Monica Edmondson

Find festival map, and download the full version of the guidebook here.

Monica Edmonson is known to many for her glass works, but in the last couple of years she has returned to her interest in textile materials and techniques that she used early in her career.
With her increased curiosity for soft materials, she takes as a starting point for her latest work a traditional weaving technique that is less known in the Lule Sami area she herself comes from in Sweden. In Manndalen in Kåfjord, the very old technique of weaving on a warp-weighted loom, also called grenevev, or rádno, is alive and well. In the winter of 2024, Edmondson traveled here for a three-week work stay where she could immerse herself in this technique. Here she was able to work in ManndalensHusflidslag's premises together with mentor Kjellaug Isaksen. The works displayed at the Lofoten International Art Festival were produced during this stay.

For Edmondson, textile works are interpretations of personalities or places in the same way that a joik can reflect someone or something. At the same time, she allows the traditional technique to take new paths through non-traditional materials and working methods. By using knowledge that has been passed on over countless generations, Edmondson helps to emphasize how a living tradition will always be in development, and that it is cross-pollinated both in time and geography.

With support of the Swedish Arts Grants Committee.

Monica L Edmondson (b. 1963) is from Gällivare in Sweden, and since 2002 she has worked from her own studio and glass workshop in Tärnaby. As a glass artist, she works both with smaller objects and larger public installations. She has recently returned to an interest in textile formats and expressions. Edmonson studied at the Canberra School of Art. In recent years, her work has, among other things, been shown as part of the Sápmi Triennale at Bådåddjo / BuvvdaMusea, Bodø; and in exhibitions at Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo; UmeåKonsthall and Västerbotten Museum, Sweden; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Koganezaki Glass Museum, Shizuoka Japan; Venice Aperto Vetro, Italy and SOFA New York. She is represented in several permanent collections, including the National Museum in Stockholm and the National Gallery of Australia. In the extensive project 100 Migratory, consisting of performance, blog, film and a publication, one hundred of her unique glass objects wandered on individual journeys from the mountains of Sápmi, to different countries, environments and cultures.