I added an article to the spring issue of the Norwegian Textile Letter, especially aimed at those of you who might be able to make a trip to Stavanger, Norway, this summer. Recommended!

By Robbie LaFleur

Maidens riding swans are forever moving through blue fan-shaped waves in Frida Hansen’s monumental tapestry, Sørover [Southward], 1903. Perhaps that is appropriate for such a well-traveled work of art? 

Southward was barely cut from the loom of Frida Hansen before spending decades on exhibit in many American states.

1903. Berthea Aske Bergh, a New York Norwegian-American socialite, weaving teacher, and pupil of Frida Hansen, bought Southward from Frida Hansen and brought it to the U.S. 

1903-1931. Southward was exhibited in more than 25 U.S. venues, including New York City and Brooklyn, New York; Rochester, New York; Washington D.C.; St. Louis, Missouri; Baltimore, Maryland; Toledo, Ohio; Burlington, Vermont; and Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Read more: “Southward on Display.”)

In particular, tens of thousands of Norwegian-Americans visited the Norse-American Centennial celebration held at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds on June 6–9, 1925. Thousands of the visitors must have seen Southward hanging in the Exhibition hall. 

1961 — Southward is sold at the estate auction of Norman Bergh, son of Berthea Aske Bergh, but there is no record of who bought it or how much was paid. (Read more: “More Provenance Puzzle Pieces are in Place.”)

19?? (1970s?) — David McInnis, a rug dealer from Keene, New Hampshire, acquired Southward and stored it carefully. 

2021 — After the death of David McInnis, Rug Dealer Peter Pap rediscovered the tapestry, many decades after it was last publicized, folded in a bin. (Read more: “Frida Hansen’s Sørover.”)

2022-2023 — After cleaning, Southward was once again exhibited in two venues. It was part of Scandinavian Design and the United States, 1890-1980 at LACMA, the Los Angeles Museum of Art (Oct. 9, 2022-Feb. 5, 2023), and the Milwaukee Museum of Art (March 24-July 23, 2023).

2025 — Southward travels eastward, back to Norway for an exhibit at the Stavanger Art Museum, From the Roots: Kitty Kielland & Frida Hansen.

Imagine all the times Southward has been rolled, unrolled, and moved. Here is a photo of the tapestry in Peter Pap‘s studio in Dublin, New Hampshire, being rolled for shipping to Stavanger.

Think of all the types of vehicles that were used to transport the tapestry to various venues. It came by boat from Norway in 1903. It was most likely moved by horse-drawn carriage during the first decade of the 1900s, and then by gasoline-powered trucks and cars. It was sent between the Toledo Museum of Art and the Brooklynn Museum of Art in 1931 with American Railway. It will not be sent back to Norway by boat.

Through the diligent work of Berthea Aske Bergh, the owner of Southward, the tapestry itself was a vehicle in the United States for promoting Norwegian tapestry and Frida Hansen’s talent. Bergh received the St. Olav’s Medal from Norway’s King Haakon the Seventh for her promotion of Norwegian art. I think she would be happy that the tapestry she bought from Frida Hansen’s loom is still admired by new generations.

Thousands of Americans have had the opportunity to admire Southward. After 122 years in America, it seems high time to bring it back to Norway for a blockbuster exhibit.

Fra Røttene: Kitty Kielland & Frida Hansen [From the Roots: Kitty Kielland & Frida Hansen]
Stavanger Kunstmuseum, June 14-August 31, 2025

Help support wonderful articles on Scandinavian textiles with a donation to the Norwegian Textile Letter. Thank you! Tusen takk!

This issue of the Norwegian Textile Letter features several articles about the Scandinavian Weavers Study Group of the Weavers Guild of Minnesota, or by members of our group. There is currently a retrospective exhibit at Norway House in Minneapolis, Vibrant Tradition: Scandinavian Weaving in the Midwest, so this is an appropriate moment to celebrate the group’s more than thirty years of weaving in Scandinavian techniques.

