Artists Tomas Colbengtson & Stina Folkebrant in Conversation with Curator Leslie Anne Anderson

Speakers

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  Stina Folkebrant

  Stina Folkebrant was born and raised in Borås but now lives in Stockholm, with a studio in Gustavsbergs Harbour.
  

  Bio
  

  Stina Folkebrant

  Stina Folkebrant was born and raised in Borås but now lives in Stockholm, with a studio in Gustavsbergs Harbour.
  

  Stina paints with black and white acrylic inspired by Chinese ink painting, where the black is blended with water to achieve a grayscale. From a distance, the paintings seem very realistic, but upon closer observation, the traces of the hand movements and the living lines become apparent. She most often paints on canvas measuring 3 x 4.50 meters, but also uses old lace sheets and folding wooden screens. Stina paints murals both indoors and outdoors and has participated in several streetart festivals. In the spring of 2021, Stina painted a mural measuring 3 x 55 meters depicting creatures from the Pacific Ocean in Sergels torg in central Stockholm.

  Stina's motifs are animals and landscapes. Her vision is to create an encounter between the observer and the animals as well as highlighting that humans are also animals among all other species.

  She received her artistic training both at art schools in Gothenburg and Stockholm, as well as in scene-painting studios at Borås Stadsteater and the Opera in Gothenburg.

  Stina has two degrees from Stockholm University, one in Art History and one Religious studies, with theses on Zen painting during the Sung Dynasty in China. Her interest in history, philosophy and science are reflected in her titles and are Stina´s great inspiration next to biology.

  Stina´s murals are represented in communities such as Stockholm, Borås, Linköping, Oskarshamn and Västervik.

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  Tomas Colbengtson

  Tomas Colbengtson grew up in a small village near Björkvattnet in Tärna, under the polar circle of Sweden.

  Bio
  

  Tomas Colbengtson

  Tomas Colbengtson grew up in a small village near Björkvattnet in Tärna, under the polar circle of Sweden.

  Through his artwork, he asks how colonial heritage has changed Indigenous lives and landscapes, both of the Saemie and other Indigenous peoples. Through the struggle to revitalize his mother tongue, the South Saemie language, Colbengtson works with visual art, using Saemie history and collective memory as the source for his art. He is continuously experimenting with new forms of media and material, from overlay glass and metal printing to etching and digital art forms. This way, he seeks to assemble a language to formulate the loss but also rejuvenation of Saemie identity.

  Colbengtson is also the initiator of one of the first art residencies for Indigenous artists: “Sápmi salasta -Sápmi embraces." He has been working as artist since 1991, and as Indigenous curator since 2016. He has exhibited in Austria, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Faroeisland, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Holland, Iceland, Italy, Japan, Norway, Russia, Spain, Swiss, Sweden and the United States. Colbengtson is represented in the new Nationalmuseum in Oslo, Norway, as well as the Norwegian Sami parliament.

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  Leslie Anne Anderson

  Leslie Anne Anderson is Chief Curator at the National Nordic Museum, a mayoral-appointed Seattle Arts Commissioner, and chair of Seattle’s Public Art Advisory Committee. 

  Bio
  

  Leslie Anne Anderson

  Leslie Anne Anderson is Chief Curator at the National Nordic Museum, a mayoral-appointed Seattle Arts Commissioner, and chair of Seattle’s Public Art Advisory Committee. 

  Prior to her arrival in the Pacific Northwest, she held curatorial positions at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts/University of Utah and Indianapolis Museum of Art. She has been an American Scandinavian-Foundation Fellow and a Fulbright scholar at the University of Copenhagen. She has organized dozens of exhibitions with collaborators like the Ateneum Art Museum/Finnish National Gallery and Sweden’s Nationalmuseum, published in numerous scholarly journals, and acquired over 1,000 works of fine and decorative art for collections in her purview. Recently, she was also the commissioning curator of Jónsi: FLÓРand co-curator of the traveling exhibition Nordic Utopia? African Americans in the 20th Century. Leslie is the recipient of the international Association of Art Museum Curators Award for Excellence (First Place) in 2018, the Utah Museums Association Award for Excellence in 2020, and the University of Florida Alumni Association’s “40 Gators Under 40” honor in 2023.