Kari Dyrdal (b. 1952, Norway) is a textile artist, known for monumental tapestries that exhibit a dual mastery of the cultural tradition of hand weaving alongside an intricately researched digital production. Dyrdal’s practice involves a deep investigation of memory, incorporating pattern, repetition and structure as expressions of her ideas on aesthetics and cultural heritage. Working from her personal photography, Dyrdal considers the use of recognizable images as essential to her technique; expanding the potential of textile to communicate, she transforms her photography within the digital loom to create a juxtaposition between pictorial representation and abstraction. Dyrdal's textile works approach grand, architectural scale, and through her meticulous and premeditated digital process and aesthetic—the tightly packed pixels and fine-tuned mechanized control of weaving—an intimacy emerges, a humanity that withstands and is heightened by the technological process.
Drydal serves as a professor in the Faculty of Art, Music, and Design at the University of Bergen. She holds a degree in Textile Art from Bergens Kunsthåndverksskole (1977) and completed her postgraduate studies at the Croydon College of Art and Technology in London (1978). Her work has been exhibited at the National Museum, Oslo, the KODE/Vestlandske Kunstindustrimuseum, Bergen, and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, among others.
KARI DYRDAL
b. 1952, Norway
EDUCATION
1978 Textile, Postgraduate, Croydon College of Art and Technology, London, UK
1977 Textile, Bergens Kunsthåndverksskole, Bergen, Norway
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2019 KRAFT Bergen, Bergen, Norway
2016 Binära Koder Almgrens Sidenveveri, Stockholm, Sweden
Oseana Kunst og Kultursenter, Os, Norway
2015 Bomuldsfabriken Kunsthall, Arendal, Norway
2013 Bømlo Kunstlag, Bømlo, Norway
2012 Format Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Kunstnerforbundet Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Salhus Tricotagefabrik, Bergen, Norway
2011 Ørsta Kunstlag, Ørsta, Norway
2010 Hå Gamle Prestegaard, Stavanger, Norway
Osterøy Museum, Gjerstad, Norway
2007 Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, Norway
2000 Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, Norway
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 Odd and Even – A Collection, Taste Contemporary, Maison Louis Carré, Bazoches-
sur-Guyonne, France
Høstutstillingen, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway
2020 26 kunstnere – 26 år, Bomuldsfabriken Kunsthall, Arendal, Norway
2019 Det lyser i Vann, Trondhjems Kunstforening, Trondheim, Norway
Krefter, Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Kristiansand, Norway
Five Cubed, Taste Contemporary, Geneva, Switzerland
Krefter, KODE, Bergen, Norway
artgenève, Geneva, Switzerland
Format Oslo at Nomad, St. Moritz, Switzerland
2018 Forces de la Nature, National Ceramics Museum of Sèvres, Paris, France
125 gjenstander, valgt, fortellinger (125 items, chosen, stories), Nordenfjeldske
Kunstindustrimuseum, Trondheim, Norway
Ode til en vaskeklut Hymne til en tiger (Ode to a dishrag, hymn to a tiger), Kunsthall
Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway
artgenève, Geneva, Switzerland
2017 Borøy Kunsthandel, Borøy, Norway
Kunstgarasjen, Bergen, Norway
Multiply, Hå Gamle Prestegard, Nærbø, Norway
det store mjuke øyeblikk på Finnskogen, Finnskog Ustillingen, Svullrya, Norway
Ode til en vaskeklut Hymne til en tiger (Ode to a dishrag, hymn to a tiger), NTK
Norwegian Textile Artists Anniversary Exhibition, Kunstnerforbundet, Oslo, Norway
2016 Høstutstillingen Oslo (Oslo Autumn Exhibition), Statens kunstutstilling, Oslo, Norway
2015 Myke Monumenter, KODE, Bergen, Norway
100% Jacquard, Vilnius, Lithuania
2014 SOFA, Chicago, IL
SABOTasje, Innvik, Norway
2013 Tusen Tråder, Lillehammer Kunstmuseum, Lillehammer, Norway
2012 Vevring, Norway
2011 Shot Through, Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen, Norway
GRAFT, Galleri Format, Oslo, Norway
Kunsthåndverk 2011, Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo, Norway
New Works, Visningsrommet, USF Bergen, Bergen, Norway
Collect 2011, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
2010 4th Riga International Textile and Fiber Art Triennial, Riga, Latvia
International Textile Triennial, Łódź, Poland
Norske Kunsthåndverkere, Nasjonalmuseet Oslo + Et Utvalg (Traveling)
ESSENS, Kunstbanken Hamar, KUBE, Ålesund, Norway
PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
2021 Verdal Bo-og Behandlingssenter, Verdal, Norway
2020 Politiets Nasjonale Beredskapssenter, Taraldrud Ski (Competition)
Bømlo City Hall, Bremnes, Norway
2019 Øygarden Lokalmedisinske Senter, Straume, Norway
2018 University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
2017 Gjerdrum Bo og Omsorg, Gjerdrum, Norway
Norwegian Embassy, Tehran, Iran
2016 Gartnermarka Omsorg +, Bergen, Norway
Norwegian Embassy, New Delhi, India
Gard Forsikring, Arendal, Norway
2015 University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway (Competition)
Nye Bjønnes Sykehjem, Nøtterøy, Norway
2014 HiB, Høgskolen, Bergen, Norway
TUI, Mein Schiff 3. International Corporate Art
Kulturfabrikken Sortland, Sortland, Norway
2012 The Grieg Hall, Edvard Grieg Square, Bergen, Norway (Terminal)
2009 Politihøgskolen, Kongsvinger, Norway
Nidaros DPS, Trondheim, Norway
2004 Søreide Sykehjem, Bergen, Norway
2002 Akerselva Sykehjem, Oslo, Norway (Competition)
1998 Polarmiljøsenteret, Tromsø, Norway
Terminalhallen NSB, Gardermobanen, Oslo, Norway
1992 Nysæter Church, Stord, Norway
1991 Bjørnstierne Bjørnsons Plass, DNS, Bergen, Norway (Competition)
1989 Eidfjord Kommunehus, Eidfjord, Norway
1987 St. Magnus Cathedral, Orkney, Scotland, UK (Competition)
COLLECTIONS
KODE/Vestlandske Kunstindustrimuseum, Bergen, Norway
Kunstindustrimuseet, Oslo, Norway
Museum of Art, Riga, Latvia
Museum of Fine Art, Boston, MA
Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo, Norway
Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, Trondheim, Norway
Norsk Kulturråd
Norsk Trikotasjemuseum, Bergen, Norway
Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, Kristiansand, Norway
Telenors Art Collection
AWARDS
2011 Kunsthåndverk Prize from BKH
2010 Special Prize, Latvian Art Museum, Riga, Latvia
2010 Sølvmedalje 13, International Textile Triennial, Łódź, Poland
2004 Oslo Kommunes Architecture Prize, Oslo, Norway (Gardermoen Line)
1991 Landsforbundet Norsk Form, Norway
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2011 Statens Kunstfond
