Download FULL CV
1952 Born Söderfors, Sweden
Lives and works in Maine, USA
SELECTED CV
SELECTED SOLO AND TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2024-25 Katarina Weslien: i forgot to remember, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME
2021 What did you smell when you were away? SPEEDWELL contemporary, Portland, Maine
2017 Katarina Weslien: riktata curated by Nandita Raman, Kriti Gallery, Varanasi, India
2013 Smriti: Kay Walkowiak & Katarina Weslien (two person exhibition) Kriti Gallery, Varanasi, India
2011 Katarina Weslien: LINES Portland, City Hall, Portland, Maine
2005 Katarina Weslien: backup, Institute of Contemporary Art, Maine College of Art & Design, Portland, Maine
1999 Katarina Weslien: New Work, Barbro Stenlund Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
1996 Katarina Weslien: Nightlife, Maine Coast Artists, Rockport, Maine
Katarina Weslien: New Work, Icon Gallery, Brunswick, Maine
1999 Two Views: Katarina Weslien and Linda Montano (two-person exhibition), University of Southern Maine Art Gallery, University of Southern Maine, Gorham, Maine
1996 Katarina Weslien & John Giglio, Anne Arundel Community College, Arnold, Maryland
1989 Katarina Weslien: Traces, Dean Velentgas Gallery, Portland, Maine
Katarina Weslien: Drawings, Ann Webber Gallery, Maine
1988 Katarina Weslien: Transformation and Other Everyday Events, curated by Judy Sobol, Joan Whitney Payson Gallery of Art, Portland, Maine
Katarina Weslien: Artist in Residence, John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin
1985 TRACES: Katarina Weslien and Jack Ramsdale (two-person exhibition), collaboration, mixed media installation, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Canada
1982. Katarina Weslien, Bezalel Academy of Art, Jerusalem, Israel
Katarina Weslien & George Mason, Kostick-Nelson Gallery, College of Ceramics, Alfred, New York
1982 Work in Progress, 8 Fabric installations for Levi Strauss and Company, Los Angeles and San Francisco, California
1981 Katarina Weslien: New Work, Pyramid Gallery, Rochester, New York
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS, PROJECTS, AND COLLABORATIONS
2025 Artist/Fabricator, University Museum of Contemporary Art, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
2022 Entangled States, 17th International Triennial of Tapestry, Łódź, Poland
2017-20 Walking Kailash: An Invitational Project by Katarina Weslien with Shoshannah White, Ernesto Pujol, Ann Hamilton, Katherine Trimble, Barbara Louder, Gordon Sasaki, Alison Hildreth, Alina Gallo, Rebecca Duclos and David K. Ross, Julie Poitras Santos, Jane Lackey, Nandita Raman, Gerhardt Knodel, Daniel W. McCusker, Joan Livingstone, Maysey Craddock, Angela Ellsworth, Marina Miliou Theocharaki, and Tamar El Or
2017 Mycophilic/Mycophobic: Foraging fungi in the Maine Woods. Artist walk part of Platform Projects/ Walks curated by Julie Poitras Santos
2015 Towards Textiles: Material Fix, curated by Alison Ferris, John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin
2015 Contemporary Selections from the Permanent Collection, Bates College Museum of Art, Maine
Highways and Byways, Portland Public Library, Portland, Maine
2013 The Presence of Absence, Hairpin Arts Center, Chicago, Illinois, Maine Women Pioneers: Homage, University of New England, Portland, Maine
2012 Blink, 6 Channel video installation, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
2011 Drawing from the Collection, curated by Deborah Stabler, L.C. Bates Museum, Hinckley, Maine
Plunder the Influence, curated by Adrianne Herman, Hallmark Creative Resource Gallery, Kansas City, Kansas
2010 Photographing Maine: Ten years Later, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, Maine
2009 10x10, June Fitzpatrick Gallery, Portland Maine
2007 Hot House, Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
2006 Maine Printmakers: 1980-2005, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, Maine
Women and War, The Experimental Theater, New York, New York
2005 Cranbrook to Lancaster and Back, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Dean Velentgas Gallery Tribute, June Fitzpatrick Gallery, Portland, Maine
2004 The Interventionists: Art in the Social Sphere, curated by Nato Thompson, Installation collaboration with SPURS, MASS MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts
Zero Portfolio, Zero Station, Portland, Maine
2003 Women, War, and the Media, curated by Anne Zill, Finnish Embassy, Washington D.C.
Aliens in America; Others in the USA, Curated by Barbara Rita Jenny, Exeter Gallery, Exeter, Massachusetts
2002 Past, Present, Future, Maine Coast Artists, Rockport, Maine
Photo A Go-Go, Portland Photographic Collective, Portland, Maine
2001 Ulf Rollof, Katarina Weslien, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Institute of Contemporary Art, Maine, College of Art & Design, Portland, Maine
Maine Global Reflections: Mel Chin, Wei He, Lenka Konopasek, Masako Kubota, Mark Lynott, Katarina Weslien, and Krzysztof Wodiczko. Maine Coast Artists, Rockport, Maine
Vault Series VI: Water, New Bedford Art Museum, New Bedford, Massachusetts
2000 Photographing Maine 1840-2000, Maine Coast Artists, Rockport, Maine
1999 10x10, Clements Gallery, Portland, Maine
1998 Seasons of Change: Maine Women Artists and Nature, curated by Gail Spaien, University of New England, Portland, Maine
1997 Images in Multiple: Graduate Faculty Maine College of Art & Design, State House, Augusta, Maine
1996 Collage in the 20th Century, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine
Five Sites: Temporary Outdoor Installations and Performance, Anne Arundel Community College, Arnold, Maryland
1995 From the Vinalhaven Press, Fog Gallery, Vinalhaven, Maine
Maine Printmakers, Round Top Center for the Arts, Damariscotta, Maine
Baltimore Print Show, Vinalhaven Press, Baltimore, Maryland
1994 New York Print Show, Vinalhaven Press, The Armory, New York
Makers, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine
1993 Perfect 10, Maine Craft Association, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine
1992 Grass, multimedia dance performance in collaboration with Daniel McCusker and Ram Island Dance Company, Portland, Maine
Make an Effort to Remember, Or Failing That, Invent, curated by Nancy Bless, Installation collaboration with Lauren Grossman & Nina Borgia-Aberle, John Michael Kohler Art Center,
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
1990 -91 Book of Hours, multimedia stage set, for Ram Island Dance Company, Portland, Maine
Island Portfolio, collaborative printmaking project with Alison Hildreth, Charlie Hewitt, Dean Velentgas Gallery, Portland, Maine
1989 Beasties, Beauties and Other Wonders, Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, New Jersey
1988 Ten, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine
Pentimento, multimedia collaboration with choreographer Daniel McCusker & Ram Island Dance Company. Performed between 1988-90: Portland Museum of Art, Maine; Portland Performing Art Center, Maine; The Maine Festival, Portland, Maine; Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Bradford College, Massachusetts; Worcester Museum, Massachusetts; Inter Media Art Center Huntington, New York, Nicholas/Louis Choreospace, New York.
Maine Artists, New Visions Gallery, Ithaca, New York
1986 Multimedia performance with mime artist/director Tony Montenaro and the Celebration Theater, Portland, Maine
Makers, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine
1985 New England Fiber, Newport, Rhode Island
1985 American Craft 4, Pyramid Art Center, Rochester, New York
1984 Makers ‘84, Portland School of Art, Portland, Maine
1982 Space Sails, Midland Art Council, Midland, Michigan
1981 Recent Acquisitions, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Michigan
Fiber Structure National, Downey Museum, Downey, California
1978 In Praise of the Kurdish Hand, two-part exhibition of photographs and textiles collected 1976-1978, and textile work created while in residence, Aftab Xune Gallery, Tehran, Iran. United Nations Handicraft Development Program Exhibition; Designs of woven textiles done while working with local weavers in the Kurdistan region with the UN program, United Nations Gallery, Tehran, Iran
The Migrating Kurds, Bell Helicopter International, Kermanshah, Iran. Photo essay from travels with the migrating Kurdish nomads in the northwest region of Iran, with emphasis o nomadic textiles and the everyday life of women, 1977-1978
SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Central Museum of Textiles, Łodź, Poland
Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine
Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Pavilion Hotel, Singapore
Bates Museum, Lewiston, Maine
Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
National Technical Institute for the Deaf, Rochester, New York
Hyatt Regency Hotel, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
C and S Bank, Atlanta, Georgia
Fidelity Management and Research, Boston, Massachusetts
Beth Israel Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
New England Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts
Eliot Bank, Boston, Massachusetts
Xerox Corporation, Stamford, Connecticut
