An exhibition profiling the work of weaver Marta Kløve Juuhl was part of the yearly Nordhordland event Ullveka [Wool Week]. The exhibition, described on the Ullveka website, was on view at the Bergen area spinnery Hillesvåg Ullvarefabrikk from September 27 to October 26, 2024.
By Vigdis Valde
Translated by Katherine Larson
The phrase “weaving is life” came to Marta Kløve Juuhl when an English designer visited her weaving studio in 2014, and it has become her motto. “Weaving is life” can be taken as a metaphor for life as cooperation, but for Marta the meaning is literal: weaving is her life, and it has been for her entire career.
Marta Kløve Juuhl at Ullveka exhibition opening, Hillesvåg Ullvarebabrik, September 27, 2024. Photo: Monika Ravnanger
Marta has woven on commission, but also in furtherance of preservation, development and research. She has woven chasubles for churches, upholstery for furniture, and fabric for clothing.
And not least she has worked to preserve the rich tradition surrounding the warp-weighted loom in Norway, among other things through the 2016 book Oppstadveven, an interdisciplinary collaboration between Norway (represented by Marta), Shetland and Iceland.
Currently Marta is weaving new vestments for Hamre Church, and was one of several artisans selected to weave new cushion covers for the benches in Oslo City Hall. These tapestry cushions will see their first use during the Nobel Prize ceremony on December 10th later this year. In addition she is a collaborator on a book about coverlets from Nordhordland, and has contributed to a scholarly article about a medieval pile textile from Borgund, with lead author Monika Sunnanå Ravnanger, Marta’s successor at Osterøy Museum.
Marta was educated as a weaving teacher in 1977. In addition to teaching at Garnes Husflidsskule and her years at Osterøy Museum, she has maintained her own weaving studio since 1989.
Monika Ravnanger
The fabric was based on Marta’s analysis of an old bodice from the island of Sotra and is now offered by Husfliden. Photo: Vigdis Valde
There are not many with such broad knowledge of weaving to whom Marta can pass the baton. Fewer and fewer know how to weave fabric for bunads and other useful textiles that we would prefer be made by hand.
Rolls of apron fabric (Nordhordland) Photo: Monica Ravnanger
Rolls of underskirt fabric with finished skirts in center (Hordaland). Photo: Marta Kløve Juuhl
But perhaps an exhibition such as this can increase awareness of this rich tradition that deserves preservation. Marta continues the tradition through her active life of weaving, even if she thinks that perhaps this project will be the last. But… it is difficult to set aside – weaving is life!
Detail of pulpit cloth for use with green chasuble. Photo: Kay Larson
Pattern from center chasuble, above. Photo: Kay Larson
Editor’s note: This celebration of the Marta Kløve Juuhl’s work is well deserved! Marta has written for several earlier issues of the Norwegian Textile Letter. See “Norwegian Double-Cloth: Warp-Weighted Loom Experiments in a Complicated Technique” (March 2023); “A Draft and Tips for Weaving A Voss Rye” (August 2020); “Tips for Weaving a Voss Rye” (August 2020); “RETRO REPRINT: Voss Ryer – Traditional Bedcover and Contemporary Art” (August 2020); “Weaving on the Ceiling: A New Exhibit and Installation at the Osterøy Museum” (November 2016); “Diamond Twill Woven on a Warp-weighted Loom” (November 2014); and “Varafeldur: An Icelandic Rya Reconstruction” November 2013. This article is about a warp-weighted loom class she taught at Vesterheim Folk School in 2013: “Warp-Weighted Loom Classes at Vesterheim, July 2013” (November 2013)
October 2024