User:MattKri/Heidi Strand

Heidi Strand (b. Jan 6, 1953) is an Icelandic visual artist.

Early life
Heidi Strand was born in Trondheim, Noregi. Her parents were Leon Høyer Strand, born in 1908 in Madison, Minnesota, and Solveig Gundersen, born in 1919 in Drammen, Norway. Heidi grew up with her older brother Egil, (b. Aug 6, 1951, d. Feb 4, 2024), but they also had older siblings, both in Trondheim and elsewhere. Heidi was as a teenager interested in rowing, and twice won a gold medal in the Norwegian Championships, both as a cox in a seniors' coxed four in 1967, and in a double scull as a junior in 1969. Heidi met her husband Matthias Kristiansen in Trondheim, moved to Iceland in December 1972 and has lived there since, except during 1975 to 1980 when the couple studied and worked in Norway and Denmark.

Education
Heidi finished her training as an enrolled nurse in 1972 and worked as an EN in both Iceland and Norway. In 1978 she completed her studies in visual arts, as well as an assistant occupational therapist, and worked for a while as a therapist for the elderly in Reykjavik. However, sewing and handicrafts were her main interest, and in 1978 she won 1. prize for an art quilt in the Norwegian weekly Det Nye. That prize inspired her to continue creating, and her first solo exhibition in Gallery Ásmundarsalur in Reykjavík was a watershed moment for her; since then her art has been an all-encompassing interest. For many years Heidi concentrated on sewing art quilt wallhangings of different sizes, but the last 20 years or so she has moved to needle-felting with mostly Icelandic wool. In 1986 she took a drawing course with Mr. Ingiberg Magnússon, in 1987 a course with Reykjavik school of visual arts, and in 2006 & 2008 a course in needle-felting with the Danish artist Birgitte Kragh Hansen.

Solo exhibitions
Heidi has had 30 solo exhibitions in Iceland and abroad. The biggest one until now was her exhibition Heidi og strönd in the 1,000 square meter Gallery Hlöðuloft at Korpúlfsstadir Art Centre in July 2022, where she exhibited 70 works, a few older ones from the mid-nineties, but the others were mostly from the last 15 years.

Joint exhibitions
Heidi has exhibited her works in more than 40 international joint exhibitions, where selection committees usually chose the works to be included. Some of them were internationl travelling exhibitions ongoing for many years. One important arranger was the European Art Quilt Foundation, but Heidi participated in five of their travelling and joint exhibitions, that were put on show in about 20 galleries in Europe, the US, and Asia. One of them was EAQF's final exhibition, Grande Finale, in Goes in The Netherlands. Illustrious catalogues were published for every exhibition. Heidi also exhibited three of her works at the World Quilt Carnival, a part of the WorldExpo 2005 in Nagoya, Japan.

Miscellaneous
Four of Heidi's artworks are in the book Stitched Journeys with Birds, with 200 artists and 500 works, published in 2023. She has often stayed in artist residencies in Denmark, Germany, and France. In 2013 Heidi had a speaking part in the Icelandic feature film Metalhead, as well as being one of three actors in a series of 13 advertisements for Thule-beer, that were shown repeatedly in Icelandic television and movie theatres for many years. In 2009 she translated The White Book by novelist Einar Már Gudmundsson to Norwegian with Matthias Kristiansen, published by Cappelen-Damm, and in 1982 she tought Christmas handicrafts in the children's programme Stundin okkar on RÚV, the Icelandic TV. During 1979-80 Heidi lived in Denmark, and was a member of the collective boutique Tusind Sind in Copenhagen. Heidi was an oarsman 1966 to 1971 and won gold twice in the Norwegian championships, but her last year she was the head trainer with the ladies rowing club Damenes roklubb in Trondheim. For many years Heidi arranged a number of courses in textile application and patchwork, and she has tought handicrafts in Borgarnes elemantary school, as well as for the elderly in Reykjavík.

The Icelandic ministry of education and culture gave Heidi a grant to participate in WorldExpo in Japan 2005. She has also received a number of travel grants.

Heidi is a member of The Association of Icelandic Visual Artists SÍM, The Icelandic Textile Association, and SAQA, Studio Art Quilt Associates; she has one work on SAQA's travelling exhibition starting in Florida in September 2023.

Links
Heidi's website is www.heidistrand.com

Here is a list of Heidi's solo exhibitions and here a list of her joint exhibitions + miscellanous.

Heidi's Facebook page with emphasis on her works is https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057423408673


 * Heidi og strönd Exhibition
 * Website
 * Grande Finale
 * WorldExpo
 * Stitched Journeys with Birds
 * Metalhead
 * The White Book
 * Tusind Sind
 * Damenes roklubb
 * Studio Art Quilt Associates Travelling Exhibition

Heidi's email-address can be found on her website.