I’m sorry I can’t explain why the original link did not transfer correctly. Clearly, some sort of operator error on my part! Robbie
“Norse Textiles and Women in the North Atlantic: Iceland and Greenland from the 8th Century to the 15th Century. Sunday, December 10, 1 pm EST. Free. Register here.
Dear friends,
The December “Nordic News and Notes” column includes some time-sensitive notices, primarily an upcoming free webinar. The International Hajji Baba Society (Washington DC) will host a Zoom webinar by Dr. Michèle Hayeur Smith.
“Norse Textiles and Women in the North Atlantic: Iceland and Greenland from the 8th Century to the 15th Century. Sunday, December 10, 1 pm EST. Free. Register here.
If you are up for additional virtual fiber activities, the column links to upcoming online classes from Vesterheim Folk School and the American Swedish Institute. And more…
Happy holidays!
Robbie LaFleur
Help support wonderful articles on Scandinavian textiles with a donation
to the Norwegian Textile Letter. Thank you! Tusen takk!
Nordic News and Notes (November 2023): Bunads
Dear Norwegian Textile Letter friends,
I was putting together a list of new Scandinavian textile things to watch and read, and noticed a recently aired webinar on Norwegian bunads by Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum. I listened to it and it was clear how excited the audience was during the presentation. The moderator scrambled to keep up with the questions and comments, and the speaker, Barbro Storlien, seemed surprised at the number of questions flowing in following her talk. Clearly there is a lot of interest in Norwegian costume in the U.S.
My notes on that webinar are followed by links to two articles and a Nasjonalmuseet exhibit description, all about bunads. While interest in historical bunads remains strong, the tradition is changing and evolving. It all makes for thought-provoking reading and watching!
Nordic News and Notes (November 2023): Bunads
Are you a Norwegian-American? If so, could you answer this short survey?
To help a curator at the Nationalmuseet in Oslo, Norway, would you answer a few brief questions? Please answer by December 10. Unless you want to add extended comments, this should take two minutes. Thank you! Click here.
Forward this on to any other Norwegian-Americans you might know.
Thank you to everyone who helps support the Norwegian Textile Letter with donations to cover expenses. Your financial support is crucial and very much appreciated. Thank you for being a subscriber!
Robbie LaFleur
Here is the easy-to-use link to donate:
It’s worth celebrating the fact that we are no longer isolated at our looms and tethered only to classes via zoom. A full seven articles in the new issue of the Norwegian Textile Letter describe post-pandemic travel and study in person – to Norway, Sweden, and Iceland.
The biennial Vesterheim Textile tour was cancelled once, but resumed this year with a trip to England and Norway. Edi Thorstensson wrote, “How precarious it felt, for some of us, to venture overseas after the pandemic, to take a chance that all would be safe and good.” And it was all good! Read: “From England to Norway: The 2023 Vesterheim Textile Study Tour.”
Kitchen interior and view to the water at Astruptunet.
Eight lucky Minnesota weavers spent a beautiful week in May learning Norwegian weaving techniques under the guidance of master teacher Ingebjørg Monsen. Read: “Bergen Husflidslag: Finding the Pleasure in Weaving.” Peg Hanson spent late nights at the loom as she wove (and sometimes unwove) a wool blanket. See: “Burning the Midnight Oil in Bergen.”
Two weavers designed personal study agendas in Sweden. Christine Novotny concentrated on “Rölakan Rug weaving in Sweden” with master weaver Ulla Parkdal. Nancy Gossell planned concentrated weaving at a traditional Swedish Vävstugo. Read: “A Weaver’s Dream: The Weaving House in Tyngsryd.”
So many looms at the vävstugo, and Nancy Gossll used several of them.
Icelandic landscape was a factor in two articles. During Rebecca Mezoff’s weaving residency in Iceland, she interpreted an Icelandic black sand beach in tapestry. See “Spinning and Weaving in Iceland.” Nancy Ebner’s nature-viewing trip to Iceland proved that every trip can be a textile tour. She shares her museum visit in “A Visit to the Icelandic Textile Museum.”
