By Robbie LaFleur

Kelsey Skodje, from Rochester, Minnesota, wrote about her first impressions of the Baldishol Tapestry in her application to the exhibit. “The first thing that impressed me was how fun and surprisingly modern it looks (I especially love how freely it’s arranged, like how the man’s feet extend into the border).”

Kelsey was also struck by the story of the reproduction of the Baldishol Tapestry that was commissioned by a group of 5000 Norwegian-American women and presented to President and Mrs. Calvin Coolidge. They felt that women and their accomplishments were underrepresented during the Norse-American Centennial in 1925. (Read the full story: “The Baldishol Tapestry in the White House.”) On the cover of the presentation book prepared by the Norse Centennial Daughter’s Club, women steer the Viking ship. 

Kelsey played with this feminist theme for her embroidered piece for the upcoming exhibit at Norway House, “The Baldishol: A Medieval Tapestry Inspires Contemporary Textiles.” She wrote:

The fact that there were female warriors and political/spiritual leaders in ancient Scandinavia, not to mention female spinners, weavers, farmers, healers, accountants, shopkeepers, etc., lines up nicely with their modern gender equality. Unfortunately, this has lagged slightly in America, and I think my Norwegian ancestors would agree that we could use more women, viking or not, “sailing” to the White House. Therefore, the basis for my concept is to embroider a version of the tapestry fragment that replaces the man on the horse with the women in the boat from the book cover.

The modern Viking image is embroidered with silk floss on a linen background. Parts of the piece include handspun floss, made with a medieval drop spindle and then dyed with woad, as a tribute to some of the techniques available in 11th – 12th century Norway. 

Perhaps Kelsey’s passion for art and handcraft is genetic? Certainly it was fed by many role models.  Her mother sews professionally and is an accomplished weaver. Her father is an artist who brings in the Norwegian angle. Kelsey wrote, 

My interest in Norway and its art comes from my dad. Right now, I’m drinking coffee out of a Sons of Norway centennial mug he designed in 1995. He also sculpted models for Leif Erikson and Rollo statuettes, so I suppose I was destined to commemorate medieval Norwegian art.

The Baldishol exhibit is all about ties to the past–and Norwegians. This is an appropriate accompaniment to Kelsey’s embroidery.

As April ended, Kelsey was still embroidering the “April Man” from the Baldishol. He is sowing seeds of renewal and hope, an antidote to our own anxious April. But the women Vikings are done!