+ Add to Collection

contact name: Paula Swenson
phone: 218-751-6767
email: paulaswenson@riveroftimestudio.com

Pseudonym: River of Time Studio

Similar Artists:
Inspired by:

Gabrielle Munter

Henri Matisse

Marice De Vlaminck

Georges Braque

Andre Derain

Vincent Van Gogh

Paul Gauguin

Related Organizations:
River of Time Studio 2008 - Present

Great River Gallery, Bemidji, Minnesota 2004 - 2007

Fly By Night Gallery, Bemidji, Minnesota, 2003-2004

Minnesota Center for Arts Education - Artist Mentor Program,
1995-2000

Program Director, Arts ALIVE! / Minnesota Arts eXperience, Women’s Art Registry of Minnesota (WARM), St. Paul, MN
1995 - 1999

Women’s Art Registry of Minnesota Board of Directors
Board Chair, 1997
Education Chair, 1995-1998
Board Chair, 1995

P.J. Swenson is an artist living and working in northern Minnesota. She is a graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Her work is included in the collections of Beltrami County, MeritCare Hospital and Northwestern Technical College. Her artistic experience includes many individual paintings, murals, book covers, art dolls, masks, mixed media sculpture and illustrations.

Artist Statement

It is important to me that my art be more than manipulation of paint on canvas. Art needs truth, beauty and substance. Aesthetics and beauty are integral to my art; color, line and composition create order and understanding.

As an artist I explore and interpret ideas, emotions and experiences. A multilayered art work creates a dialogue between the artist and the viewer and can be enjoyed on many levels.

I look for the essential element or elements of a subject and find visual symbols for these elements and create a narrative. Some symbols are obvious universal symbols, some are personal symbols that I hope speak to the universal psyche, and many introduce themselves intuitively and can only be understood on an emotional level.

Art work is a process of inspiration, meditation, investigation, creation, interpretation and intuition. Mystery is essential to art and to life, it is what keeps us questioning and questing.

Appointed to the Minnesota State Arts Board Art in Education Roster of Artists 2010-2011

Appointed to the Minnesota State Arts Board Art in Education Roster of Artists 2006 -2008

Individual Artist Grant, Region 2 Arts Council, January 2006

Workshop Grant, Region 2 Arts Council, September 2005

Individual Artist Grant, Region 2 Arts Council, January 2003

Selected Exhibitions

"Grandmother Moon" Solo Exhibition Bemidji Community Art Center
November 2007, Bemidji, MN

"Art on the Plains 9" Juried Exhibition, Plains Art Museum
September 2006-January 2007, Fargo, ND

"14th Annual Juried Exhibition" MacRostie Art Center
August 2006, Grand Rapids, MN

"Sight/Seeing" Kiosk Public Art Project
July-October 2006, Bemidji, Minnesota

"Fosston Library Exhibition Space” Solo Exhibition June 2005 Fosston, Minnesota

"Minnesota State Fair" Fine Art Juried Exhibition, August-September 2004, St. Paul, MN

“BCAC Members Exhibition”Bemidji Community Art Center, February 2004, Bemidji, Minnesota

"Region 2 Arts Council Traveling Exhibition 2003", North Country Museum of Park Rapids, Bagley, First National Bank Mahnomen, Shooting Star Casino Hotel, Baudette Public Library, Bemidji Community Arts Council, Minnesota September - November 7, 2003

"Inspired by a Woman", WARM Member Exhibition September 9- October 18, 2003 Intermedia Arts, Minneapolis, Minnesota

"Peace Dolls", Group Exhibition, June 2003
Textile Center of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota

"Salon Exhibition" Fly By Night Gallery, June & July 2002 Bemidji, Minnesota

"Cinderella's Revenge" U of M Larson Gallery,
October - November 2001. St. Paul, Minnesota

"Americas 2000" Juried Exhibition, August - September 2001University of North Dakota. Minot, North Dakota

"Landscape: Defined Refined" Juried Exhibition,
March 24 - May 6, 2001. Art Collective, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Perpich Center for Arts Education, All Center Exhibition,
January 2001. Golden Valley, Minnesota

"The Figure Show" Juried Exhibition, February 24 - March 30, 2000
Minnetonka Center for the Arts, Wayzata, Minnesota

