Fjord Hesten. Traditional Norwegian tapestry, wool on linen warp. 1974.
By Norma Smayda
After graduating from Bucknell University with a degree in Biochemistry, I worked at DuPont’s biology lab for one year. I moved to Norway as a new bride in 1956 to begin an exciting four years as a Fulbright wife, working part time at the Institute of Marine Biology and raising our first child. I grew to love that country and its people, many of whom became dear friends. The landscape, the culture – theater, concerts, art exhibitions and craft galleries – all felt right, comfortable and challenging. Perhaps this is because I am of Norwegian heritage, although growing up I experienced few Norwegian traditions. Our landlord was an art collector, introduced me to art galleries, and I bought my first art piece, a lithograph by Knut Froysaa.
I credit the start of my career in weaving to seeing a label on a lovely blanket that said “hand woven by.” I don’t remember if I ever knew the weaver’s name. I knew nothing about handweaving, had never met a handweaver. But something resonated. Six years later we were back in Oslo for six months, and I found a summer weaving school, Monica Skolen. It was located in a charming old fashioned cabin in Frogner Park, behind the royal palace. I signed up for a two week session, and was so enamored that I signed up for a second session. Tom and Susan, now ages 8 and 6, played in the park while I wove, four hours a day, five days a week. I wove beautiful products – table runners and mats, a tote bag, a poncho – in different traditional Norwegian techniques, in beautiful yarns and colors. I still have most of those textiles. We wove on 4 shaft Monica table looms, with string heddles and a swinging beater. The looms were threaded to different techniques, with treadling directions taped to the looms. I was becoming a weaver! By the end of the second session I ordered a loom, loom stand and warping mill. My wonderful teacher, Kari Kaurin, dressed my loom with 15 meters of blue wool, threaded to rosepath. Back in Rhode Island I wove and wove, and soon realized I had a problem. I had learned nothing about designing a warp, dressing the loom, or even where to buy materials.
[Below, two pieces woven at Monica Skolen in 1965: “Vams,” a wool ski top in rosepath, and a lined wool tote bag woven in krokbragd on three shafts.]
The Weaving Goddess was watching over me. About the time I finished weaving yards and yards of rosepath, I met a woman who was giving a talk on finger weaving. She agreed to help me design and wind on a project, saying, “I will only come back again to help if this is woven off in 3 weeks.” I took good notes and wove it off in less than 3 weeks! Gwen MacIntyre became a mentor and good friend.
In 1973 we found ourselves back in Norway for a sabbatical. The children were now busy becoming Norwegian teenagers and learning to love the country as I did. I had the time to take a year-long weaving course at the Baerum Husflidsforening (home craft school) 6 hours a day, 5 days a week, plus other textile related classes, including tapestry. Ulla Hansson became my mentor. She was a knowledgeable weaver, an excellent teacher, and she recognized and encouraged my passion for all things weaving. Along with the simpler traditional techniques, I also had the opportunity to delve into Meraker (a non-reversible pick up double weave), kjepskill, and skillbragd on a loom especially adapted for this technique. I was also able to take two week concentrated courses in spinning and plant dying at the Statens Laereskole i Forming [National College of Applied Art].
[Below: A wall hanging sampler in Meraker, along with two detail shots.]
[Below are two weavings woven in 1973 at Baerum Husflidsforening: a linen unicorn tapestry woven in Beiderwand pick up technique, and a hostess skirt and blouse woven in Monk’s belt. The wool, lined skirt and blouse were designed and sewn at a BHF tailoring class.]
A fun fact: The Baerum Husflidsforening was located on the second floor of the old police station, an historic wooden building. One morning a man appeared at the door and inquired what we were doing to make so much noise. Some weavers were making rugs. He asked if would please stop weaving for a while. On the first floor Sean Connery was being filmed for a segment of the movie Airplane, and our weaving caused the old building to vibrate and disturb their filming. We stopped weaving, but unfortunately never got to see Sean Connery.
[Below are two skillbragd pieces, woven in 1974 at Baerum Husflidsforening: a wall hanging in wool and linen, and a runner woven with a loom attachment to allow for pattern shafts.]
I completed that year in Norway with two weeks in Toijala, Finland, to learn Finnish traditional weaving techniques, and wove more finnweave, with one layer in twill, the other in plain weave, a raanu (a colorful plain weave rug used as coverings for Saami tents), and a lovely blanket that was machine brushed with teasels. I had seen beautiful tapestries in Norway and Finland, and especially admired historic tapestries, work of Hannah Ryggen and Frida Hansen, and square weave wall hangings.
We returned to Rhode Island in September 1974, and I was in ‘weaving mode,’ weaving on my Monica table loom while I waited for my new loom at arrive, a 54” 8 shaft countermarche Glimakra loom (now converted to a 10 shaft, 12 treadle loom). This was and still is my favorite loom.
My Norwegian teachers, especially Ulla Hansson, had been very generous with their skills, knowledge and time, and I wanted to give back in some way. A few local weavers asked me to teach what I had learned, and fortuitously a wonderful space became available. Neighbors were adding a craft center to their home, and I was given a small section.
I started the Saunderstown Weaving School. Over the years I acquired more of the space, until today we occupy all of it. More looms found space here. A few I bought, more were donated, some of historical significance. Among others are two looms from William Henry Harrison Rose (1839-1913), a prominent Rhode Island weaver known as “Weaver Rose.” The niece of Osma Gallinger Todd gave me her aunt’s loom, built by Milo Gallinger. And a little two legged Swedish loom with string heddles and a swinging beater – yes, two legged! – with built-in clamps that clamp to a table, and can be collapsed to fit under the bed. From our original 6 looms we now have about 45 floor looms, 3 table looms and 3 tapestry looms.
What began as one class with 6 weavers, quickly expanded to 3 weekly classes with a student body of 25 – 30 weavers. Much of the weaving here is traditional, weaving Scandinavian techniques as well as Weaver Rose and Bertha Gray Hayes overshot patterns. I had wanted to teach weaving at the college level, so went back to school, getting my MFA in Visual Design from University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. However, after teaching one semester at Emmanuel College, I realized that I was spending too much time on committees, and really wanted to devote my time to teaching. The weaving school was designed on what I knew from my Norwegian classes. I had no other model. Beginner, intermediate and advanced weavers in each class, weaving on a variety of looms, and creating a variety of projects, gave the weavers a broad experience. We celebrated our 50th anniversary with a celebratory exhibition at Hera, a local women’s art gallery.
I’ve returned to Norway a few more times. From 1978 – 1982 I planned weaving tours and took eight weavers annually for five years, visiting the places I loved. We traveled from Bergen to Trondheim to Oslo, in mountain and fjord country, took walking tapestry tours in each city, and wove in a small craft school. In 1987 I returned to visit my son, who was working in Bergen that year, and to see my first granddaughter. We continued from Bergen to Oslo, and on to Sweden to attend Väv, an triennial weaving conference.
Along my weaving journey I became active in and teaching at local, regional and national organizations, becoming President of the Handweavers Guild of America in 1988. I attended the first Norwegian Breakfast Club meeting organized by Lila Nelson I think at Convergence held in San Jose. I attended many more Breakfast Club meetings. The Norwegian Breakfast Club eventually became the Norwegian Textile Newsletter. I visited Vesterheim in Decorah twice to give talks and workshops.
[Below: the Norwegian Breakfast Club organized a study group to investigate Flesberg technique, a three-shaft rosepath.]
Because I had access to original Bertha Gray Hayes handwritten materials, I coauthored Weaving Designs by Bertha Gray Hayes in 2009. At Convergence in 2010 I took a class on the fan reed, became enamored with ondulé textiles, and researched and wrote Ondulé Textiles: Weaving Contours with a Fan Reed in 2017. Soon a small but devoted study group was established in Complex Weavers. This led to an in depth series of articles in the Complex Weavers Journal, February 2025.
The next Saunderstown Weaving School exhibition, to celebrate our 55th anniversary, is already scheduled for the fall of 2029!
Bonus photos! Row 1. Crackle overshot detail; Roses of the Sogn. Double weave pick-up with monksbelt border. Row 2: Overshot table mat; Rosepath and monksbelt blended draft wall hanging. From Sigrid Palmgren’s Vavbok I. Linen. 8 shafts. Row 3: Stars of the North. (detail) 8 shaft summer and winter. Design from Ekenmark damask patterns. Woven for Convergence 1994, Minneapolis workshop. Linen; Stars of the North. Row 4: Rosepath and monksbelt blended draft wall hanging (detail). From Sigrid Palmgren’s Vavbok I. Linen. 8 shaft; Rosepath and monksbelt blended draft sampler. From Sigrid Palmgren’s Vavbok I. Cotton. 1980. Row 5: Monk’s belt pink table runner. Cotton, cottolin.
