Every holiday season the Museum brings out part of its collection of Bonader. The collection was donated to the Museum in 2000 by the Art Institute of Chicago, the 29 Bonader represent the eighth largest known collection. One of the most remarkable examples of Scandinavian folk art is the painted picture indigenous to the Swedish peasant home. The commonly used name for these peasant paintings is bonader, and their provenance was to decorate the walls and ceilings of the homes at Christmas time and on feast days, thus adding a note of color and gaiety to the otherwise dark interiors. Between festivities, these canvas or paper panels were taken down and carefully kept, to become a part of the family inheritance. The collection of bonader at the Museum is a collection of extraordinary works on linen and paper, with vegetable and mineral pigments that achieve arrays of color. They were sized for specific wall spaces and hung unframed. Several of the artists were identified, and more than 100 may have practiced the craft.

In this Zoom event, Pieper Bloomquist will talk about Swedish bonder and the Museum's collection.

Pieper Fleck Bloomquist is a contemporary folk artist with nearly 30 years’ experience painting in the Swedish traditions of dalmålning and bonadsmålning. Using traditional materials of linen/jute, traditional gesso, and egg tempera, she creates painted tapestries with scenes that narrate modern human stories – drawing inspiration from family traditions and her experience as an oncology nurse. She has found her voice in helping local communities and elders tell their stories using these traditions - all with the goal of creating awareness and appreciation for folk art, its connection to a heritage, and the ability it has to connect us all through our stories.