"CELEBRATE! Women in the Arts", May 4 - July 4, 1999. A Juried Regional Fine Arts Show - Tweed Museum of Art, Duluth,Minnesota

"Female Power Portraits", Juried Exhibition,
February 25- March 12, 1999. Larson Gallery U of M,
Minneapolis, Minnesota

The Phipps Center for the Arts, Solo Exhibition
January 8 - February 8, 1999. Hudson, Wisconsin

Bloomington Art Center Members Juried Exhibition
Oct. 16 - Nov. 28, 1998. Bloomington, Minnesota

McRostie Art Center Two Person Exhibition
June 1998. Grand Rapids, Minnesota

"Honoring Ancestors" Invitational Exhibition, Second Story Gallery, Oct. - Nov. 1997. Minneapolis, Minnesota

NGO World Women's Conference - Global WARM Scroll,
September 1995. Beijing, China

WCA Regional Conference, College of St. Catherine,
July 1995. St. Paul, Minnesota

WARM Oral History Slide Presentation, Weisman Museum U of M, June 1995 Minneapolis, Minnesota

Murals

"Circles Fall Together, Two", Mural Uptown Cafe, Summer 2002
Bemidji, Minnesota

Blaisdell YMCA Youth Recreation Room, Summer 2000
Minneapolis, Minnesota

"Painting the Bridge, A Mural Between Cultures", Summer 1995
Moorhead, Minnesota

Teaching

Appointed to the Minnesota State Arts Board Art in Education Roster of Artists 2006 -2008

Mask Making - Headwaters School for Music and the Arts 2006
Bemidji, MN

Create A Personal Museum 2003 Blackduck, MN

Mural Workshop, Blaisdell YMCA Youth, Summer 2000
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Perpich Center for Arts Education - Artist Mentor Program,
1995-2000, Golden Valley, MN

Content, Composition and Color 1999, Arts ALIVE!/MAX Workshop, Faribault, MN

Interim Painting Instructor 1998 Perpich Center for Arts Education Golden Valley, MN

Mixed Media Workshop 1998 Powderhorn Park Neighborhood Association, Minneapolis, MN

Education

Bachelor of Fine Arts, Minneapolis College of Art and Design Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1993

Coordinated Exhibits

"Across Cultures", Group Exhibition, Bemidji Community Art Center, October 2003, Bemidji, Minnesota

"Women Off the Wall", Group Sculpture Exhibition, August- September, 2003,
Uptown Caffe, Bemidji, Minnesota

"Creative Women" Bemidji Art Center, May 2002
Bemidji, Minnesota

"The Millennium in Masks", Hennepin County Government Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 2000

Threads of Change, International Women, Women’s Day Exhibition, CreArte, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1998

"Honoring Ancestors" Invitational Exhibition, Second Story Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota, October - November 1997

“Coffee Hop” Art Crawl of Twin Cities Coffee Shops
Twin Cities, Minnesota, February 1994

Merit Care Regional Hospital, Bemidji, Minnesota

Beltrami County Government Center, Bemidji, Minnesota

Northwest Technical College, Bemidji, Minnesota

Design and Publications

Bemidji First City of Arts Studio Cruise Poster 2008
Bemidji, Minnesota

Great River Gallery Logo 2004
Bemidji, Minnesota

United Way Product Design 2001
Greater Twin Cities United Way

WARM Newsletter 1994 - 1999
St. Paul, Minnesota

The Golden Hour Calendar and Cards - Fall 1999
A fund raiser for the Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation part of the Hennepin County Medical Center

Headwaters Unitarian Universalist Newsletter, Summer 1997
Bemidji, Minnesota

Spinsters Ink Catalog Cover Illustration, Spring Catalog 1995
Duluth, Minnesota

Peervention: Training Peer Facilitators for Prevention Education
Educational Media Corporation, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Country of Citizenship:
United States

Birth Place:
Minnesota

Birth Date:
November 4, 1952

Gender:
Female

Active Place:
Minnesota

Minnesota County:
Beltrami

Painter

http://www.mnartists.org/Paula_J._Swenson 

2004 Fine Arts Exhibition (Painting)
Bright Stars: Bemidji
Minnesota Emerging Artists Exhibition