concert with a choir from Södra Vätterbygdens Folkhögskola in Jönköping, Sweden begins at 8 p.m. in Anderson Chapel. The choir is a group of 40 singers, between 20-24 years old, directed by Ove Gotting.
Cost: $5 per person or a family rate of $20. You are welcome to pay at the door or by calling Swedish American Museum at 773.728.8111 to make your reservation, or e-mail to museum@samac.org.
The Swedish American Museum, the Nordic Folk Dancers and Chicago Spelmanslag present Sweden’s Ellinor Fritz and Leonor Palazzo performing traditional dance music on Thursday, April 19, at 7 p.m. at the Museum.
With their fiddle and 5 string cello, Ellinor and Leonor bring a new color to the Nordic folk music. After many years playing together, they decided to explore the essence of traditional Swedish music in a duo where the fiddle and the cello share a common sensitivity for the incredibly rich musical landscape of Sweden, and especially Dalarna.
Cost: $10 per person, light refreshments will be served. Reservations are recommended.
Musicians and instructors Mary Allsopp and Paul Tyler will co-host a Scandinavian Jam at the Swedish American Museum the second Saturday of every month from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. All ages are invited to bring any instrument, regardless of level. Come for learning new Scandinavian songs or playing old classics! Recording devices are recommended. Contact Scandi.Fiddler@yahoo.com or PTyler@ameritech.net for questions.
