Den blå Tråden: Till Amerika (The Blue Thread to America)

Dr. Alison Aune, professor of art education at the University of Minnesota Duluth, will give a presentation, entitled “Den Blå Tråden: Till Amerika” (The Blue Thread to America), about her recent research trip and exhibition in Sweden (May 11-June 15, 2025). Through funding from the American-Scandinavian Foundation Folk Art Fellowship program she was able to study traditional and contemporary “sydsvenskt bonadsmåleri” (understood to mean ‘figurative paintings’ – literal translation of ‘southern Swedish cloth, or paper, painting’) in southern Sweden at the Smålands Museum in Växjö and the at the Bonads Museum in Unnaryd. In her presentation, Alison will talk about her participation in the exhibition Den blå Tråden: Till Amerika (The Blue Thread to America) at the Bonads Museum and give a preview about the upcoming exhibition of Swedish Folk Painting set to open at the Emigrant Museum in Växjö in 2027 to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Duluth-Växjö Sister Cities relationship.

Photo Descriptions:

• The bonad painting – is about Alison’s maternal ancestors who left Sweden for Minnesota. It is now in the permanent collection of the Bonads Museum
• Image of Ingrid’s Home – Alison visited the house outside of Växjö where her Great Grandmother Hulda’s mother Ingrid was from