Alison Aune received her B.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1984, her M.A. from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 1987, and Ph.D. from Ohio University Athens in 2000. She served as education coordinator at the Tweed Museum of Art from 1991 to 1999 before joining the UMD Department of Art and Design. Aune's scholarly interests include museum-based teacher training, women artists in history, and inclusive art education. She has developed and taught museum and community-based art education since 1991. Her creative research is based on Nordic traditional folk art and symbolic decorative designs that she integrates into mixed media paintings to honor her cultural roots and pay tribute to women’s artistic and domestic contributions to material culture. Aune has received numerous grants and awards including a Scandinavian American Foundation Folk Artist Grant (2025 and 2018), Minnesota State Arts Board Creative Individual Grant (2024), Arrowhead Regional Arts Council Heritage Grant (2023), The Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Public Service (2023), Arrowhead Regional Arts Council George Morrison Artist Award (2020), Finlandia Foundation Grant (2018), Art Education of Minnesota Higher Educator of the Year Award (2015), Minnesota State Artist Initiative Award (2013), the UMD Albert Tezla Teacher/Scholar award (2010), a Fulbright Scholar and Teaching award to Sweden (Fall 2009), grants to conduct cross-cultural studies of the socio-aesthetic goals of art education in Scandinavia, the UMD Outstanding Adviser Award (2014), an Art Educators of Minnesota Museum Educator of the Year award (2003) and a Jerome Foundation International Artist Travel Grant. Aune has published chapters, articles, and on-line instructional resources on art education and museum-based learning for children and youth. She has exhibited her artwork in over 80 solo and group exhibitions in the U.S, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia and she regularly presents guest lectures and workshops internationally, nationally, and regionally.