I always tell my students that as an art historian you learn how to see. One actually becomes quite good at observing details and notice things in a room that, perhaps, others might not pay attention to. Still the fantastic thing with most art is that there always seems to be something left to discover. The more you look, the more you see. This became apparent to me during this week when working on a forthcoming guide of the art at Umeå university. Almost daily for the past decade or more I pass a grand textile called Livets träd (Tree of Life) by the artist Berta Hansson from 1960. And as common for textile art the artist made the original for a weaver to execute. I always thought this particular work was made by one of the most famous studios in Sweden, so I was looking for their brand when I found something else. A beautiful signature with the initials GB inside a loom. Who was this? 

It turned out to be a weaver that Berta Hansson collaborated with on many occations, and who also made her own original work - Gunn Leander-Bjurström (1922-2008). Here she is working with another piece by Berta Hansson, Skapelsen (The Creation). Gunn Leander-Bjurström made mostly tapestries for public spaces all over Sweden, but also in other techniques. Indeed; the more you look, the more you learn!