November 2025
[Editor’s note: See also a wonderful interview on the Handweavers Guild of America “Textiles and Tea” series web page: Norma Smayda.]
Help support wonderful articles on Scandinavian textiles with a donation to the Norwegian Textile Letter. This warbler is chirping his thanks! Tusen takk
In March this year, the Weavers’ Guild of Boston hosted Robbie LaFleur for a lecture and workshop about Frida Hansen. I was busy weaving my open warp style tapestry when I saw an email from Vibeke Vestby, founder of Digital Weaving Norway. She invited me to submit a woven artwork for an exhibit in Norway to be held in August. YES! I was immediately planning the trip. The exhibition would be held in conjunction with a conference celebrating thirty years of the Thread Contoller (TC1 or TC2) loom. The Sundvolden Hotel in Krokklevia, on the edge of a fjord north of Oslo, was a perfect location for an August event.
The conference, Digital Weaving: Innovation Through Pixels, featured talks from thirty textile professionals who varied from University professors, designers, desearchers, skilled TC2 trainers and independent artists. Twelve speakers represented the USA. The loom is the new tool on the block in Maker Spaces, university textile departments, prototyping engineering labs, and is part of weaving residency programs in locations such as the Icelandic Textile Center.
A catalogue with the conference title was also published. It tells the story of Vibeke Vestby’s background, and how the TC looms were developed at Tronrud Engineering Moss.
Vibeke’s dream to build a modern tool for hand weavers began in the 1980s as computer technology and creative programs for drafting weaving patterns were just beginning. After years of research and development, the first loom was sold in 1995. In 1996 I attended one of the first workshops to introduce the TC loom, held at Montclair State University, New Jersey, and I put the loom on my wish list.
Vibeke Vestby has persevered with a vision for weavers that has changed the way textiles can be developed. In 2006, when The Woven Pixel: Designing for Jacquard and Dobby Looms Using Photoshop, written by Alice Schlein and Bhakti Ziek, was published, it became the weaving manual that instructed how Photoshop could be used to design woven structures. Programs such as Photoshop, Fiberworks, WeavePoint and Arahweave, developed for the needs of weavers, now enable rapid design manipulation. A new software was introduced at this year’s conference, AdaCAD. It was developed by Laura Devendorf at the Unstable Design Lab at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and is an exciting open source program. Now, in 2025, with 300 looms installed in locations around the world, weavers gathered to share stories about the TC loom and how it has transformed their weaving practice.
TC2 loom with spools
The conference presented opportunities for the TC loom weavers to sit together and swap experiences of working with the loom, to buid new connections within the growing community of digital weavers, and to make new friends.
Weaving traditions depend upon a span of time for them to be thoroughly adapted into general practice. As textile professionals, we study ancient techniques and honor the methods of our ancestors. As the mode of learning and showing respect, showcasing difficult technical skills that have been personally mastered is a way to prolong the heritage of the craft.
New weavers who begin a weaving journey have digital skills in image manipulation, a library of pixelated weave structures and intuitive computer skills that allow them to jump into weaving at a high level. These innovators take materials at hand, without necessarily worrying whether the sample or fragment will endure the test of time. Weavers delve into the field to combine engineering with multimedia. They explore texture and how to project emotions. They use materials that sense information or function as an aid to human experience with temperature detection or moisture containment or sound responsive properties. Artists push the boundaries of “tapestry” with personal, social or political messages woven into the cloth. This wall hanging by Katia Huhmarkangas takes medical and other tech world imagery of the heart and combines them into a personal statement.
Katia Huhmarkangas, Synthesis 1, 2024
After many years, I became a TC2 loom owner in 2016. Taking workshops with Cathryn Amidei, the USA representative, (cathrynamidei.com) and with online tutorials plus many hours of trial and error, my weaving has found a personal style. The piece I sent was woven from one of my drawings inspired by jazz musician, Lyle Mays.
Laurie Steger, Lyle, just playin’ . 2024
The honored designers that have shaped this generation of textile makers — such as Dorothy Liebes, Lucienne Day, Jack Lenor Larson, Annie Albers, Sheila Hicks, or the legendary Frida Hanson, to name a few — will be joined by Vibeke Vestby as a breakthrough inventor, educator and developer of modern methods of textile practice.
With the fjord just steps away from the Sundvolden Hotel, my husband and I took an evening walk. We could hear sounds of hammering nearby. Like the Pied Piper calling to men everywhere, we tracked down the source to discover The Hardraade Project, a community of people building a replica of an authentic Viking ship. They were using all the old techniques: wooden pegs, blacksmithed fixtures and handwoven linen sails. They were rushing to complete it for a planned launch on August 30.
Viking ship construction with old techniques. Photo: Hardraade.
Visits the to Fram Museum, the Kon Tiki Museum (image: Kon Tiki) the Nobel Center and the Oslo National Museum of Art filled our two days left before heading home.
Kon-Tiki
After learning about the newest weaving technology, viewing historical Norwegian tapestries at the National Museum completed my full circle of travel inspiration.
Tapestry, 1903. Gerhard Munthe, Designer. Nordenfjeldske kunstindustrimuseums atelier for kunstvævning, Producer. Photo: Frode Larsen
Laurie Carlson Steger is a weaver and Fiber artist from South Dartmouth, Massachusetts. She works on 4 and 8 harness looms as well as the TC2 loom. She studied textiles at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, is a member of Complex Weavers and Handweavers Guild of America and current Dean of the Weavers’ Guild of Boston.
Help support wonderful articles on Scandinavian textiles with a donation to the Norwegian Textile Letter. This warbler is chirping his thanks! Tusen takk
Jane Addams, “Husfliden: A Herstory.” Originally published in Vesterheim Magazine, Vol. 21, No. 2, 2023.
Handcrafts and textile production were essential survival skills in pre-industrial Norway. Addams describes how the availability of machine-woven cloth gave many rural women the time to produce goods to sell. During the National Romantic era, beautiful textiles became symbols of national identity.
Click on the photo or title above for a pdf copy of the article.
Addams’ survey of women and handcraft history even describes the movement of Norwegian traditional craft to the U.S.
“The Norwegians who moved here in the Great Migration hoped to rise above the social status they left behind, so in the interest of assimilation they quickly adopted the “American” aesthetic. It is the later generations who, realizing what they left behind, picked up the pieces to form a uniquely Norwegian-American identity.”
Jane Addams is a first generation Norwegian American with a long family history in the woolen mills of Norway. She has designed Selbu mittens for yarn stores and fashion brands and enjoys studying and teaching this rich textile heritage. She recently led the 2025 Vesterheim Textile Study Tour to Norway focused on bunad history and handcraft. Jane is currently a graduate student of Biology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse studying the effects of climate change on traditional dye plants and lichens, and will teach a lichen dye class at Vesterheim in Summer 2026.
Below: Jane Addams’ lichen-dyed yarn; mittens of her own Selbu-style design; and a tintype of the author in her Fana bunad. Photos courtesy of Jane Addams.
October 2025
Help support wonderful articles on Scandinavian textiles with a donation to the Norwegian Textile Letter. This warbler is chirping his thanks! Tusen takk
For ten days in early September 2025, Eau Claire, Wisconsin hosted Anne Tiedemand-Johannessen Møller and her billedvevene (woven tapestries). This year we are celebrating the 200th anniversary of Norwegian immigration to the United States. The sloop Restauration arrived on October 9, 1825, in New York City with 52 people aboard and has since become a symbol of Norwegian American identity. In this anniversary year, Møller came to the Upper Midwest with many of her woven tapestries so that we could delight in their depictions of Norwegian life and history. A highlight of the exhibition was Møller’s tapestry of the Restauration itself being led across the ocean by a bald eagle. I was especially intrigued by her use of threads outside of the woven ground to show interest and dimensionality.
Detail of Restauration showing addition of non-woven threads. All photos are courtesy of the author.
Møller grew up on a farm in Gausdal, northwest of Lillehammer, Norway. As a child, she enjoyed exploring the outdoors — hiking in the woods and mountains and skiing in the winter. She began work in healthcare but later took further education in art history and eventually weaving courses in Lillehammer. She enjoys that her tapestry weaving can tell a story.
