“Art inspires us, engages the imagination, expands our perspectives, and raises our awareness of the world.” – Ambassador Kenneth A. Howery

U.S. Ambassador to Sweden Ken Howery is honored to participate in the Art in Embassies program and to exhibit distinctive pieces by American artists in his residence.

The program and art pieces connect visitors to the United States and American culture.

This is one of my favorite pieces in the Art in Embassies exhibition
a piece called Grande Finale by an artist named Mclean Fahnestock
one funny moment with this was in having Sweden’s first astronaut Christer Fuglesang over and I got to show him this, and he’s actually flown in the US space shuttle and this is definitely a fun one as we have an interactive (unheard)

(text) We had a chance to speak to the artist behind “Grande Finale” – Mclean Fahnestock
(amb) – Let me start by thanking you for lending us your wonderful piece it is a real honor to have your art in this exhibition.
(Mclean) – thank you, I love that it’s there. I really enjoyed that work and I’m always excited when it gets to shown in a new venue. Exploration is something that’s in my family’s blood I come from a line of sailors and explorers.
(amb). It’s 135 different space shuttle fields, right?
(mclean) yes
(amb) and where did you get the feeds from?
(mclean) they’re all from NASA. You can see how the cameras get better through the years. They also switched to, kind of, the same shots every time. And it’s because of the footage that was provide by NASA.
(amb) It’s amazing to be able to highlight some super talented American artists like yourself!
(amb) here’s another fun piece titled “the true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination by Kim Luttrell.
I also like this because it shows scientific cooperation between the US and Sweden, a priority of mine as US ambassador and brings the US and Sweden specifically together around Einsteins discovery given that he lived in America yet won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1921.
(amb) this piece reminds me of my many years l spent in California called The Women in the Waves by Joni Sternbach.
(text)We facetimed the artist and photographer behind the piece “The Women and the Waves”
(amb). Let me start by thanking youfor lending us your beautiful piece here at the embassy here in Stockholm.
(Joni) Well it’s really nice that the piece can travel, don’t you think? Like from Los Angeles to Stockholm and I don’t know how many people get to view it but it’s a great idea to have work that, you know, goes abroad and create conversations.
(amb)Can you tell us more about the tin type process?
(Joni)Yeah it is a process where you pour a liquid onto a surface and then you sensitize that surface once it’s tacky in a bath of silver nitrate, and then you expose and develope and do all your chemistry exactly where you’re photographing.
(amb) how long did it take to develop?
(Joni). It takes at least 15 minutes to make one piece from start to finish.
(amb)Facinating, nice!
(Joni)The picture you have is done in three sections, so that’s even more challenging to get everything to line up
(amb). I really appreciate you sitting down to tell us more about the piece and the process and again for letting me borrow this piece here at the embassy.
(Joni) Thank you so much Ken, it’s been a pleasure talking with you and I hope you have a great week, would love to have a photograph of you surfing.
(amb) Here’s a piece from an American artist whose family has Swedish roots called Cynthia Innis and it’s called Mojave which as you probably know is the driest desert in the US largly in California and Nevada. Here’s a really entertaining interactive art piece called Boris on blue hills by Brian. This astronaut is basically drawing for the audience. Almost like breaking the fourth wall. He is on an approximately 30 minute loop.
Here’s a piece I really love called “North Point Road Day”by Sparky Campanella. It’s one of 23 pieces he did in a series called “Horizons” he’s really drawn to both nature you see with the farmland and human made features like you see in the road here.
(text)Other pieces in the Art in Embassies program (pieces of works shown on screen)
(text) Thank you to the dedicated team at Art in Embassies, especially curator Imtiaz Hafiz, and for the generosity of the galleries and the artists who lent these compelling works. For more information on this exhibition and Art in Embassies, visit www.art.state.gov