This exhibit is no longer on display.
Located in the North Dakota Artists Gallery, this free exhibition features the artworks of Grand Forks artist Pieper Bloomquist.
In 2023, Bloomquist received a Governor’s Award for the Arts. The award celebrated her achievements telling contemporary stories using three traditional Scandinavian artforms: rosemaling, dalmålning, and bonadsmålning. She began exploring these decorative styles in 1993.
Drawing on the imagery of folk art, Bloomquist renders a fanciful modern world using traditional materials such as linen/jute canvas, homemade gesso primer (made of eggs, flour, chalk, and sometimes animal glue), and egg tempera paint. Her artworks are inspired by family traditions, her experiences as an oncology nurse, rural life in the Upper Midwest, and current events such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bloomquist is represented in several galleries and is an instructor at the North House Folk School in Grand Marais, Minnesota, and at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis. In 2022, Bloomquist was profiled in the PBS “Postcards” series and in “Prairie Mosaics.”
The North Dakota Artists Gallery highlights artworks by regional artists and craftspeople on an annual rotation.