Helena Hernmarck at the American Swedish Institute

In the ACC’s hometown of Minneapolis, two great events have come together. One is the opening of the 34,000-square-foot Carl and Leslie Nelson Cultural Center at the American Swedish Institute. The other is the exhibition there through October 14 of 18 large tapestries by legendary trompe l’oeil weaver (and ACC Fellow) Helena Hernmarck.

The Nelson Cultural Center’s clean, contemporary design is an ideal backdrop for the tapestries of Hernmarck, a native of Stockholm.

Hernmarck creates realistic layered effects and shading in her pieces using an approach to color and dimension so distinctive it is known as the Hernmarck Technique.

“Of the artists working in tapestry today, Helena Hernmarck stands without peer,” says Jack Lenor Larsen, internationally known textile designer, author, and collector.

Hernmarck has operated her own weaving studio for 45 years, in Canada, England and the United States, where she currently works out of Connecticut. Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C., the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and numerous other prestigious museums.

For more on her life and work, the StarTribune of Minneapolis recently profiled Hernmarck's storied career and we recorded a video interview with her last summer when she stopped by the ACC office.