In 2004, Møller’s This is Norway — a set of twelve tapestries — travelled around the country. She intended them to feature the months in her region of Norway. The tapestries are full of animal life with wolves, puffins, and polar bears. My favorite one was December which presented to the viewer as if peering through from a warm inside through a window to the cold outside. The folks outside were just as warmed through it seems, enjoying some fun winter activities.
Two friezes depicting historical events in Norwegian history were also included in the exhibition. The first depicted scenes from Norwegian history and was woven by Møller to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the dissolution of union with Sweden.
Another frieze, woven to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Norwegian Constitution in 2014, shows decades of recent history in Norway.
[Left: Detail of the Frieze, Norwegians heading to church. Right: Detail of the frieze, Svinesud Bridge crossing Iddefjord joining Sweden and Norway, 2005]
I was honored to offer the presentation “From Norway to the American Midwest: 200 Years of Immigrant Folk Art” as a complementary program to the exhibition. I used the presentation to position Møller’s traditional craft within a larger story of Norwegian folk art and craft in the diaspora — with a special focus on the lasting contribution of Norwegian folk art and craft in the American Upper Midwest and the value in maintaining it and its practitioners.
Møller’s visit and exhibition was sponsored by Løven Lodge (Sons of Norway), Midwest Institute of Scandinavian Culture, Waldemar Ager Association and Museum, McIntyre Library (University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire), and L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library. She continues to work on tapestries and is currently weaving one of St. Olaf, the 11th century King of Norway.
October 2025
Josh Brown is Skwierczynski University Fellow in Languages and professor of German and linguistics at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire. He prefers spending time at the loom, learning about the techniques that are deeply rooted in a culture, especially his own Pennsylvania Dutch culture and Scandinavian cultures. Josh has published and presented widely on heritage language communities in the U.S., including the Scandinavian Americans. He dreams of a life as an artisanal weaver in New England. His academic website is: https://www.joshuarbrown.com/ and his weaving website is: https://www.thebullfroginn.com/
Help support wonderful articles on Scandinavian textiles with a donation to the Norwegian Textile Letter. This warbler is chirping his thanks! Tusen takk
For years, I’ve been making art that aims to elevate the work of women. When I was a young adult, I received a beautiful doily as a shower gift from my great-aunt, Betty. I was enamored with the detail, appreciating each stitch. I understood the time and care that went into this work and remembered seeing doilies selling for pennies on the dollar at craft fairs. It was this experience that moved me to honor these labors of love. After exhausting my personal collection of doilies and other lace works to inspire my paper abstractions (such as my Revolution and Constellation series), I decided to dig deeper and research my Scandinavian roots.
My roots are predominantly Norwegian, with a small amount of Swedish and German heritage. Locally, my research led to a solo exhibition at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis (2021) that honored Swedish bobbin lace, including the Bobbin Lace Fence Project (an outdoor installation along the fence on Chicago Avenue during the pandemic).
This focus on Scandinavian handwork in my art propelled my first trip to Norway in 2019, where I studied the collections of the Tekstilindustrimuseet (Salhus, Norway) and the Osterøy Museum (Gjerstad, Norway). I arrived that year in Oslo, Norway, on May 17th, and was in awe of the celebrations, culture and incredible detail of the bunad folk dress worn by the locals. While at these museums, I learned about the warp-weighted loom and other textiles in the collection of the Osterøy Museum, and the knitted works at the Tekstilindustrimuseet. I noted the differences between the hand-made vs. machine-made at each museum. The Tekstilindustrimuseet features great machines, both electric and hand-propelled, but it was the historical photographs in their collection that moved me the most. The photographs told stories of the people who worked at the textile factories of Norway, and the various roles of men and women within. I wondered what it must have felt like to transition from a mostly hand-made industry to this commercial facility, and how fast that transition must have been during the industrial revolution.
Between these two musuems, I enjoyed the rolling hills and sheep-filled pastures on the drive, which was about 34 kilometers. As an outdoor enthusiast, I was in awe of the waterfalls that seemed to be flowing out of every farmstead. To get to the museum, we needed to pass through single-lane dirt roads that seemed like we had stepped back in time. With a focus on preserving cultural traditions, the Osterøy Museum is not only a museum, but a living practice involving these handwork traditions. The Osterøy Museum is a compelling and active connection to heritage that I had not experienced before. I knew I must stay and learn.
I continued to research this work for the next few years before eventually producing two main bodies of work: my Portal series and Bunad series, which were first exhibited at the Osterøy Museum in 2023. It is now a traveling exhibit, and was shown at the Hjemkomst Center (Moorhead), Norway House (Minneapolis), and will be featured as an upcoming solo exhibition at the Vesterheim Museum in 2027.
While I was at the Osterøy Museum, I focused my research on the bringeklut portion of the Bunad folk dress. I carefully documented several bringeklut pieces and other textiles with my camera, keying into the details of each stitch. The Bunad series developed out of this documentation.
When I returned home, I translated these images into polymer photogravure prints. This process involves the transfer of a photographic image onto a polymer plate that can be used for editioning. Once the plate is developed, it is inked up and printed by hand with an etching press.
For these works, I intentionally printed the images in black and white to draw attention to the labor of the handwork, leveling out the competition of color and bringing to light the human use of these textiles. I wanted the stains, rips and loose threads to become an active component of the work. To me, these imperfections accentuate the importance of our existence, and the role textiles have played in being human. I added subtle hints of the original colors back into the images through my own embroidery and beadwork. This process allows me to play a role in directing the viewer to the important aspects of the textiles that have captivated my attention.
In the Portal series, I integrated historical photographs from the Tekstilindustrimuseet and patterns from the textile collection of the Osterøy Museum, creating an intersection of handwork and the textile industry. Transforming the photographs into fish-eye lens perspectives and printing them as archival pigment prints on paper transports the viewer back in time, honoring those who paved the way for the industry. In addition, I’ve added lace-pattern borders sourced from the Osterøy’s collection that are drawn by hand and embellished with embroidery and beads, referencing this handwork as an expression of love and a means of survival. They were symbols of life at home, yet through the Industrial Revolution and invention of machinery, these skills quickly transformed into a prominent way of earning a living. The work I created for the Bunad and Portal series honors and recognizes these labors of love. Additional works from this series can be found on my website, www.amysands.com, and my Instagram page, @printmaker.
A view of my exhibition Trådar at Norway House in 2025.
Photo credit to Ukjend (Tekstilindustrimuseet) on the following images: Portal VI, Portal VII, Portal VIII, Portal IX, Portal X. All other photographs are public domain/free use as part of Tekstilindustromuseet collection. Lace patterns in Portal series are credited to Osterøy Museum and Tekstilindustrimuseet collection.All textiles in the Bunad series are from the Osterøy Museum collection.
Amy Sands is a Minneapolis-based visual artist and educator who creates work that honors handwork traditions through the reimagining of textiles into visual works. These works include prints, photography and public art. She is a practicing professional artist, Professor of Studio Arts and Department Chair of Fine Arts at Metro State University, a wife to a wonderful husband, mother of two adult children and two cats. She lives for the outdoors and elevating the work of women, current and past. www.amysands.com IG: @printmaker
Help support wonderful articles on Scandinavian textiles with a donation to the Norwegian Textile Letter. This warbler is chirping his thanks! Tusen takk
I find it surprising that so many weavers have felt compelled to reproduce Norway’s most famous weaving, the Baldishol Tapestry. Many Baldishol replicas are in the U.S.: Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum has three full-sized replicas, and one is in storage at the White House, a gift from Norwegian-American women to President and Mrs. Coolidge. (Read more about those in “The Baldishol Tapestry–The White House Replica and Others.”)
Baldishol Tapestry. Between 1150-1190. Nasjonalmuseet. (full record)
Weaving a Baldishol tapestry is not a small commitment for a weaver; a full-sized replica is large at 46” x 80”. It is tricky in terms of technique; in particular, several outlined areas on the birds’ breasts and the back of the horse challenge even the most skilled tapestry weavers. Perhaps that’s why many weavers choose to make their own copies – to challenge their weaving skills? (1)
I learned of another reproduction of the Baldishol in the U.S. in 2021. It was located in Florida and presumably woven by Abbie Wetzel (1920-2002).
Abbie Wetzel was born in Massachusetts. According to her brief obituary, she was a veteran of the U.S. Navy, serving in World War II. She taught instrument flying to pilots. She was married to Robert Wetzel, an artist, Navy veteran, and producer of animated films. Bob and Abbie had no children. They lived in the Washington DC area for many years, later retiring in Winter Haven, Florida.
