In Conversation

Helena was delighted to participate in ‘In Conversation: DY Begay with Fiber Artists Velma Kee Craig and Helena Hernmarck,’ moderated by curator Cécile R. Ganteaume as part of the opening events for Begay’s exhibition, Sublime Light: Tapestry Art of DY Begay. Their conversation touched on Begay’s traditional Diné upbringing, as well as her travels and relationship to design, color, and fiber, pulling together many strands that inform her profound and innovative art practice today. This retrospective, featuring 48 of Begay’s most remarkable tapestries, is on view at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian through July 13, 2025. More information can be found on the exhibition homepage. View a video of the conversation here.

DY Begay, Shadows of Cota, 2009. Churro wool and plant dyes, 29.5 x 39 in. Collection of Helena Hernmarck.

Bus Tour

In late June, Helena guided a group hosted by the Ridgefield Historical Society on a bus tour of her tapestries on display in buildings throughout New York City. The tour included a visit to Helena’s Summer tapestry (2006) at One Central Park; her Beech Tree tapestries (1991, 1992) at 450 Lexington Avenue; and her Flowers tapestry (2018) at 35 Hudson Yards. The group also visited the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, where Helena and her late husband both have work included in the current exhibition, Acquired! Shaping the National Design Collection, on view through September 2, 2024.

Helena with her Summer tapestry, completed in 2006 as part of a series of seasonal tapestries commissioned for the residential lobby at One Central Park in New York City.

Film Screening and Talk

Helena was in conversation with Nina Clark at the American Swedish Institute as part of the First Look festivities for the Institute’s current exhibition, Karen Larsson: Let the Hand Be seen, on view through October 27, 2024. Their conversation followed a screening of the 20-minute film documenting Helena’s most recent major commission at Hudson Yards. Clark has an intimate understanding of Helena’s career through her involvement with Helena’s 2012 exhibition at the Institute, In Our Nature: The Tapestries of Helena Hernmarck. Their conversation touched on Helena’s education, mentors, carer, and technique, as well as her relationship to the work of Karin Larsson.

Helena in conversation with Nina Clark at the American Swedish Institute after a screening of the 20-minute film, Hernmarck Tapestries at Hudson Yards. Photo courtesy of the American Swedish Institute.

Exhibition Announcement

Helena is pleased to have her own work and work by her late husband, industrial designer Niels Diffrient (1928-2013), on view in Acquired! Shaping the National Design Collection at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. This exhibition, which runs through September 2, 2024, highlights how the museum has built its collection to reflect current issues and illustrate design’s evolving role in daily interactions. Niels Diffrient’s Freedom Chair and associated prototype illustrate his profound contribution to ergonomics and office seating. Helena’s 58 Knitted Patches are included as part of an installation of textiles that relate to caregiving, mourning, and the memorialization of loved ones. Helena committed to crocheting and knitting for one hour every day while caring for Niels at the end of this life. She knit the single patch below on the day he died. More information can be found on the exhibition homepage.

Helena Hernmarck, Knit Patch, 2013. Wool, linen, cotton, 6 x 5 in. Collection of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

Film Screening and Talk

New Article

Helena is so pleased that her Afterwards tapestry is featured in issue 2023-3 of VÄVmagasinet. Helena completed Afterwards in 2022, and it is based on a low-light photograph she took at a wedding in Tuscany in 2007. Printed alongside Afterwards is a letter Helena wrote to her friend, Mary Abbe, describing the story behind this tapestry. To learn more and order this issue, click here.

Helena Hernmarck, Afterwards, 2022. Wool, linen, cotton, punchinella, 57 x 60 in. Collection of the artist.

Exhibition Announcement

Helena is pleased to have a portion of her colorful wool wall on view in A Dark, a Light, a Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum through February 4, 2024. Helena’s wool wall sets the stage for the bright red loom that textile designer Dorothy Liebes (1897-1972) acquired around 1920 and kept throughout her lifetime for sample weaving. To the right is a photo of Liebes in front of her own wool wall, quite variegated compared to Helena’s rainbow-like display. Helena recalls visiting Liebes’ New York studio in the mid-1960s and remembers how much her own mentor, Swedish textile designer Astrid Sampe, admired Liebes’ innovative approach to both the design and business of textiles. More information can be found on the exhibition homepage.

Photo: Isometric Studio

Exhibition Announcement

Helena’s tapestry, Steel I, will be on view through October 2, 2022 in A Calumet Tapestry: Artistic Views of the Region, hosted by PoCo Muse in Valparaiso, Indiana in partnership with Chicago’s Field Museum. Helena’s Steel I was one of three tapestries Helena completed for the Bethlehem Steel Corporation headquarters in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the 1970s. It is on loan to the exhibition from the Northwest Indiana Steel Heritage Project. More information can be found on the museum homepage.

Exhibition view of Steel I, 1973. Wool, linen, cotton, 92 x 112 in. Collection of the Northwest Indiana Steel Heritage Project.

Exhibition Announcement

Helena is pleased that her tapestry, Folded Paper Once, will be on view this summer in Threading the Needle at The Church Sag Harbor. Curated by Sara Cochran and Eric Fischl, this exhibition features 46 works by 50 artists who use fabric and fiber in their practices. Helena’s tapestry will be in good company with work by El Anatsui, Louise Bourgeois, Judy Chicago, Faith Ringgold, Etel Adnan, and others. The exhibition runs July 1 to September 18, 2022. More information can be found on the exhibition homepage.

Helena Hernmarck, Folded Paper Once, 1988. Wool, linen, cotton, 51.5 x 59 in. Collection of the artist.