Maine Arts Commission, Public Art/ Percent for Art Commissions: Turner Middle School, Harpswell Elementary School, Winslow High School, Yarmouth Middle School, Searsport Elementary School
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND INTERVIEWS
2023 Interview: Putting an Octopus to Bed, Lights Out Gallery, Norway, Maine
2022 Exhibition Catalog: What Did You Smell When You Were Away? SPEEDWELL contemporary, Portland, Maine. Interview by Jessica May; contributing essay by Alison Ferris; contributing
responses by Lauren Fensterstock, Adriane Herman, Anne Riesenberg and Anne Wilson
2021 Documentary: What Did You Smell When You Were Away? directed and produced by Smith Galtney,SPEEDWELL contemporary, Portland, Maine
2021 Publication: Walking Kailash, An Invitational Project by Katarina Weslien with foreword by Robert Thurman. Studio 208 Press, Portland, Maine
2020 Publication: PAJ-MIT Press Direct, Walking as an Alternative Art by Katarina Weslien
2015 Exhibition Catalog: Towards Textiles: Material Fix, John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin
2013 Exhibition Catalog: The Presence of Absence, Hair Pin Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
2012 Exhibition Catalog: Maine Women Pioneers III: Homage, from the University of New England Art Gallery, Portland Maine
Publication: Mapping the Intelligence of Artistic Work, by Anne West, Moth Press, Maine College of Art & Design, Editor Weslien, Katarina
Publication: Overland, Afghanistan 1977, Photos, and an essay. Studio 208 Press, Portland, Maine
2010 Publication: North and Walnut, Studio 208 Press, Portland, Maine
2006 Exhibition Catalog Essay: Maysey Cradock: unsaid. David Lusk Gallery, Memphis, Tennessee
1997 Photo documentation, Durga Puja Festival, Varanasi India
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Arango, Jorge S. “At CMCA, Art made from basketballs and interpretations of impending danger” Portland Press Herald, 2024
Beem, Edgar, “Art Seen: Katarina Weslien along the Ganges”, Portland Phoenix, April 2021
Beem, Edgar, “The Privilege of Studio Visits” Maine Arts Journal, 2018
Bless, Nancy, “Make an Effort to Remember or Failing that Invent”, John Michael Kohler Art Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin
Crosman, Christopher, “Review of Weslien’s ‘I Forgot To Remember”, Art Lantern, 2025
Hofmann, Tim, “Portland Iris: Profile of a Beautiful System”, Free Press, Portland, Maine, 2004
Keyes, Bob, “Peaks Island Artist Turns Travels To India Into Tapestries.” Maine Sunday Telegram, April 2021
Little, Carl. “Katarina Weslien: What Did You Smell When You Were Away?” Art New England, March/April 2021
Livingstone, Joan, “Transformations and Other Everyday Events”, exhibition essay, Payson Gallery, Portland, Maine, 1997.
Nesvet, Nancy, “Katarina Weslien: Circle of Clarity” & “Editorial”, Art Lantern, 2025
Peterson, Andrea, “Paper sample: Momi Indiana for Katarina Weslien, Walking Kailash.” Hand Papermaking, Summer 207, Volume 32, number 1, 2017
Poitras Santos, Julie, “Collecting Water: The Work of Katarina Weslien,” The Chart, Vol. 2, No.1: Fall 2016
Princenthal, Nancy, “A Creative Legacy: A History of the National Endowment for The Arts.” Harry N. Abrams Inc., New York, 2001
Raman, Nandita, “Katarina Weslien: riktata”, exhibition essay, Kriti Gallery, Varanasi, India, 2017
Sexton, Elaine, “Katarina Weslien’s Material Making: How we Embody Place”, Tupelo Quarterly, November 2018
Smith, George, “Aliens in America”, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, Maine, 2001
Whiles, Virginia, “Letter From India: Modi-fication”, Art Monthly, March 2017
EDUCATION
1980 Master of Fine Arts, Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
1997 Apprenticeship with artist Anita Graffman, Stockholm, Sweden
1976 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Utah State University, Logan, Utah
SELECTED ACADEMIC POSITIONS AND GUEST TEACHINGS
2010, 12-16 Visiting Artist, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Dept. of Fiber and Material Studies
2011-14, 17 The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Study Abroad Program: India: Layered Cities and the Portable Studio Faculty
2006-15 Maine College of Art & Design, MFA Archive Project, and Moth Press, Editor
2004-07 Maine College of Art & Design, Graduate Studies Program Director
1998-04 Maine College of Art & Design, Graduate Studies Program Co-Director
1992 Collaborative teaching with June Vail, Dans Högskolan,Stockholm, Sweden
1988 Visiting Artist, Museum of Textiles, Toronto, Canada
1985, 89, 93, 96, 09 Instructor, Haystack Mountain School for Crafts, Maine
1980-81 Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, Assistant Professor, Textile Department.
1976-78 SIDA volunteer United Nations Handicraft Development Program in Iran. Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. Worked to organize the handloom industry in
Kurdistan, with an emphasis on fabrication and research of traditional woven designs, with a focus on the work of women.