After Abbie died, Bob remarried. He died of cancer in 2004, and Abbie’s textile supplies and the Baldishol reproduction were left with his second wife, Mary Martin Wetzel. When Bob Wetzel died, much of the background story of the Baldishol replica was lost. After Abbie Wetzel’s death in 2002, the Baldishol replica remained in her husband’s family for two decades, carefully stored in Winter Haven, then Gainesville, Florida, and then Asheville, South Carolina.
Emily Mann, the granddaughter of Bob Wetzel’s second wife Mary, contacted me about the tapestry, believed to be woven by Abbie Wetzel. It seemed a bit baffling. What prompted Wetzel to take on such a large weaving and this image? Had she seen the original? Did she have Norwegian background? Was she an experienced tapestry weaver?
The original Baldishol Tapestry is 46.5” tall by 80”. The Abbie Wetzel reproduction is approximately 50” by 70”, so it is a full-size replica. But this Baldishol tapestry has a very odd characteristic — the image was woven backwards!
Snapshot taken by Emily Mann, with the horseman riding in the wrong direction
That didn’t seem right, and I suggested to Emily that perhaps she had sent me a photo of the back. But it was the front; she sent me photos clearly showing that unwoven ends were on the other side. That was also a bit odd. In the Norwegian billedvev [tapestry] tradition, the hanging ends on the backs of tapestries are woven in so that the reverse side is as beautiful as the front.
Emily Mann inherited the tapestry, but after it was in storage for so many years, her family members had few details. They did know that Abbie Wetzel was not able to finish it, and Bob Wetzel paid someone to finish the weaving. When that was or who did it, Emily didn’t know.
I searched for more information on Abbie Wetzel. She was an active spinner and weaver and at one point owned five spinning wheels, according to a 1990 article in the Pensacola News Journal. She had been spinning for thirty years. She gave workshops on straw weaving and demonstrated spinning at her local library. Abbie compiled extensive natural dye notebooks and samples, which Emily inherited and passed on to an artist friend.
Then I spent a whole day on the couch, peeling back layers of the internet….
It wasn’t Abbie Wetzel who began the Baldishol, It was a Norwegian-American weaver, Maria Mundal. And the person who finished weaving the tapestry was Mary Mahon from Orlando.
Mary Mahon pictured in an article in the Orlando Sentinel, August 22, 1999, “Interweaving Artistry, History.”
In an article in the Orlando Sentinel, Mary Mahon mentioned that it was Maria Mundal who started the tapestry. Mary Mahon and Abbie Wetzel were active members of the Weavers of Orlando; both are mentioned in issues of the guild newsletter, Fibergramme, which is archived online. It is interesting that Mary Mahon is working on a floor loom, not an upright tapestry loom. I thought she might just be weaving something else, for the purposes of a photo, but it looks like she is weaving tapestry. She is not weaving in the Norwegian tradition with butterflies; I see a tapestry bobbin and another small shuttle.
The article states that Mary Mahon had been working on it for three years, so probably beginning about 1996. The article noted that the original weaver, Maria Mundal, died more than 20 years previously (previous to 1999) and said it was an accident.
What was the accident? I discovered the sad answer through the Norwegian National Library online, in an article from Nordisk Tidende, June 27, 1974. “Art Weaver Maria Mundal is Dead.” (My translation)
The renowned art weaver Maria Mundal died at Ullevaal Hospital in Oslo on June 11. She had been living in Alexandria, Virginia, and had earlier this summer traveled on vacation to Norway after a 40 year absence from her homeland. She turned 80 in October 1973.
After a visit to the Munch Museum she was hit by a car and broke her collarbone. She was taken to the hospital. She developed complications and her life could not be saved. She died on June 11 and was buried in Vegårdshei in Aust-Agder, where her mother is also buried.
Maria Mundal had a strong wish to weave the Baldishol Tapestry, one of Norway’s most famous tapestries, through her whole life. It dates from the 12th century and was found in the Baldishol Church in Hedmark. and hangs in the Kunstindustri Museum [now part of the Nasjonalmuseet] in Oslo. She obtained the materials she needed and had begun the large work, but it was not completed. Now another person will be sought to finish it. Maria Mundal herself said that the Baldishol would be the greatest work of her life.
So how did Maria Mundal’s Baldishol come to be with Abbie Wetzel? I guessed that Abbie was a tapestry student in one of Maria Mundal’s tapestry classes, or was a friend through a weavers group near Alexandria, Virginia, where Maria Mundal lived before her death. Wetzel lived in the DC area before retiring later to Florida.
I discussed the backwards Baldishol with Laurann Gilbertson, Curator at Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum. She began digging into a cache of letters and records about Maria Mundal in their archives. There were letters from Abbie Wetzel, who had donated other weavings by Maria Mundal to the museum. The story of Maria Mundal’s Baldishol replica became much clearer, and I should have contacted Laurann earlier! In 2000 Abbie Wetzel was in communication with Vesterheim about the completed Baldishol replica. This was shortly before she died in 2002. The communication stopped. The Baldishol was stored away in Florida. And two decades later Emily Mann inherited it and began to seek information about it.
In a letter from the Vesterheim archive, Abbie Wetzel related more information about Mundal’s Baldishol replica. “Husfliden resisted selling Maria the handspun vegetal dyed yarn so it was Maria’s persistence that won out. She had been working on the tapestry for about a year before her untimely death and had completed about ¾ of it. The cartoon was lost in the handling of her estate and I obtained a copy from a friend in Norway.”
An article in Nordiske Tidende from October 4, 1973, profiled Mundal as a prominent Norwegian-American weaver, and ends with the following paragraph. “Maria has just received yarn from Norway and is ready to begin weaving a copy of the Baldishol Tapestry, a project she has looked forward to and feels will be one of her most important works.” If Maria Mundal began weaving the replica around October, 1973, when she was 79, and then wove ¾ of the tapestry before her accident in Oslo in March, 1974, that was a fast weaving pace!
But why was the image backwards?
A question remained: If Maria Mundal began the tapestry, and she learned to weave as a child, in an unbroken tradition from her mother, grandmother, and as one article said, weavers back to Viking times, why would she leave tails on the back of a tapestry? That is against Norwegian tapestry history and technique. And if weaving the Baldishol Tapestry was a lifelong goal of Mundal, why would she weave it backwards? I have a theory.
I believe Maria Mundal was weaving the tapestry from the front, left the tails of each color on the front, and planned to weave in all the ends (like a good Norwegian). But the person who finished weaving the tapestry (Mary Mahon, and perhaps also Abbie Wetzel) didn’t know that was supposed to be done. Most American tapestry weavers don’t follow that tradition. I looked more closely at one of the detail photos, showing one end of the tapestry, and it looks like some ends have been woven in, just not cut off. If all the ends can be woven in – voila! – the horseman will not be riding backwards.
Emily Mann is donating the Baldishol replica to Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, which has a number of other pieces woven by Maria Mundal. Maria Mundal would be pleased, no doubt, although her initial hope was that it would be displayed in the Norwegian Embassy in Washington, DC, or at the United Nations. And Abbie Wetzel, who had been a good friend to Maria Mundal, would be happy to know that the completed Baldishol will be part of the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum collection. (2)
Abbie Wetzel once wrote to Laurann Gilbertson, “My experience as a handspinner and handweaver has contributed to my respect for these crafts associated with these creative endeavors. When it is the part of the lives of many generations, as in a museum, it evokes reverence and a joy of the spirit, doesn’t it?”
(2) Members of the Minnesota Weavers Guild of Minnesota Scandinavian Weavers Study Group will weave in the loose threads on Mundal’s tapestry, to fulfill her strong wish to weave a Baldishol replica.
October 2025
Help support wonderful articles on Scandinavian textiles with a donation to the Norwegian Textile Letter. This warbler is chirping his thanks! Tusen takk
Frida Hansen (1855-1931) and Hannah Ryggen (1894-1970), two of the most important Norwegian tapestry weavers of the 20th century, wove monumental tapestries with very different styles and aesthetics. They both used liberal amounts of the vibrant blue loved by countless Norwegian weavers over time, potte-blå, or “pot blue.”
Most dyes require a mordant in the dyeing process, an ingredient that creates a bond between the color and the fiber. In the case of indigo, urine works well. Although both artists warrant much longer descriptions of their lives and works, this article will focus on interesting anecdotes about their use of blue dye and urine—from camels and from men.
