The BHHA has learned that the Bishop Hill Society of Sweden has awarded its 2018 Olov Isaksson Prize. Information about the award recipient is given below:
The Bishop Hill Society of Sweden awards its 2018 Olov Isaksson Prize to a textile artist who, with her impressive art and exhibition ” They Yearned For America”, illustrated the story of the Swedish emigration and the historical ties between Sweden and America. The nine grand works in ” They Yearned For America ” – “New Sweden”, ”Bishop Hill”, ”Chicago”, ”Minnesota”, ”Going West”, ”The Artists”, ”Inventors/Inventions/Entrepreneurs”, ”The American Dream” and ”A Dream Is Realized”, have, since 2002, been shown in many museums and institutions in both the United States and Sweden. The tapestries have been splendidly depicted and interpreted in the artist’s book, ”They Yearned For America”. The Bishop Hill Society of Sweden has closely followed the remarkable Bishop Hill tapestry on its journey around America, where it finally found a permanent home in the Steeple Building in Bishop Hill, Illinois. The 2018 Olov Isaksson Prize is awarded to the textile artist Åsa Bengtsson.