The Nordic Center Begins Tenth Anniversary Celebration with Princesstårta: A Swedish Princess Cake and live Scandinavian music
DULUTH, Minn., August 27, 2021 – The Nordic Center announced today a Swedish Princess Cake exhibit featuring works by Carolyn S Olson. The event takes place at the Nordic Center, 23 N. Lake Ave., from Sept. 17 – Oct. 17.
Olson, an artist living and working in Northern Minnesota, has created over 60 illustrations detailing the various steps in creating a “Princesstårta” (the Swedish princess cake). The entire collection will be on display, as will a traditional princess cake made by the artist. Due to current health concerns, the cake will be for viewing only. An illustrated recipe book of “How to Make a Swedish Princess Cake”, which includes all of Olson’s paintings, will be available for purchase at the Nordic Center.
As a painter, Olson uses gouache, oil and pastel. She intentionally exaggerates figures and plays with composition and color – a technique drawn from the work of artist Jacob Lawrence. “Lawrence’s use of strong shapes told his story simply through gestures and strong exaggerated characters,” says Olson. Like Lawrence, Olson has found a common theme in painting every-day scenes as part of her continued narrative work.
The Princesstårta exhibit can be experienced during the gallery opening on September 17th from 6:30pm-8pm, Fridays from 12pm-4pm and Saturdays from 1pm-4pm. Those attending the event in person are asked to wear masks and maintain social-distancing whenever possible. The event will also be available digitally on the Nordic Center website. Information can be found at the Nordic Center or on the Nordic Center’s website and Facebook page.
Adding to the tenth anniversary celebration, on October 9th, the Nordic Center welcomes Pony, a folk music duo whose Scandinavian-inspired music has been described as “early Pink Floyd mixed with The Lord of the Rings soundtrack.” Music begins at 7pm. A suggested donation of $10 at the door is encouraged.
Meet the Artist
View the Book
Books may be purchased at the Nordic Center for $20 each. Original artwork and prints are available for purchase. Visit the gallery or email the Nordic Center for more information.
Artist Statement
In the Fall of 2019 I retired from teaching K-12 art in a rural northern MN county school district. Upon retirement I set some personal challenges for myself as an artist, one being to illustrate children’s books. To do this I needed to see if I could paint a body of work to illustrate a story. I started out by painting the many steps required to make a Swedish Princess Cake.
Even though we grew up in a Swedish-American home, we never had Swedish Princess Cake. Raspberries grew in our backyard, handmade Danish modern furniture, and the occasional Carl Larsson print on the wall. The idea of making a Princess Cake only became interesting a few years ago. The intention of this series of paintings was to see if I could create a continuous visual story – one that had people that looked the same throughout; food that looked the same, with colors and composition consistent throughout. As a graphic designer, I also wanted to see what these illustrations would look like in a book. It was to be an example for publishers of what I could do for them. So, I designed, layed out and produced the book “How to Make a Swedish Princess Cake”.
Creating the images was pure joy. I needed something that was fun and that I wanted to do. It took over 4 months to complete the illustrations and another couple months to complete the layout of the book. Then came the “Stay at Home” order of Covid-19.
Luckily I had all the work done. I was able to “shop” the book around on-line to publishers but received no interest. The work done, I looked for an opportunity to publish the book myself. Eventually, in late Spring 2020 I had it printed at Shel-Don, Duluth.
I continue to work towards my goal of illustrating books. Recently completing a series of 100 “Essential Worker Portraits” pastel drawings of the people asked to continue working while unvaccinated, often paid minimum wage with no health care. Not only was the subject of this series important to me but my drawing skills continue to improve. Composition skills were challenged with each new portrait as I drew subjects and places I hadn’t drawn before.
Currently I am working on new illustrations for “The Piano Lesson” – an illustrated silent book. I continue to push my ability as an artist to tell a story.
About the Artist
Carolyn S Olson is a narrative artist working and living in northern Minnesota. She uses gouache, oil or pastel and depicts everyday life stories. Figures are intentionally exaggerated and gestures emotive. Olson recently retired from teaching K-12 art for over thirty years. She continues working in her studio and she has recently completed a series of 100 narrative portraits of essential workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Inspired by family members working as essential workers Olson retells their stories. Essential workers were asked to work unvaccinated, with low wages, lack of affordable housing and not being able to afford needed health care. The intention of the portraits is to initiate conversations that lead to systemic changes in our society that benefit essential workers. Learn more about Carolyn at carolynolson.net.
JOIN THE FUN!
Learn about the history of the Swedish Princess Cake, bake one of your own, and color our complementary coloring & activity book!