Frida Hansen was most active from the late 1890s through the 1920s and her tapestries reflected the Art Nouveau style of her era. Her figures, almost exclusively of women, were elegant. She was one of the first artist weavers, responsible for both the design and weaving of her tapestries (though she had help at the loom). Her images were filled with nature, evoking flowers from the gardens of her youth. In addition to her artistic talent, Hansen was also known for reinvigorating historical Norwegian tapestry weaving at the end of the 19th century, for her research into traditional plant dyes, and for her entrepreneurship as the head of a weaving studio of around 20 weavers.
Many of Frida Hansen’s tapestries include liberal amounts and numerous shades of indigo blue. In Sørover [Southward, 1903], ten maidens ride swans on blue fan-shaped waves. The indigo shades set off the sinuous maidens in complementary colors. Without the variety of blue, the massive tapestry (10’ x 11’) would be much less striking.
Frida Hansen. Sørover [Southward], 1903. Photo courtesy of Peter Pap.
Frida Hansen also developed and patented a unique form of wool transparent tapestry, with areas of open warp contrasting with fully-woven sections of pattern. Blue was a favorite color for her warp; more than half of her designs featured indigo-dyed warp. Blue was also prominent in the rugs and upholstery fabrics woven in her studio.
Indigo-dyed warp used in Frida Hansen’s transparent tapestry Nellik og Hane [Cloves and Rooster], 1901. Photo: Robbie LaFleur
Frida Hansen dyed large quantities of wool for her own tapestries and those woven in her workshop, and her students did too. Around 1916 Ragna Bachke, a student of Frida Hansen’s, ran into problems obtaining her mordant for indigo. Bachke was weaving three rugs designed by Hansen and she needed several liters of potte-blå. Frida Hansen specified that only natural dyes be used, and Bachke was importing camel urine from Morocco for her indigo mordant. (Wouldn’t it be interesting to see the bottles and labels?) However, submarine warfare interrupted shipping, and Bachke visited Frida Hansen to express her concerns. Hansen consoled her immediately, saying, “Remember, dear lady, there are strong men at Jæderen too.” (1)
Røde roser [Red Roses], 1902. Photo courtesy of the Stavanger Kunstmuseum. Photo: Dag Myrestrand. The rugs woven by Ragna Bachke likely included red and blue roses similar to this tapestry.
It is interesting that camel urine was used, that WWI interrupted its use, and that in its absence, Frida Hansen suggested that men’s urine, in particular, was still available. Hmmm…only men?
Hannah Ryggen’s career started around the time of Frida Hansen’s death in 1931. She was born in Sweden and married Hans Ryggen, a Norwegian artist. They lived on a small farm without electricity near Trondheim, Norway, yet her visually powerful tapestries commented on international issues. For example, she skewered Hitler and Nazis while Norway was occupied and continued her social critiques for decades. Her images were not always political. We are Living on a Star, woven to celebrate her marriage, is filled with symbols of love, but the tapestry became political. It was hanging in a government building and damaged during the terrorist attack of Hans Breivik on July 11, 2011. When the tapestry was repaired, it was done imperfectly, intentionally, to show the tear in the fabric of society, and the coming together in its wake.
Hannah Ryggen. Vi lever på en stjerne [We are Living on a Star], 1958. In the collection of the Norwegian Government. Photo: Christine Novotny.
Her use of bold color and design brings to mind the decorative aspects of folk art, yet the images wouldn’t be called pretty. Ryggen said that she did not consider her works as textiles, but representations of people’s lives and struggles. She mostly used wool spun by her from her own sheep and dyed it with natural materials. Ryggen also used men’s urine in dyeing her vibrant blue. Many overviews of her work note that Ryggen kept a bucket for pee and asked male guests to her farm to contribute.
Hannah Ryggen. Karsten i vevhimmel [Karsten in Weaving Heaven] 1953. The beautiful blue in this tapestry of the painter Ludvig Karsten extends to tufts of pile. In the collection of the Nationalmuseet, Stockholm. Photo: Robbie LaFleur
A contemporary artist, Veslemøy Lilleengen, whose own grandfather had contributed to Hannah Ryggen’s famous jar of pee, made it a personal quest to dispute the common belief that men’s urine makes the best blue.
She wrote, “The content of urine affects the color. What you have eaten and what you have drunk, health and age are examples of what gives different shades of blue. After working with the color method for a few years, I have been confronted time and again with a certain myth: only men can contribute urine to make pot blue. It comes from different quarters, both experts on color, experts at Hannah Ryggen and museums. It may seem that people believe men have magical urine.” (2)
To dispel this mistaken belief, Lilleengen collected urine from other women artists and used it to make a blue shade unique to each person, a sort of genetic fingerprint in a dyepot. She dyed a t-shirt in the unique dye for each artist and stamped the artist’s name on the front. The 55 shirts were assembled as an art work, Norsk Bauta [Norwegian Monument], and displayed at the 2021 Høstutstillingen, a prestigious annual contemporary art exhibition in Oslo. The indigo t-shirt project is a part of Lilleengen’s larger focus on the underrepresentation of women in art and museum collections. (3)
Veslemøy Lilleengen. Norsk Bauta, 2021. Photo courtesy of Veslemøy Lilleengen.
Both Frida Hansen and Hannah Ryggen would have enjoyed Veslemøy Lilleengen’s research to break the myth of men’s urine as best. But however those artists obtained their potte-blått, the resulting tapestries with a myriad of blue shades are a cause for celebration and admiration.
1. Letter from Christian Mohr to Anniken Thue, Oslo, October 27, 1991, Anniken Thue’s Frida Hansen archive, Stavanger Art Museum. 2. Lilleengen, Veslemøy. “Norsk Bauta.” Website: https://www.veslemoylilleengen.com/work/norsk-bauta. 3. LaFleur, Robbie. “To the Point, with Textiles.” Vesterheim, Vol. 19, No. 2 2021.
Nordic Craft Week is an annual campaign on Facebook celebrating Nordic handicraft. For a week each autumn the Nordic countries come together to showcase both their unique local craft techniques and their shared cultural heritage. It was first held in 2018, initiated by the Nordic Folk Art and Craft Federation. Follow Nordic Craft Week on Facebook.
The Nordic Craft Week site lists the crafts chosen in earlier years. In 2019, the theme was mittens and there are links to patterns from several Nordic countries.
Vivike Hansen writes on the iTextilis site (March 2025) about “Bolsters and Pillows – Swedish Weaving Traditions and Historical Reproductions.” “Durable handwoven striped woollen qualities used for warm feather/down bolsters and pillows were popular in many Swedish farming communities for centuries. These textiles – named “bolstervar” – were sometimes stuffed with straw, reeds, horsehair, grass or other easily acquired materials instead.”
Swedish weaver Sonja Berlin has been studying and weaving bands since the mid-1970s. Her work was featured in an exhibit, Trådar och tankar (Threads and Thoughts) at Sörmlands Museum in Nyköping, Sweden, from February 25-May 18, 2025. The exhibit has ended, but we are lucky that there is a marvelous film available online, with English subtitles, about her innovative work with band weaving.
Watch a Webinar about Sámi Bandweaving
A new webinar from Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum is the first in a series of cross-cultural explorations of band weaving traditions. Sámi Bandweaving features Weaver and Sámi culture bearer Laurel Sanders.
Take a Course in Person or Learn Online
The Midwest has a wealth of Scandinavian textile learning opportunities. Check out the fiber classes at North House Folk School in Grand Marais, the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum courses, and the textile offerings among the American Swedish Institute’s Nordic Handcraft classes. Several courses are virtual, so Norwegian Textile Letter readers from anywhere can benefit.
Heather Torgenrud will give a Sami band weaving webinar through Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in September.
Help support wonderful articles on Scandinavian textiles with a donation to the Norwegian Textile Letter. Thank you! Tusen takk!
The Past/Present/Future of Folk Art Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum July 11, 2025 – January 11, 2026
This juried folk art show celebrates the past, the present, and the future of Norwegian folk art in the United States and abroad. Contemporary artists submitted pieces to honor folk art masters of the past; draw inspiration from contemporary culture bearers; explore what folk art might become in the future; or play with some combination of past, present, and future all in one piece. A good portion of the exhibit featured fiber in many techniques, 21 pieces out of 103 works.
Below are photos and artist information for all of the fiber-related entries. The stories will deepen your admiration for the beautiful crafted works. And you have several months to catch the exhibit in person.
