Annika Ekdahl (born 1955 in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden) is a textile artist who designs tapestries marrying

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

and

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

practice with more modern techniques, creating large-scale works in her own contemporary style. She has exhibited in Europe and Australia and was the 2013 Nordic Textiles Awardee.

Biography

Annika Ekdahl was born in 1955 in Stockholm, Sweden where she spent her childhood. From 1978, she developed an interest in working with textiles. In the early 1980s, she moved to

Blekinge Blekinge (, old da, Bleking) is one of the traditional Swedish provinces (), situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland, in southern Sweden. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea. It is the country's second ...

and obtained a master's degree in textile art in 1994 from the HDK School of Design and Crafts of the

University of Gothenburg The University of Gothenburg ( sv, Göteborgs universitet) is a university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current Swedish universities and with 37,000 students and 6000 st ...

. She was a lecturer at

Blekinge Institute of Technology The Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH; sv, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola) is a public, state funded Swedish institute of technology in Blekinge with 5,900 students (part-time, full-time) and offers about 30 educational programmes in 11 departmen ...

(2002–08) and an adjunct professor at HDK (2008–11). Ekdahl's preferred art form is

tapestry Tapestry is a form of textile art, traditionally woven by hand on a loom. Tapestry is weft-faced weaving, in which all the warp threads are hidden in the completed work, unlike most woven textiles, where both the warp and the weft threads may ...

design. Having studied

methods, she employs classical techniques to create large-scale works depicting people and situations from her own life. Her works can take up to one and one-half years to complete as she weaves contemporary imagery of animals, people, places into her narrative designs. She describes the process as much like writing a novel, weaving the story with traditional methods but utilizing a modern approach including digital techniques. Between 2000 and 2006, she worked on five pieces creating a series she called ''The Baroque Party''. The works were included in an exhibition which was displayed in

Kalmar Castle Kalmar Castle ( sv, Kalmar slott) is a castle in the city Kalmar in the province of Småland in Sweden. History During the twelfth century a round defensive tower was built on Kalmarsund and a harbour constructed. At the end of the thirteen ...

Ronneby Ronneby is a locality and the seat of Ronneby Municipality in Blekinge County, Sweden with 12,029 inhabitants in 2010. Ronneby is regarded as the heart of "the Garden of Sweden", and in 2005 the park "Brunnsparken" in Ronneby was voted Sweden's m ...

Cultural Center, Västerås Art Museum and Dalslands Museum of Art. Each of the individual pieces has now been purchased: the title piece, “The Baroque Party” (2000) belongs to the

Röhsska Museum The Röhsska Museum ( sv, Röhsska museet, earlier named ''Röhsska konstslöjdsmuseet'', also known as Design Museum), is located in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is a museum focused on design, fashion and applied arts. The museum collection consists ...

, Gothenburg; “The Wedding In Queens” (2002) is owned by the National Public Arts Council and is exhibited at

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

'; “Darlings” (2003) was bought by the

Falkenberg Municipality Falkenberg Municipality (''Falkenbergs kommun'') is a municipality in Halland County on the Swedish west coast. The town Falkenberg is the municipal seat. The municipality was created in 1971 when the ''City of Falkenberg'' was amalgamated with s ...

; “The Theatre In The Park” (2006) was purchased by in Karlstad; and “Definitely Gold” (2008) belongs to the

Västra Götaland Regional Council The Västra Götaland Regional Council, or, Region Västra Götaland, or ''Västra Götalandsregionen'', is the devolved regional council of Västra Götaland County in Sweden. It was created in 1999 by the merger of the county councils of Gothenbu ...

. Ekdahl has traveled through Europe studying tapestries, visited Poland to study the world-famous

Wawel Castle The Wawel Royal Castle (; ''Zamek Królewski na Wawelu'') and the Wawel Hill on which it sits constitute the most historically and culturally significant site in Poland. A fortified residency on the Vistula River in Kraków, it was established on ...

tapestries in Kraków and worked in Australia where she has exhibited at the Maitland Art Gallery in New South Wales. In February 2013 at the Abecita Art Museum in

Borås Borås ( , , ) is a city (officially, a locality) and the seat of Borås Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 66,273 inhabitants in 2010. Geography Borås is located at the point of two crossing railways, among them the ...

, Ekdahl received the Nordic Award in Textiles, an honor that granted her not only a substantial monetary award, but also earned her a visiting professorship at University of Gothenburg. The same year in November, she was awarded the prestigious

Prince Eugen Medal The Prince Eugen Medal ( sv, Prins Eugen-medaljen) is a medal conferred by the King of Sweden for "outstanding artistic achievement". The medal was established in 1945 by the then King of Sweden, Gustaf V, in connection with the eightieth birthd ...

for her outstanding tapestries. In 2015 she unveiled the two tapestries she has been making since the award, ''Follow Me. Shine'', which is about discovery and perception and ''Follow Me. Grow'', about growth and development. They were both installed at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

in 2015.

References

External links

Annika Ekdahl's website
with illustrations of her work {{DEFAULTSORT:Ekdahl, Annika 1955 births Living people Swedish textile artists Swedish weavers Recipients of the Prince Eugen Medal Swedish women artists Women textile artists