The exhibit at Norway House includes historical technology–a Viking-style warp weighted loom–and cutting edge presentation, with QR codes for details about the artists and weavings. Read Vibrant Tradition: Scandinavian Weaving in the Midwest (Exhibit Recap).

Lisa Torvik wrote about the Scandinavian Weavers’ rosepath group project, inspired by the Swedish author Anna Östlund. That technique will always remind them of the pandemic. Read A  Rainbow of Rosepath.

Lisa Torvik wrote about Anne Holden, an interesting weaver she met on a trip to Norway last fall. Holden didn’t know how to weave when she came to Norway to ski as a young woman. Now she is known for weaving deeply traditional plaid fabrics for national costumes. Read Scotland is not the only Place for Plaids!

Lisa Torvik also wrote about a remarkable tapestry she noticed at a friend’s home. What does foot surgery have to do with a superstar Norwegian tapestry weaver? I’ll bet some readers will recognize who wove this before even reading the article. Read Finding Unexpected Treasure in a Familiar Place.

Mary Skoy’s great-grandfather received a monogrammed blanket for a wedding gift 1n 1880. 150 years later she wove a new family heirloom. Read A Treasured 1880 Wedding Blanket, Reinterpreted.

Wendy J. Johnson of Saga Hill Studio has an infectious passion for flax and a deep interest in Scandinavian textiles. She grows, spins, knits and weaves linen in Minnesota. Read Linen Flax in Norway—Past, Present, Future.

Fans of band weaving will want to sign up for two free classes coming up from Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum. They are listed in this issue’s Nordic News and Notes.

Sally Yerkovich, Director of Educational Exchange & Special Projects for the American-Scandinavian Foundation, introduces a new exhibit, Nordic Echoes: Tradition in Contemporary Art, opening in New York City on April 6. After you see the article, you’ll understand this comment…shouldn’t someone bring a guinea pig to the exhibit? Read Nordic Echoes: A Journey Curating a Celebration of Contemporary Nordic Traditions.

Krokbragd hasn’t only crossed the ocean to American weaving fans. British author Angie Parker has added her signature vibrant color palette to the technique. Minnesota weaver Jan Mostrom wrote a review of Parker’s new book, “Krokbragd: Contemporary Weaving with Colour” .

Thank you everyone for reading and sharing! The Norwegian Textile Letter was first published in 1994, forty years ago. I just completed ten full years of publishing the newsletter online. It could not be done without the unflagging help of generous contributing authors, and the team of talented friends who edit and proofread the articles. Special thanks for this issue go to Mary Skoy, Lisa-Anne Bauch, and Carol Colburn.

Looking forward to future issues, there’s still so much to share. Please let me know if there are topics you would like to see covered.

Robbie LaFleur

Help support wonderful articles on Scandinavian textiles (and the publisher’s upcoming research in Norway) with a donation to the Norwegian Textile Letter. This warbler is chirping his thanks! Tusen takk

Dear Norwegian Textile Letter friends,

The message you received a short while ago was an unintended teaser! I am formatting the articles for the new issue (out March 31!). I did not realize that when I switched to the block-editing style in WordPress, that a message would go out when I saved an article in password-protected format. That’s how I send a formatted article to the author and proofreader.

You will see the really interesting article on flax soon, and several more articles, soon!

Until then, if you are not aware of the wonderful weaving exhibit now up at Norway House in Minneapolis, you can read about it in these two articles.

“Vibrant Traditions on display at Norway House: A colorful tapestry of Nordic color.” Carstens Smith, The Norwegian American, January 25, 2025.

“Norway House’s Vibrant Traditions — a tapestry of time and place.” Sommer Wagen. The Minnesota Daily, February 5, 2025.

Plus you can read about the individual pieces and the artists here.

The exhibit is up at Norway House until April 6. Visit if you can!

Now, I’ll have to figure out how to not repeat this mistake…

Robbie LaFleur

A Christmas-themed article has been added to the current issue of the Norwegian Textile Letter, “God Jul! (Norwegian Textile Style.” It highlights the great collection of the Norsk Folkemuseum, and of course, some wonderful textiles in their collection. The museum celebrates the holiday season sensationally. There is a whole section of their website, “Juletradisjoner gjennom 1000 år” [Christmas Traditions Throughout 1000 Years]. I wish I could visit the rooms personally this month.

Did you hear about the recent addition of “Traditional costumes in Norway, craftsmanship and social practice” to UNESCO’s representative list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity? (Note: the site takes FOREVER to load.) It just happened on December 5, and there was a great celebration by bunad fans all over the country on December 6. The event was carried live on Facebook. If you can speak Norwegian, you might want to check out the replay here, here.

Another worthy designation this year was the joint Norway/Sweden entry: Summer farming at fäbod and sewer: knowledge, traditions and practices related to the grazing of outlying lands and artisan food production. There is a very interesting film about this, with English subtitles. 

Thank you for your ongoing interest in the Norwegian Textile Letter. The newsletter is a labor of love for me. My goal is to publish new articles and translated older articles about Scandinavian textiles that will be available to interested readers now and researchers of the future. There will be lots of great textile articles in 2025! 

Happy holidays,

Robbie LaFleur

Help support wonderful articles on Scandinavian textiles with a donation
to the Norwegian Textile Letter. Thank you! Tusen takk! 

Today, the only thing more annoying than sending out a post in which all the links acquired a mysterious arrow in the coding and didn’t work is listening to the squirrels playing chase games inside our eaves. Here are two charming weaving patterns with squirrels that I saw in the archives of the Norsk Folkemuseum last month. I will not be weaving these squirrels. And I apologize for the inconvenience of broken links. For sure the links work on the issue main page – norwegiantextileletter.com.

A Week to remember: The Norwegian Textile Symposium in Skien. Magnhild Peggy Jones Gilje describes a meeting packed with programs and classes on traditional textile techniques.

Viking Weaving on Minnesota’s North Shore. Holly Hildebrandt is enthusiastic about a class at North House Folk School from Melba Granlund. She made her own warp-weighted loom.

Walborg Nickelsen: A Designer Influenced by Frida Hansen. The mystery designer of transparent tapestries in three museums is identified through searching the archives of the Norsk Folkemuseum.

From WOW! to HOW?: Weaving at the Karin Larsson Exhibit. This summer and fall, volunteers from the Weavers Guild of Minnesota demonstrated rag rug weaving at the American Swedish Institute during the run of the Karin Larsson “Let the Hand be Seen” exhibit. They drew inspiration from Karin Larsson’s beautiful textiles and an unusual rug 14 meter long rug in the ASI collection.

Guiding Students to a Satisfying Outcome: An Interview with Christine Novotny on Teaching Rölakan. A weaving student became a weaving teacher, passing on a traditional Swedish weaving technique.

Weaving is Life: An Exhibit of the Weaving of Marta Kløve Juuhl. Marta Kløve Juuhl’s accomplishments during her long career as a weaver were celebrated at Ullveka — Wool Week.

Skillbragd Puzzles: Overshot Coverlets in the Vesterheim Collection. Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum Curator Laurann Gilbertson ponders the weave structures of coverlets in the museum.

Tribute to Anne Kjellberg, 1945 – 2024. Norway’s museum community lost a leading figure in the world of textiles, costume and textile history with the passing of Anne Kjellberg in July of 2024.

2024 National Norwegian-American Folk Art Exhibition. See the ribbon winners in this exhibition that showcases the self-expression of contemporary artists who create folk art rooted in Norwegian traditions.

Book Review: Pick-Up Bandweaving Designs: 288 Charts for 13 Pattern Ends and Techniques for Arranging Color. Are you a bandweaver? Do you celebrate Christmas? Get this book on your list!

Book Review: Winter Knitting for Little Sweethearts. If you knit for children, you will want to get buy this book from two Norwegian designers and make the darling sweaters and other projects.

Thanks for reading! Please share comments and questions and article ideas with me, at lafleur1801@me.com.

Robbie LaFleur

Help support wonderful articles on Scandinavian textiles with a donation to the Norwegian Textile Letter. Thank you for all your appreciation along the way. Tusen takk!