Susan Griebling Blue Ash, Ohio “Naturally Dyed Krokbragd Rug”
I began knitting as a child and have studied many forms of folk art, most recently weaving. I am drawn to the weaving patterns available using the Norwegian structure of krokbragd. I have used this weaving structure to weave samplers in the past.
I have a particular interest in Norwegian rug designs. I was gifted white rug wool and decided to use it to create a rug using the beautiful patterns found in the krokbragd weaving structure. In 2023, I visited Vesterheim to see the krokbragd coverlets, which inspired me in color and size.
I dyed the white wool using cochineal, indigo, and weld, resulting in two shades of each color (pink, blue, and green). I taught myself the technique from Debby Greenlaw’s book, Krokbragd. I didn’t plan the design before weaving; instead, I let inspiration guide me as I created the patterns.
Elizabeth Hunter Kennebunk, Maine “Deforestation” Rya Weaving
I started weaving on an inkle loom when I was ten. In the 1970s, I spent six months at Friuntervisnig’s Tegne og Vevstue in Oslo. I concentrated on rya technique at Hemslojden Skåne, folk art school and Landskrona, Sweden. I also studied in Iceland and Faroe Islands.
Rya rugs date from medieval times when they were used by mariners against the frigid cold at sea. They’ve been used as carriage blankets and inside homes without central heat as bedding. Their bold, graphic colors and design were a signature of the mid-century Scandinavian modern era. I am using the rya technique for social comment. Here, Deforestation is one of a three-rug series I did on climate change.
Robbie studied weaving at Valdres Husflidsskole in Fagernes, Norway, in 1977. She received a Vesterheim Gold Medal in Weaving in 2006. She received an American Scandinavian Foundation grant in 2019 to study the wool open-warp transparent tapestry technique of Norwegian artist Frida Hansen.
Frida Hansen (1855-1931) was influential in the revival of Norwegian billedvev (tapestry), and her technique had many elements in common with historical tapestries, including clear, abstracted pattern areas, and the use of Norwegian wool. She often wove birds!
My contemporary American bird is a symbol of success of federal regulations that banned the DDT that threated the eagle’s existence. The eagles seen by the first Norwegian immigrants disappeared from the skies for decades. Now they soar over the countryside and cities.
Siri Bergløff Berrefjord Hønefoss, Norway Embellished Jacket
My education and inspiration of Norwegian folk art comes from objects. I worked as a photographer for antique auction houses in Oslo, Norway. There I had the privilege of seeing and touching thousands of objects in a variety of materials.
I work intuitively. Merging the richness of peasant culture in colors and details with new materials, adding new life to traditional expressions. I want the time spent visible in my art. Nowadays time itself has become a scarce commodity. Looking at previous eras, our relationship with time becomes a paradox.
Before, people worked more, spent more time on everyday tasks. Yet they spend an incredible amount of time on decoration. What is time in such a context? For me, it is an expression of care, of sustained attention and love. When things are thoroughly processed and have had time and attention, only then can they reach their potential. I deliberately use a few expensive and exclusive materials. It is about selected, correct materials – that suit the nature of things, and then it is the time, the duration, that gives my work its exclusivity.
Mike Ellingsen Decorah, Iowa “Nordic Flower Basket” Wall Hanging
I have been a hobby quilter for over 40 years. While I do teach, lecture, and design patterns, I do not sell my quilts or do quilting for hire. While quilting is itself a folk art, moving to Decorah in 2019 brought me closer to Vesterheim – allowing me to see the possibilities in interpreting classic Nordic folk art forms (basketry, weaving, textiles) into the more American folk art of quilting.
This 3D wall hanging is based on a basket from the Vesterheim collection. I worked to replicate that woven basket for the base but added a more contemporary handle. When creating the flowers, I started with those that were traditionally grown in Norway (crocus, daffodil, pansy, tulip), and then added those that are less common but could be grown in that climate (poppy, rose, tiger lily). The background quilting is a continuous loop that is reminiscent of contemporary rosemaling.
Julia LeKander Batavia, Illinois “Weaving with Stitches and Paint”
Scandinavian folk art has been at the center of my artistic practice since childhood. I remember spending summers at Swedish camp weaving on floor looms and taking classes with my mother to learn rosemaling. I’ve applied skills learned in these classes to my own art, in both traditional contexts and contemporary interpretations.
This work explores the intersection of paint, needlework, and weaving, creating the illusion of weaving with paint and cross-stitch, neither of which are woven but are both embedded into a woven substrate. Paint strokes made with a dual-loaded paintbrush, the same technique used in rosemaling, are painted directly onto the cotton textile. Vertical lines of cross-stitch are then added, alternately stopping at the edges of the paint and stitching through the paint to create the woven illusion. The cross-stitch “warp” includes multiple shades of floss to create a gradient like the painted “weft,” furthering the trompe l’oeil effect. Inspiration for this piece includes needlepoint patterns designed during the mid-1900s for the Norwegian needlepoint company Gunnar Pedersen, as well as Sigmund Årseth’s unique, modern interpretations of traditional rosemaling.
Carol Charette Newberry, South Carolina “Håpets Reise” (Voyage of Hope) Weaving
My parents were of Norwegian ancestry, and I have learned all kinds of weaving techniques including Norwegian krokbragd or boundweave. I am fascinated by exploring colors and combinations.
Most ship sails 200 years ago were of flax and linen and handsewn. It is fascinating how much work went into sailmaking. I took interest in the voyage that the Norwegians took across the Atlantic Ocean in 1825. I imagined the huge waves and white caps. This tiny ship being a home for 14 weeks, the people wondering and hoping to make it to America. The people who made the journey were heroic.
Carolyn Pieper Benforado Madison, Wisconsin “Small Tribute, Big Idea: the Stoughton Bunad”
I am a textile artist and clothing designer. I began making folk costumes for elementary school students and now assist with making them for a local Norwegian dance group.
The tradition of wearing a bunad (Norwegian national costume) flourished in my hometown of Stoughton, Wisconsin. I wanted to honor Marion Keebaugh, who designed a bunad for Stoughton. Rosemaling by Ethel Kvalheim was used for the breastplate. This bunad celebrates the ongoing heritage brought from Norway and blends it with the American hometown.
Stephenie Anderson Fosston, Minnesota “PÅL-INBÆR’s Laptop Bag”
I have been knitting ever since my grandmothers taught me to knit more than 50 years ago. More recently I have been deep diving into Norwegian knitting as well as many other Scandinavian handcrafts.
The knitting in this bag was highly influenced by PÅL-INBÆR’s mitten. This mitten can be seen in “Selbu Mittens” book. The rose in the mitten is still named after her. Her mitten also had a version of the line dance in the cuff; I used it as a base for the knitting. The dog/horse in her cuff I incorporated into the sides. The sides also have a more traditional version of the Selbu Rose. True to the bags of her time, I put my initials and the year on the bag (sides). This bag will carry her mitten design and my current laptop into the future.
Laura Berlage Hayward, Wisconsin “Zoomorphic Seahorse” Textile
I am a folk-art instructor for Vesterheim, focusing on a variety of fiber art mediums, but my first love is tapestry weaving. I first learned embroidery from my mother as a pre-teen and have more recently been branching into wool embroidery with both English and Scandinavian influences.
This was a fun, experimental piece I made while starting to dream up future classes. I was interested in taking a traditional design but interpreting it in stitches both ancient – like stem stitch – and new like using ultra punch needle. The piece is full of texture and different height stitches, intertwined like our stories and histories.
Juli Seydell Johnson Iowa City, Iowa “Treasure from a Trunk” Quilt
As an adult, I connected through Vesterheim with my Norwegian heritage while also learning folk art. I experiment across mediums, often using something I learned in a class to make something completely different once home. I like that I am sharing snippets of Norwegian history through the art that I create.
I took pictures of a trunk from Rogaland in Vesterheim’s collection. I used the design as a basis for an appliqued quilt. The quilt applique is made from recycled denim jeans and flannel work shirts. I use hardworking farm materials from the past to honor that past in a new, contemporary beautiful design, just the hard work of our Norwegian ancestors on Midwest farms led to our lives today.
Jan Mostrom Chanhassen, Minnesota “Remembrance” Weaving
I have been weaving since college, when I took a January Term class at Luther College that was taught by Lila Nelson. That was the beginning of my love for weaving and for Vesterheim. I have taken and taught many classes at Vesterheim and enjoy Vesterheim Textile Study Tours.
