Swedish textile artist Ellen Dynebrink translates the pixles of an image into her own patchwork version. Regularly using glittering fabrics and bright bubble-gum colours her work “often focuses on the abstract and askew aspects that comes with the textile.”

Firstly where did you grow up and where do you live now?
I grew up in a typical Swedish small town just outside of Gothenburg. I now live and work in Gothenburg.

What is your background in textile art?
My mother is a textile craft teacher in primary school and my father worked as a woodcraft teacher. Craft has always been a central part of my everyday life and I have always had a feeling that I wanted to work with art in one way or another. I first studied art school for one year and since then I have studied textile design at The Swedish School of Textile in Borås and textile art at HDK– Valand in Gothenburg, where I also attained a master degree in fine arts.

What is it about textiles as an art form that appeals to you? 

The fabric, I believe, provides an aesthetic within itself. I am also very intrigued by the textile tradition and history, the value and meaning of crafting and the feeling of working in a continuum in a field of arts dominated by women.

How do you describe your work?

My work often focuses on the abstract and askew aspects that comes with the textile, the non-perfection of the fibers and natural glitches in the repetitive textile techniques such as patchwork. I also find it very appealing to work with materials that are valued low or seen as less fancy, such as glittering plastic textiles. I guess it is a way of introducing a feeling of the surreal directly into the material of the work.

What techniques do you use?

Mostly I work with patchwork, but embroidery is also a technique that is close to my heart. 

How do you create a piece? 

My work often starts with a photograph or some kind of image that I manipulate using digital tools like photoshop and a cross-stitch program. The result is a pixelated image, often skewed in terms of color and resolution making it more abstract and dramatic. I then translate the pixels into actual patches, matching the colors with fabrics and playing with the aesthetic, making some patches pop using materials and fabrics that really stand out. In this phase you can really see how the qualities of the textile materials and techniques has their own way of life. My working process is controllable to some degree but I must say that the end result is always kind if obscure until the moment I have the finished piece in front of me to hang it on the wall.

Where do you work?

I work in a shared studio with other textile artists in Gothenburg. 

I know this is a hard question but how long does a bigger piece take?

I don’t know really, but recently I worked with a very tight deadline where I ended up making a 7000 square piece, roughly about 150 x 115 cm, in ten days. But that was crazy and if I would have done it in a normal pace it would have taken at least the double amount of time. 

What are you most proud of in your art career so far?

The everyday- acknowledgement for my art in all kind of ways; exhibitions, Instagram-likes, interviews like this, collaborations, grants etcetera. Together all of this is what makes it possible for me to have an art career at all.

Do you have any advice for aspiring textile artists?

Do the work and believe in yourself! 

www.ellendynebrink.se 

https://www.instagram.com/ellen_obviously/