Exhibition Announcement

Helena’s Euclid’s Elements tapestry is now on view in Parallel Threads: New Textile Masterworks Inspired by Geometry at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The exhibition is organized by textile curator Nicole LaBouff and comprises newly-acquired artworks that celebrate the intrinsic geometry of woven textiles. The exhibition runs through August 28, 2022. More information can be found on the exhibition homepage. 

Helena Hernmarck, Euclid’s Elements, 1995. Wool, linen, cotton, 50 x 120 in. Collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Artist's Talk Announcement

Join Helena for an online presentation to the Textile Arts Council of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF) on Saturday, January 22, 2022, 10am PT. Titled Helena Hernmarck: Wool and Color, the presentation will cover the early evolution of Helena’s signature technique from her early days at art school to the present, highlighting important commissions along the way. It also marks the addition of Helena’s 1983 tapestry, On the Bay, to the FAMSF collection. For more information, visit the event homepage.

Helena Hernmarck, On the Bay, 1983. Wool, linen, cotton, 132 x 201 in. Collection of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California.

Exhibition Announcement

Helena is pleased to be part of the traveling exhibition, Scandinavian Design in the United States 1890-1980. The exhibition is co-organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Milwaukee Art Museum. It opened at the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, Sweden in September 2021, and will open at the Nasjonalmuseet in Oslo, Norway in March 2022; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in August 2022; and the Milwaukee Art Museum in March 2023. More information about the exhibition at the Nationalmuseum can be found here. A link to the English catalogue can be found here, and the Swedish catalogue can be found here.

Helena Hernmarck, Bay Street in Toronto, 1970. Wool, linen, cotton, synthetic fiber, 49 x 72 in. Collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, California.

New Article

The Swedish design magazine, Antik & Auktion, featured an article about Helena in their June 2021 issue. Written by Elsebeth Welander-Berggren, the article celebrates Helena’s Hudson Yards commission and career creating monumental tapestries for architectural settings. To link to the article, click here.

Exhibition Announcement

Helena is pleased to have her tapestry, Front Pages (1981-2), included in Fit to Print, an online exhibition organized by The Print Center in Philadelphia, PA. The exhibition explores the use of newspapers in art from the post-war era to the present day. It is on view from May 1 to June 30, 2021, after which it will be archived on The Print Center’s website. To link to the exhibition, click here.

Helena Hernmarck, Front Pages, 1981-2. Wool, linen, cotton, 94 x 118.5 in. Collection of The Museum of Arts and Design. Photo: Eva Heyd

New Article

Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot, the magazine of the Handweavers Guild of America, featured an article about Helena’s archive in their Spring 2021 print issue. Written by Mae Colburn and titled “A Weaver’s Logic: Inside the Archive of Helena Hernmarck,” the article discusses Helena’s weaving technique as reflected in the structure and contents of her archive. To link to the article, click here.

Hernmarck lays out her 44-foot long timeline alongside the wool wall. It extends the length of the entire wool wall and continues around the corner.

Exhibition Announcement

Helena is pleased to be an invited artist in ARTAPESTRY6, a juried exhibition organized by the European Tapestry Forum (ETF) showcasing tapestries woven by a group of 40 artists from 16 countries throughout Europe. This is the ETF’s sixth such exhibition, and will travel to venues in Denmark, Finland, and Sweden between 2021 and 2022. A full list of artists and works can be found on the exhibition homepage, and additional information about venues and dates can be found in the online exhibition catalogue.

Helena Hernmarck, Up & Down Triptych, 1990. Wool, linen, cotton, 67 x 67 in. (each). Collection of the artist. Photo: Norman McGrath

New Article

Helena’s Flowers and Maple Tree tapestries were featured in an online article in Architectural Digest. Written by Madeleine Luckel and headlined “This Innovative Tapestry Commission Took Four Years and Over 8,000 Hours to Complete,” the article describes Helena’s Hudson Yards commission and the renewed popularity of textiles as an art form. To link to the article, click here.

The monumental tapestry, which lives near an elevator bank. Helena Hernmarck recalled one individual saying of its seemingly humble setting, “You don’t put the Mona Lisa in a closet!” However, its location is part of the reason why the work is so structurally complex. Photo: Norman McGrath

New Interview

The Italian textile arts magazine, ArteMorbida, featured an interview with Helena about her tapestry commission at Hudson Yards. Conducted by Maria Rosaria Roseo, the interview takes an in-depth look at how this commission came to be and the challenges involved in installing tapestries in the ceiling. To link to the article, click here.

The ceiling portion of Maple Tree installed at 35 Hudson Yards, seen from below looking up. In Helena’s words, ‘Having never done such a thing before, or even contemplated it, I immediately followed my own advice: ‘always say yes.’ I had no idea how to do the ceiling installation, but I figured we would work it out.’ Photo: Norman McGrath

Maple Tree Installed at 35 Hudson Yards

Helena Hernmarck’s new Maple Tree tapestry has been installed at 35 Hudson Yards in New York. Like Flowers, installed in March 2019, the tapestry extends up the wall and across the ceiling in the elevator lobby of the building’s residential entrance. To seasonally refresh the lobby, the two tapestries will be exchanged every six months.

Preview of Maple Tree

Join Alice Lund Textilier for a preview of Helena Hernmarck’s Maple Tree tapestry at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, Sweden, August 29-30, 2020, before the tapestry is shipped to 35 Hudson Yards in New York for installation. Weavers Ebba Bergström and Tova Wibrandt have woven two sets of tapestries for 35 Hudson Yards, each spanning approximately 225 square feet and executed in Hernmarck’s signature tromp l’oeil technique. Maple Tree is the final installation and culminates nearly four years of dedicated work. For more information, visit the event homepage.

Photo: Karin Björkquist