I wanted to create a piece using several Norwegian weaving techniques in combination, resulting in something new yet based in historical textiles. I combined rutevev (square weave), krokbragd (boundweave), inlay, tapestry, and rya (pile weave) techniques and used colors not usually combined in older pieces. Building on traditions and using them in new ways keeps the old techniques living and growing.
I’ve always loved working with fiber, but it wasn’t until adulthood that I began weaving. Moving to Decorah brought Norwegian weaving into my life. I fell in love with the designs, colors, and the unique ability of folk art to bring beauty to everyday objects.
Nature always was and always will be bound up with weaving. Our Viking ancestors used what they found in nature to weave and what they saw in nature for design and color inspiration. The items woven were practical but also beautiful to bring the beauty of nature into their lives and homes. Centuries have passed, the need for making practical items is less, but our need for expressing our love for the beauty of nature is the same. So now we weave with our hands what we feel with our heart and see with our eyes. Yarns, dyes, and patterns come from around the world. The nature around us, however, will still be daring us to take new items and try to create something as beautiful as it is. And we, mere mortals, will still feel the need to try.
Rebecca Utecht Ogilvie, Minnesota “Frankie’s Legacy” Hide with Skinnfell Printing
My folk-art journey began in 1998 when I started making psanky (Ukrainian eggs). I first heard about skinnfell from a Swedish felting student in 2016. I was drawn to skinnfell because, like pysanky, it uses symbolism to promote goodwill to the receiver. I was fortunate to study with Britt Solheim at Vesterheim in 2019, and I continue to study this beautiful folk art.
This large Gotland cross sheepskin is from a lamb born into my flock right after my mother passed away. I named him Frankie in honor of her (Frances). His long lustrous locks were used in my fiber art for years. When he passed away, I had his hide tanned. I was happy the finished skin was smooth enough to print. The skin is large, and it is washable. I hand-stitched patches on the small holes and after much contemplation, used traditional skinnfell colors (grey and red) to print it. I made sure to incorporate the five traditionally required elements of skinnfell in my choice of motifs: plants, animals, sun, water, and love/protection.
Shan Rayray Puyallup, Washington “Mixing the Past with the Present with Hardangersøm”
My “aunt” (great-great-grandmother’s sister-in-law) visited when I was a young girl in 1977. She spoke no English, but taught hardangersøm to me in the traditional way. I continued the art as I grew. I began teaching in 2019 and for Vesterheim in 2021. Teaching at Vesterheim has allowed me to share and grow my art, from teaching basic stitches to recreating older pieces and gaining inspiration from them.
This piece represents the past combined with the present as it is using colored fabric with colored threads and mixing common past stitching techniques with techniques more widely used today. The kloster blocks, dove’s eyes, picots, and eyelets are stitched in traditional white thread and are the traditional stitches of Hardanger embroidery along with woven bars and cable stitching which I stitched in the more modern light grey thread. I then added in stitches commonly used today including adjoining Algerian eyelets (in both white and grey threads) and adjoining wrapped bars finishing with a lacy edge (in light grey thread). The lacy edge is basically the older technique of woven (or wrapped) bars, but I used it as a finishing edge instead of a filling stitch.
Shan Rayray Puyallup, Washington “Honoring the Past with Hardangersøm”
My “aunt” (great-great-grandmother’s sister-in-law) visited when I was a young girl in 1977. She spoke no English, but taught hardangersøm to me in the traditional way. I continued the art as I grew. I began teaching in 2019 and for Vesterheim in 2021. Teaching at Vesterheim has allowed me to share and grow my art, from teaching basic stitches to recreating older pieces and gaining inspiration from them.
This is a replica of a piece in the collection of the Scandinavian Cultural Center at Pacific Lutheran University. It is worked on 25-count linen fabric with DMC Pearl Cotton thread. The stitches are traditional including kloster blocks, woven bars, dove’s eye, spokes, and buttonhole edge. This piece represents the past as I wanted to honor the older ways of Hardanger embroidery by using white stitch thread on white fabric or in this case, ecru thread on ecru fabric and stitches commonly used in years past.
Renee Thoreson Rochester, Minnesota “Christmas is Here!” Doily
I began stitching at age three learning basic techniques. I moved on to the proverbial potholders and samplers. When I was given a 100-year-old hardangersøm band, I was intrigued and kept it on my dresser. I taught myself (as a “lefty”, this wasn’t easy) and have been hooked ever since!
Long ago, this embroidery style flourished in the Hardanger Fjord. Immigrants brought it to American, and the craft nearly became extinct until its revival in the 1960s. Originally, Hardanger embroidery was done in white or cream on linen fabric. In my piece, I continue the tradition, use modern style, and look to the future.
I belong to a Facebook group whose members include designers and stitchers. Roz Watnemo (one of the founders of Nordic Needle in Fargo, North Dakota) offered her the original pattern which I purchased and stitched. What appealed to me was the non-traditional shape and the bright colors. I deviated from the original pattern by adding my own stitch patterns and beads.
I am a Sámi doudjar (handcrafter/artist) with great interest in the traditional crafts of Sápmi, the traditional Sámi homelands. I use old techniques and methods in my work. I am the owner of the Sámi trademark “Sámi Made and Sámi Duodji.” I have been working with this since the 1990s. I am committed to passing on knowledge that is almost gone in the coastal areas of Sápmi.
The headpiece for costal Sámi women has been gone from use since the 1920s. It has been reconstructed for the present and will be visible and used in the future as a sign of our culture.
Carol Colburn and Kala Exworthy Duluth, Minnesota, and Minneapolis, Minnesota “Busserull til Blomsterhagen” (Busserull for the Flower Garden)
Carol was introduced to the world of Norwegian textiles and clothing as a Vesterheim intern in 1974 while a graduate student in Art History and Textiles and Clothing at the University of Minnesota. Finding inspiration in everyday rural clothing of Norway, she is interested in studying historic garments and making contemporary garments of handwoven fabrics.
Kala learned to weave at Skiringssal Folkehøyskole in Sandefjord, Norway in 1980. She finished her BFA in Fiber Art at Northern Michigan University. Now, she creates handwoven fabrics for garments and interiors. She enjoys teaching anywhere she can share weaving, dyeing and sewing.
The busserull is a loose overshirt for fishing, forestry, and farming. The pattern of squares and rectangles uses woven fabric economically, making a shirt which allows a full range of movement. A common fabric choice for over 150 years has been striped cotton or linen in twill or plain weave – in colors of blue or red with white stripes. Our “Busserull til Blomsterhagen” reflects these well-loved rural garments, and is a contemporary interpretation crafted for outdoor work in the summer flower garden.
Kala’s handwoven fabric has stripes similar to the familiar busserull fabric, highlighted here with bright blue and green. Combining twill and plain weave gives this fabric variation in texture and a fluid drape, the shirt moving beautifully when animated while gardening. Carol’s enthusiasm for gardening guides her patterning, pocket design, and sturdy sewing by hand and machine. It is a shirt meant to last a lifetime.
Sallie Haugen DeReus Leighton, Iowa “1825 Story in Stitches” Tapestry
I was awarded a Vesterheim Gold Medal in Rosemaling in 1994. My B.A. is in Applied Art from Iowa State University, 1961. I have taken many rosemaling classes with both American and Norwegian instructors.
The linen used for the tapestry is a 60-year-old roller towel inherited from my in-laws and used here on my family farm. The wool yarn is from Norway. The two leather tabs for hanging are from a deer that my father shot more than 50 years ago.
The tapestry is in three 3 frames and is to be read from right to left as this was the direction east to west that the immigrants traveled. Each frame is divided by a post. The beginning post on the right margin signifies winter, 2nd post spring, 3rd post summer, and 4th post fall. Please note the humor in each frame.
Frame One: Norway, land of the midnight sun and fjords. A government supported minister is peeking out from the doorway of the stave church as he watches the Quakers leave. The script is a revision of a poetic piece by Oliver Wendel Homes: “Where we love is home. Home that our feet may leave but not our hearts. The chain may lengthen but it never parts.”
Frame Two: The crowded ship to America. 54 souls plus one hanging over the back of the ship, seasick. That would have been me!
Frame Three: Corn and wheat representing the first crops. A church and school bell depict the immigrants’ ties to religion and education. One apple tree humorously represents the beginning of their religion and the second is for the teacher. The clock is the personification of time to indicate the future continues to evolve as does the story of Norwegians in America.
