By Amy Sands

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 17^th, 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.

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.