The Baldishol: A Medieval Norwegian Tapestry Inspires Contemporary Textiles
Artist Interview:  Kristen Anderson, 12/10/19.

Norwegian Pelsull Wool blend, wet-felted to create a felt tapestry. 40″ x 70″

1. What is your artistic background?

I was an art and biology double major at St. Olaf College. After college, I got my teaching license and taught for many years while painting in watercolor. In 1997, I inherited a spinning wheel from my Norwegian grandfather and my fiber arts journey began. I learned to spin and attended a spinning rendezvous, where I took a felting class and was hooked!  I spent the next decade felting– learning from books and videos. Eventually, I set up a mentorship with felt instructor, Mary Reichert, of Otlak Felt Studio in northern Minnesota. Her instruction gave me the technical skills I needed to create the bodies of work that I’d been imagining. Most recently, I just wrapped up a touring solo show of 11 felt tapestries called “Overstories” which focused on the forestry science of tree communication. 

2. What is your creative process?

I have always loved the biological sciences and that’s where my creative process often begins–with stories of ecological wonder that I want to know more about. Curiosity leads to reading, TED talks, discussions with experts in the field, and whatever I can access to gain a better understanding of my subject. In a sense, it’s like going back to school. The information leads to imagery which I manipulate into design. This process allows me to live with and explore my ideas in depth as I add meaning to the visual story. I also enjoy balancing the qualities of felt and the technical aspects of feltmaking with the imagery in my pieces. 

“Emerging Spring,” Before felting, it was approximately the same size as the original Baldishol fragment.

3. Were you familiar with the Baldishol before this exhibit?

I was not familiar with the Baldishol tapestry before the exhibit. Coincidentally, when the exhibit call was announced, I was intensely studying the tapestries of Norwegian weaver Hannah Ryggen. Her work is a great inspiration to me. 

4. What draws you to the original Baldishol tapestry? 

The Baldishol Tapestry

How can you not love a story about a treasure that was so unknown that it was used as a doormat until it finally found its place in fiber art history!!? It’s fun for me to work within the parameters of a creative challenge and the Baldishol contains many inspirational elements, from its vibrant colors to its intriguing characters and designs. The working Baldishol theories I’ve explored about the missing parts and meanings of the tapestry leave an interesting space for injecting artistic story in the responsive piece.

5. How will your piece reinterpret the original?

My interpretation began with the idea of an emerging spring, as the Baldishol appears to represent. I highlight the findings of climate scientists who predict increased extreme weather conditions and species who will relocate to cooler climates (the iconic Minnesota loons, trout, and walleye). Like the Baldishol, I have 2 figures represented in their respective panels. One figure is a person in despair, walking away from the responsibility of facing our climate challenges. The second figure represents hope and action as they plant a tree–a symbol of a hopeful future. While the loon and fish are fleeing, yellow canaries (the “canaries in the coal mine”) are moving forward in warning. Hands, which blanket the earth like leaves, represent the human-created aspect of climate change. Along the base of the work, there are acorns–another piece of hope from the natural world. They represent the seeds which are adapting and evolving with each year–possibly our greatest helpers in this changing world. Finally, when laying out the wool for this piece, I did so in the dimensions of the Baldishol tapestry. When felted, my piece shrunk to its current dimension. It felt like an interesting way to show how felt changes in size during the wet-felting process.

“Emerging”–detail. “Hands, which blanket the earth like leaves, represent the human-created aspect of climate change.”

6. How will your piece challenge your technical and artistic skills?

This was my most intricate felt piece to date. I incorporated the figure into work, which I have done very little of in the past. There was a great deal of planning involved around the many pre-felts I created (the felt pieces I made and cut designs from). There were more than a few times when I was dissatisfied with my design and began again. When felting, there’s often design movement during the process so I had to be extra careful to check and recheck the work early-on in the initial fusing stage. The hands, especially, created a unique challenge in that department! Overall, I had to slow down my process and be extra meticulous throughout the felting.

7. What do you wish we knew about the original tapestry and its makers?

Since it is theorized that the Baldishol could be a piece of a much larger tapestry depicting the calendar year, I wish I could go back in time to see the rest of it. I’d also like to know why soldiers were featured, as well as the meanings and origins of some of the symbols and colors. Of course, it would be wonderful to know who the makers were—from the sheep herders to the dyers, designers, and weavers. Was the commission from the church? A wealthy landowner? A king?

Kristen Anderson, www.cardamomstudio.org