By Robbie LaFleur 

While assembling the issue of the Norwegian Textile Letter on Vestfold technique (February 2021), I was struck by the introductory essay by Marit Wang in the book of patterns published in 1992, Coverlets and Ryas in Vestfold: Pattern Book [Tepper og Ryer i Vestfold: Mønsterhefte] (1). She mentioned current scholarship on the weaving technique and the older historical coverlets, but also brought up broader questions about the preservation and use of traditional weavings. Her words have relevance to all sorts of traditional folk art in our contemporary world. 

How will old textiles speak to you? Will you copy them? Use them as inspiration? Marit Wang gives her readers wide discretion, at one point declaring, “…there is nothing “correct” in folk art.” 

Ryas and Other Coverlets in Vestfold
An introductory essay by Marit Wang,
translated by Katherine Larson

An object can be used for many things.  Take a stone, for example: we can hit each other in the head with it, we can use it as a weight for fishing or for weaving, as part of a stone fence or for decoration.

Ryas and other coverlets in Vestfold can also be used in several ways. If we own such a textile, we can in our naiveté hang it on the wall, or – as they did in times past – place it on the bed.  Eventually we can let the cat lie on it, and we ourselves might use it to wipe our feet, etc.  One of the finest coverlets I know of was found covering a car tire, protecting it from the summer sun.  One might also solve the problem by sensibly donating the textile to a museum…  

Some sit themselves down to think and write about tekstiler fra Vestfold [textiles from Vestfold]. In just the past few years at least three written accounts have appeared: we have the catalog from the anniversary exhibition Coverlets in Vestfold [Tepper I Vestfold, 1989], we have Karin Blomqvist’s excellent and thought-provoking article, “Vestfold Memories: Reflections on Twelve Bedcovers in Vestfold Technique” [“Vestfoldminne 1990: Reflektioner kring tolv täcken i vestfoldsmett”], and now the present Pattern Booklet [Mønsterhefte] by Laila Thorrud.

Like the stone described earlier, one might say that these written representations can tell us just as much about the creators as about the Vestfold textiles.  Concerning alternate approaches, for example Karin Blomqvist’s analytical-theoretical and Laila Thorrud’s practical-analytic, one is no better than the other, they are simply different.

As with objects, the written representations can be used in different ways. That the pattern booklet will preserve the individual textiles is immediately obvious, and with the great interest in Vestfold coverlets, this is necessary. Personally I would say it is peculiar that the ryas of Vestfold have not engendered a similar palpable excitement – in Vestfold.  But it is no doubt coming. They have been published (Helen Engelstad’s Past Art in Rural Norway, Norwegian Ryas [Fortid’s Kunst i Norges Bygder, Norske ryer], 1942). But when one considers the interest that weavers have shown, this can in no way be compared with the Finnish textile artists’ interest in their own ryas.  And yet these are the closest relatives of the Vestfold ryas.

One could also use this pattern booklet in the most creative of ways. If one wished to make a textile that is most consistent with – but consistent with what? Like the old textile when it was new? In the lighting in which it was then seen? Finding equivalent wool and yarn is impossible.

Or do you want to “copy” the textile as it appears today? Or create something completely different, with color combinations you have arrived at yourself?

One way can be just as good as the other, you will find that there is nothing “correct” in folk art. There are mostly misunderstandings – and creative ability to varying degrees.

Most often it is true that one must learn to crawl before one can walk. Birds? Few of us are winged creatures.

I should be the last to advise anyone. But it will be interesting to see how the pattern booklet is used.

Marit Wang

Ingebjørg Monsen from Bergen, who teaches weaving and bunad sewing, is Marit Wang’s daughter. She was interested to read this essay about which she’d forgotten. “She was always trying to let the artifacts speak for themselves,” Ingebjørg commented about her mother. Marit Wang frequently mentioned the Baldishol Tapestry and the Överhogdal tapestries as examples of images that were recycled over and over. Woven coverlets had long lives and many uses, often ending up as horse coverings. Horses were valuable assets on the farm! 

In her essay, Marit Wang mentions that preservation can be achieved by sensibly donating the textile to a museum. Ingebjørg had additional thoughts:

It is also important to remember that putting an artifact into a museum always is dependent on the qualifications (and even sometimes the sex!?) of the curator(s) and the directors of the museum ;-). As long as there are relevant and knowledgeable persons in the family, the artifacts are sometimes better kept at home. 

I also often experience people bringing old heirlooms/artifacts to my classes, kept in the same way as 50 and 100 years ago, which seems to be the best possible way to keep them. ;-).

Finally, Ingebjørg is heartened by the current trend of using parts of old or inherited bunads (national costumes) when sewing new ones. One of her students, Brit Anni, used her own skills to assemble a new bunad. The skirt, apron and shirt were made by Brit Anni’s great-aunt in 1899. The breastplate is from the old bunad, but the bodice was made in the 1950s and used by Brit Anni’s mother. The belt was Brit Anni’s. The owner of this new/old and very meaningful bunad is Brit Anni’s granddaughter. 

 

The best folk art lives on, through preserved artifacts, reproductions, new pieces inspired by tradition, and even re-used bits from old folk art. 

1 Thorrud, Laila. Tepper og Ryer i Vestfold: Mønsterhefte (Coverlets and Ryas in Vestfold: Pattern Book). Tønsberg, Norway: Vestfold Historielag, 1992. In Norwegian. Limited copies will be available from the Vesterheim Norwegian- American Museum Store. Email for information.