You’ll find even more to read in “Nordic News and Notes: October 2023.” How can you resist a tale of “Kleptokatta Siri,” who has an affinity for wool?
Thank you to everyone who helps support the Norwegian Textile Letter with donations to cover expenses. Your financial support is crucial; an end-of-the-year donation would be much appreciated. Thank you for being a subscriber.
Robbie LaFleur
Click on the image for an easy link to donate. Tusen takk!
Norwegian Textile Letter, Volume 29, Number 2, October 2023
Weaving is trendy! Have you heard about the recent “Mette-Marit effect” in Norway? Read: “Crown Princess Mette Marit Became a Weaving Student – And Now There are Full Weaving Courses and Waiting Lists.”
The tapestry has been given a place of honor in her office at the palace. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes/NRK
Norwegian author Lars Mytting wove the legend of the Hekne sisters, conjoined twins who were master weavers in Gudbrandsdalen, into his Sister Bells trilogy of novels. Book one is The Bell in the Lake, followed by the The Reindeer Hunters. The third book has been published in Norway as Skråpånatta, and will be available in translation soon.
You can listen to a Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum bokprat [book talk] on The Bell in the Lake with Lars Mytting and Dr. Maren Johnson on YouTube.
Marianne Vedeler, Professor in Archaeology at the Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo, has been studying the legend. See: “Tales of Magical Weavers Keep a Medieval Tapestry Tradition Alive.” Although no one has found tangible evidence that the conjoined Hekne sisters actually existed, researching this legend reveals a great deal about how tapestries fit into a rich storytelling tradition. And weavers have power!
“In stories from the Middle Ages, weavers are not simply visual story tellers. They often have magical capabilities that can change the course of history. They can see into the future, but also cause ill fortune and sickness, rob people of their wits and strength, open mountains and grave mounds, and even commit murder.”
Marianne Vedeler examined the Hekne sisters, visual storytelling through tapestry, and legends about the powers of weavers in “Gudbrandsdalen Tapestries and the Story of the Hekne Sisters.” The article, from Viking: Norsk Arkeologisk Aarbok [Viking: Norwegian Archaeological Yearbook], Vol. 86, No. 1, 2022, is translated and reprinted with permission.
Katherine (Kay) Larson translated this important article (which stretches to 20 pages in the accompanying pdf version, 26 with the literature list). It was a long job to translate, and tricky to get just right, but also enjoyable. Kay wrote,
Marianne Vedeler’s thoughtful article on the tapestries of Gudbrandsdalen has been a pleasure to translate. Like many who have studied these textiles, I have focused on their practical and artistic elements, but Vedeler casts a far wider net. Certainly they were used as coverlets, but other possibilities are explored, and each new angle from which Vedeler views the tradition adds depth to our understanding of the time in which they were created, and to their place in a tradition of visual imagery and oral storytelling that stretches back to the Viking Age. One can easily imagine the flickering light of a fire bringing the figures in a tapestry to life, while storytellers regaled their audience with well-known tales.
Karen Keenan is helping to revive the almost forgotten art form of Swedish hairwork jewelry in the Midwest and beyond. Read: “Swedish Hairwork.” Karen noted, “While it may seem strange, using human hair to make jewelry was once as widely practiced as embroidery, knitting or crocheting is today. In fact, the contemporary practice of keeping hair from a child’s first haircut may be an example of hairwork’s 19th century residual effect.” Learn a bit about the history of hairwork, and how it is done.
Hairwork crown made by Karen Keenan for an exhibit at the Nordic Center in Duluth, Minnesota, 2021
In a review of the book, Dressing With Purpose: Belonging and Resistance in Scandinavia, contributing authors explore the history, preservation, and evolution of folk dress in Sweden (folkdräkt), Norway (bunad), and Sámi (gákti).
