Cecilia Blomberg

NWDC is pleased to share the art and ideas of Cecilia Blomberg in the first NWDC Artist Interview of 2024.

Cecilia Blomberg grew up in Sundsvall in northern Sweden and moved to Stockholm in 1970 where she attended the National College of Art, Craft and Design (Konstfack) and received her MFA in 1976. Though she specializes in tapestry, she has also worked as a muralist and a graphics illustrator. Since 1977 she has worked in the United States, producing tapestries for public and private collections. Her tapestries have appeared in numerous national and international exhibitions and is represented in Contemporary Textile Art - Scandinavia, The State of the Arts, The State of the Crafts, FiberArts Design Book I, IV, V and VI, World Tapestry Today, and a number of magazines.

How were you introduced to art?

When I was four years old we moved from a tiny apartment to a big house bordered by the forest and with the Baltic within a few steps. It was full of handpainted ceilings, fireplaces and furniture made for the house. I was surrounded by art and creativity. My father was an artist who had his silkscreen printing studio in the house so we always had art supplies and I just knew I would be an artist. But maybe also an architect... My mother was fun and creative and encouraged us kids to do what we were drawn to.

Where do you find inspiration when creating new work? 

Depending on whether I'm doing commissioned work or my own, I approach it in different ways. Working on large state commissions, I spend a fair amount of time researching the local area, it's history and what sets it apart. As an example, years ago I was in Moxee in Yakima Valley to get inspiration for a tapestry for the elementary school,  a project through Washington State Arts Commission. The school secretary mentioned that a hill nearby was called Elephant Hill, looking like an elephant lying down. That became the trigger for the tapestry telling the story of the area. From the elephant's trunk the water flows into the irrigation canals encircling the hops fields, the first schoolhouse and more. A boy from the past carrying apples and a girl from our time invite us into their world. So, to answer the question, anything can be the inspiration. In my own work it's most often nature that inspires me. I find water fascinating and I keep trying to capture and translate transparency and light into yarns. Sometimes I may have an idea but can't quite visualize it and then I just wait and hope it resolves itself. But some ideas just sit there, waiting, festering.

What do you consider your greatest artistic achievement

Hmm. I don't know that any of my work can be classified as great artistic achievements but once I have completed a project I am generally happy about the results. And I am really fortunate and proud to have been chosen to design and weave large tapestries for public buildings in both Oregon and Washington. I loved working on all of them and I think they in turn tie me closer to the Pacific Northwest. So maybe they are the greatest artistic achievements. Some years ago I worked on the recreation of the Unicorn tapestries that hang in the Cloisters as part of the Metropolitan Museum collection. The project was for Stirling Castle in Scotland and took several years to complete. I worked with a team of weavers at the castle for two years. It is an amazing project and achievement, the result of collaboration of skilled artists.

Cecilia Blomberg, Vashon Steps, 39"x 52", Tapestry. | Cecilia Blomberg, Kaos ll, 24.5"×25", Tapestry. 

What is the quality you most like in an artist?

Vision and technical skill combined.

Which living artist do you most admire?
Can I pick two? Helena Hernmark, amazing tapestry artist, and Lars Lerin, painter. The first time I saw Helena's huge tapestries was in a tapestry exhibition at the National Museum in Stockholm in the early seventies while I was in art school starting to learn tapestry. Her work blew me away and inspired me and still does. Lars Lerin's painting stirs my soul. They are wind, water, weather, emotions.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I would make a clone of myself who could take care of emails and all housework and leave me the fun stuff, working in the studio and hanging out with family and friends.

What is your most treasured possession?

Being able to see

Who has had a significant influence over your work?

I think it's a what rather than who. The house I grew up in turned me into an artist, I  am sure. I am still there in my dreams and can remember every detail. A builder and his artist wife built it in 1909 on the foundation built by one of my great grandfather's and with timber from another great grandfather. By the stars aligning we got the house. It was a magical place to grow up. The house was in the outskirts of Sundsvall in northern Sweden. A few years ago the city decided to destroy the whole area of historic houses and pave it over to turn it into a harbor. Amazingly, our house and the neighbors house were saved, transported on a barge on the stormy Baltic all the way to just north of Stockholm. Our neighbors' house continued to southern Sweden. I'm very relieved my house gets a new life, inspiring a new generation. But I keep wondering if the house ghost, Clara, the wife of the builder, is still in there.

Cecilia Blomberg, Moxee, 78"×78", Tapestry, Installation View. | Cecilia Blomberg, Sacajawea, 90"×144", Tapestry, Installation View.

How has your studio practice changed?

For a few years I shared a tapestry studio in Tacoma with Margo Macdonald and Mary Lane where we collaborated on large tapestry commissions. I have had my own working studio since we lived in Eugene,OR, and Portland,OR, designing and weaving tapestries. Here in Gig Harbor, where we moved in 1989, I have a studio above the garage. For several years, in addition to tapestry, I did graphic work, mainly pen & ink illustrations, house portraits for real estate companies etc. For a few years I had a graphic design company with a neighbor and a decorative painting company together with Margo Macdonald. My two looms usually have something in the works, commissions or my own, and my sewing machine gets used a lot too. And I still draw and do some painting. The studio has also become a favorite place for the grandkids and visiting dogs.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Being with our son and his family and having a tapestry project growing in the studio.