Priscilla Lynch Saugatuck, Michigan “Leaves and Blossoms” Transparent Weaving
All my grandparents immigrated to the U.S. in the early 1900s, so my childhood was filled with Norwegian traditions, food, and craft. When I started weaving in the 1970s, it was natural for me to study and emulate Norwegian weaving techniques and design. I have two large tapestries in the Vesterheim collection.
I was inspired by a Japanese stencil design to create this weaving using Norwegian weaver, Frida Hansen’s transparency technique. I grew up in Japan, so it was a way of uniting my Japanese and Norwegian worlds, illustrating, I hope, the connectivity of our global textile traditions.
All my grandparents immigrated to the U.S. in the early 1900s, so my childhood was filled with Norwegian traditions, food, and craft. When I started weaving in the 1970s, it was natural for me to study and emulate Norwegian weaving techniques and design. I have two large tapestries in the Vesterheim collection.
Frida Hansen was part of the Art Nouveau movement. I have re-interpreted a typical design from that period using a Norwegian technique and wool as my medium. Our artistic past continues to inform my present and future work”
Help support wonderful articles on Scandinavian textiles with a donation to the Norwegian Textile Letter. Thank you! Tusen takk!
For more than 30 years, members of the Scandinavian Weavers Study Group of the Weavers Guild of Minnesota have studied the traditional weaving techniques first brought to Minnesota by Scandinavian immigrants. The Study Group brings together weavers who have an ethnic connection to the nordic countries, or an affinity for the deep range of Scandinavian weaving techniques and patterns. “I don’t even speak Norwegian,” a member of the study group might say, or “I don’t even have any Scandinavian heritage.” Yet joining the group gives them fluency in the language of the Scandinavian loom – words like Telemarksteppe, krokbragd, skillbragd, Vestfold, and danskebrogd. These are all Nordic techniques and patterns with centuries-long histories, still woven in the 21st century.
Our group celebrated more than thirty years of study with an exuberant exhibit of more than 50 works from January 31-April 6, 2025, at Norway House in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Vibrant Tradition: Scandinavian Weaving in the Midwest was part of the year-long Norway House celebration of the 200th anniversary of Norwegian immigration to America. The exhibit was accompanied by a variety of programs including weaving demonstrations, classes, and guided tours.
The Scandinavian Weavers are one of several interest groups at the Weavers Guild of Minnesota. Guild interest groups form around specific weaving techniques, equipment, and materials to provide opportunities for in-depth study, mentorship, and creative challenge. In addition to the Scandinavian Weavers, current interest groups include the Dobby Weavers, SAORI Weavers, Rag Rug Weavers, Portable Loom Weavers, the Banditos (Band Weavers), NOW (New and Occasional Weavers), and the spinning group Whorling Spinsters, among others.
The current Scandinavian Weavers Study Group is one of the oldest groups at the Guild, and grew out of an earlier group of Minnesota weavers, De Norske Vevere, sometime around 1980. In recent years the reach of the group has grown considerably. The advent of video conferencing now allows members from outside Minnesota to participate in monthly meetings, learning opportunities, and exhibits. The group’s blog reports news of group activities to readers across the globe. Recently, the group was surprised to find ourselves mentioned by the Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit, herself a weaver, in an interview in the folk art magazine Norsk Husflid. With permission from the magazine, we made a poster to include in our exhibit. (View the poster.)
In addition to individual experimentation, the Scandinavian Weavers also choose an annual topic for in-depth technical study. As part of group study, members wind on a long warp on a loom at the Weavers Guild so that interested members can try their hand in a supportive atmosphere. When challenges arise, as they always do, group problem-solving begins. The process also provides the joy of seeing the same technique worked in a variety of color combinations, weft materials, and personal interpretations. Vibrant Tradition featured weavings from several group projects, including traditional coverlet techniques from the Telemark region of Norway as well as a Swedish pattern charmingly called Kukkoladräll.
The Vibrant Tradition celebrated the Scandinavian Weavers’ longstanding programs, including education, mentorship, group projects, exhibits, and collaborations with other organizations. Several group members studied weaving in Norway and other Scandinavian countries through weaving schools and private study, while others have taken classes with visiting teachers at American institutions such as the Weavers Guild of Minnesota, Vesterheim Folk School, the American Swedish Institute, and Vävstuga.
Lisa-Anne Bauch. “Northern Lights.” She wove this piece in Rosepath technique during a Scandinavian Weavers group project.
Experienced weavers in the group now find themselves in the position of teachers and mentors for younger weavers eager to learn. Lisa Torvik studied weaving at a traditional handcraft school in Norway and appreciated the privilege of learning weaving in an organized, successive way, from the basics to advanced techniques. “We alternated between theory and hands-on weaving experience,” she explains, so both types of learning reinforced each other. Newer weaver Holly Hildebrandt enjoys the opportunity to learn from Lisa and other seasoned weavers, writing, “I am so inspired by this group—the things they create and teach, their travels, and overall enthusiasm for a life filled with this craft. It’s clear how weaving and an interest in Scandinavian tradition has shaped each of their lives and their adventures.”
Over the years, some group members have become experts at specific techniques. Robbie LaFleur focuses her study and teaching on traditional Norwegian tapestry and is currently writing a book on the open-warp tapestry technique of famed Norwegian Art Nouveau weaver Frida Hansen. Judy Larson has become an expert in Swedish rag rug techniques and generously shares her expertise with both the Scandinavian Weavers and Rag Rug Weavers.
Judy Larson. “Rölakan Ripples.” The wedge design of the rug made with fabric strips was inspired by a historical rag rug owned by the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis.
The centerpiece of the exhibit was Melba Granlund’s large-scale warp-weighted loom. When Melba joined the Scandinavian Weavers in 2009, she was eager to try many different looms to find one that “would be my friend.” She settled on the historical warp-weighted loom and now teaches classes at the Weavers Guild and the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis as well as North House Folk School in Grand Marais, Minnesota. There, she teaches a weeklong course where students first build a small warp-weighted loom and then weave on it.
The Scandinavian Weavers group has organized many exhibits over the years. A recent example is Domestic to Decorative: The Evolution of Nordic Weaving, held at Red Wing Arts in Red Wing, Minnesota. The exhibit included several heirloom weavings as well as contemporary weavings based in traditional techniques and family stories. Other recent exhibits included Weaving the North (read more: Part One, Part Two) held at North Suburban Arts Center in Fridley, Minnesota, which examined northern weather, landscapes, and cultures, and Everything Under the (Midnight) Sun: Scandinavian Weavings at the Textile Center in Minneapolis. Additional past exhibits were curated around themes as varied as the color red, a famous medieval tapestry, and Scandinavian symbols, myths, and fairytales. Weavings from these exhibits formed parts of Vibrant Tradition, as well as weavings newly created for this exhibit.
Other exhibit highlights included pieces by Jan Mostrom woven with hand-dyed yarn. Nancy Ellison contributed a rya done with beautiful locks from her flock of heritage Scandinavian sheep breeds. In addition, Nancy’s krokbragd weaving, “Pastors in a Row,” shows the figurative possibilities of the technique: between bands of traditional geometric designs are farmers, farmwives, sheep, and black-suited pastors presiding over a row of gravestones.
Jan Mostrom. “Summer Flowers.” the flowers in dukagång technique which creates columns and the rest of the patterns are woven in inlay technique similar to Vestfoldsmett creating a checked effect.
Traditional folk arts such as weaving are handed down through the generations but never remain static. They evolve and grow to meet changing circumstances while remaining rooted in specific cultures. The result is a continuous conversation between past, present, and future — and in our case, the wide-ranging exhibit, Vibrant Tradition: Scandinavian Weaving in the Midwest. Even if you missed seeing the exhibit in person, you can read biographies of the contributing weavers and descriptions of each piece, and see photos of the weavings on the Scandinavian Weavers blog, scandinavianweaversmn.com.
Editors note: This article appeared originally before the exhibit opened in Issue 221, Spring 2025, of Shuttle, Spindle, & Dyepot from the Handweavers Guild of America, Inc.
Lisa-Anne Bauch and Robbie LaFleur live in Minnesota and coordinate the activities of the Scandinavian Weavers Study Group at the Weavers Guild of Minnesota. They enjoy weaving rooted in the traditional looms, techniques, and materials of Scandinavia, as well as their respective immigrant groups in North America. Follow them online: robbielafleur.com (website), robbie_lafleur (Insta), and bauch_lisa (Insta).
Help support wonderful articles on Scandinavian textiles with a donation to the Norwegian Textile Letter. Tusen takk