Sami Winter Market in Jåhkåmåhkke
Thank you for reading — feel free to forward this notice to any friends who would be interested. The other special section of this Norwegian Textile Letter issue, on post-pandemic travel to and classes in Scandinavia, will be highlighted in a separate post.
Thank you to everyone who helps support the Norwegian Textile Letter with donations to cover expenses. Your financial support is crucial; an end-of-the-year donation would be much appreciated. Thank you for being a subscriber.
Robbie LaFleur
Click on the image for an easy link to donate. Tusen takk!
By Robbie LaFleur
East Coast friends! Please join me for a wonderful opportunity to view Frida Hansen’s monumental 1903 tapestry, Sørover [Southward], at Peter Pap Oriental Rugs in Dublin, New Hampshire. An exhibition and sale of rugs from private collections will be held at the gallery this coming weekend, with opening festivities (including a jazz band!) on Friday, September 29th. The show is timed for peak leaf season, a perfect time to visit Peter Pap’s extensive collections, only an hour and a half from Boston.
Frida Hansen’s tapestry will be a highlight. As Peter Pap wrote in his newsletter,
Many of you already know the amazing story of my discovery of the monumental tapestry by Norwegian artist Frida Hansen entitled Sørover in the collection of the late David McInnis. Now it is back in our Dublin, NH, gallery after hanging at LACMA and the Milwaukee Art Museum in the exhibition Scandinavian Design in America: 1890 to 1980. This exhibition originated in Oslo, Norway and my discovery hadn’t been made at the time of printing of the catalogue so they devoted a full page with a black and white photo from 1925!
Frida Hansen, Sørover [Southward], 1903
Lecture
I will hold a lecture on Frida Hansen and the wonderful tapestry of swimming swans and maidens on Saturday at 4pm. The Norse mythology image is of swans and maidens sailing southward after bringing summer to the northern lands. My stories will focus on what happened after the swans “swam” to America – exhibitions in New York and around the country, its disappearance, and rediscovery. The best part of attending this lecture will be the opportunity afterwards to ask questions and walk right up to the tapestry to understand its beauty and structure.
“Frida Hansen’s Southward Tapestry: The Sailing Swans and Maidens in America“
Peter Pap Oriental Rugs Gallery
1225 Main St., Dublin, New Hampshire 03444
Saturday, September 30, 2023 : 4 pm Eastern time
Reservations are not needed, but I’d love to know if you are coming. (lafleur1801@me.com) You can review the articles on Frida Hansen and the rediscovered tapestry here: norwegiantextileletter.com/sorover/
Instagram Live
In addition to the lecture, I will hold an Instagram Live session at 2 pm on Saturday, September 30, with Southward as the special guest. Please ask questions about the tapestry, request to see a close-up of any sections of the image (except those I can’t reach ten feet up on the wall), and share your comments and observations.
Instagram Live: @robbie_lafleur, 2 pm, Saturday, September 30, 2023, 2 pm Eastern time
And the Rugs!
Peter Pap will be offering rugs from the collections of noted collectors. Featured will be the remainder of the late Dr. Charles Whitfield’s collection, including his exceptional group of Baluch rugs. Rugs and classical fragments from the collection of the late Dirck Bass of Guernville, California are included. Rugs from the collection of Thomas Edwards of Rhonert Park, California, are another outstanding addition to this exhibition. All these the offerings are new to the market. Some of these rugs were in a landmark exhibition called “Tribal Visions” that took place in Marin County, California, in 1980.
Rugs in the show will be featured on Peter Pap’s website, peterpap.com, and on his Instagram feed, @peterpaprugs, on the days preceding the show.
Opening: Friday, September 29, 2023. Beginning at 5 pm
Peter Pap Oriental Rugs Gallery
1225 Main St., Dublin, New Hampshire 03444
RSVP to Peter Pap (917) 545-2318
It would be wonderful to see you here next weekend, at this gorgeous gallery, but with even prettier leaves surrounding it. If you can’t make it, check out the Instagram Live feed at 2 pm (eastern time) on Saturday, September 30, @robbie_lafleur. Follow my blog at robbielafleur.com for ongoing news about my Frida Hansen research.
Correction! In the first post, I posted a link to the full column, but the link led in a circle to the shorter post. HERE’S the full News and Notes column.
I need more coffee this morning, obviously. Robbie LaFleur
Coffeepot from the Telemark Museum. https://digitaltmuseum.no/011025245609/kaffekanne
Correction! In the first post, I posted a link to the full column, but the link led in a circle to this shorter post. HERE’S the full News and Notes column.
This summer’s “News and Notes” column highlights two upcoming Minnesota exhibits featuring Scandinavian-inspired weaving: Domestic to Decorative: The Evolution of Nordic Weaving in Red Wing (October 27-December 24, 2023) and Nordic Reflections in Fiber: The 50th Anniversary of the Duluth Fiber Guild in Duluth (September 2 – 30, 2023).
Two recent webinars on Norwegian weaving from Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum were recently posted on the Vesterheim YouTube channel: “Dressing the Wise and Foolish Virgins: Women, Dress, and Culture in 16th and 17th Century Norway” by Laura Berlage, and Frida Hansen: A Norwegian Art Nouveau Artist in Wool by Robbie LaFleur.
Joel Greifinger has begun a new Facebook group that will be of interest to many Norwegian Textile Letter readers, Scandinavian Folk Textiles.
Suggestions for some interesting reading rounds out the “News and Notes” column.
God sommer!
Robbie LaFleur, Publisher
Thank you to everyone who helps support the Norwegian Textile Letter with donations to cover expenses. Your financial support is crucial and very much appreciated. Thank you for being a subscriber!
Robbie LaFleur
Here is the easy-to-use link to donate:
A new article has been added to the Norwegian Textile Letter, highlighting the textiles included in the special exhibition no showing at Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum. Weaving, embroidery, felting, Hardanger embroidery — enjoy these embellished examples.
Juli Seydell Johnson. Iowa City, Iowa. “Reaching to the Sun” Quilt
I highly recommend a trip to Decorah, Iowa, to see all 71 exuberant examples of folk art in various techniques.
Robbie LaFleur, Publisher, Norwegian Textile Letter
If you are near the Twin Cities in Minnesota this week, you could enjoy a talk on the Norwegian Busserull work shirt at Mindekirken, the Norwegian-American Church in Minneapolis. Carol Colburn will be presenting at the church’s Tuesday Lunch series.
May 2 : Busseruller – Work Shirts in Norway and America
Presenter: Carol ColburnCarol is a clothing designer, artisan, historian, and an enthusiastic teacher. She lives in Duluth, Minnesota where she rests her eyes on the distant horizon of Lake Superior between her projects of sewing, weaving, writing, and gardening. Through her travels, she has found inspiration in everyday as well as festive clothing traditions, with a frequent focus on Scandinavian countries. Her publications celebrate the design, techniques, and meanings behind everyday and folk clothing and household textiles. She worked in professional theater and taught period clothing design, pattern making, and sewing in university theater programs before she began teaching independently. Today Carol’s sewing workshops incorporate traditional textile traditions along with contemporary craft. Students in her workshops are introduced to an appreciation of older sewing techniques while creating beautiful and useful custom garments for contemporary life. These garments, which honor time-tested traditions, also suit folks today who enjoy the outdoors in all four seasons. Carol teaches in folk schools, fiber guilds, and museum settings.
Thank you to everyone who helps support the Norwegian Textile Letter with donations to cover expenses. Your financial support is crucial and very much appreciated. Thank you for being a subscriber!
Here is the easy-to-use link to donate:
