Norway House Baldishol Exhibit

Lindsey Marshall’s “Baldishol Banner” won first prize for the show.

The Baldishol: A Medieval Tapestry Inspires Contemporary Textiles
Norway House, Minneapolis, Minnesota
July-September 25, 2020

The exhibition catalog is now available to view via pdf here!

Socially-distanced visitors in the Norway House gallery

Norway House Virtual Gallery Tour

For those who missed the exhibit, you can take a “virtual tour.” See all the pieces here.

The first-place and second-place Baldishol Inspiration prizes were awarded at a virtual opening. See the YouTube video of the welcome to the show. Nationally-recognized fiber artists Karen Searle and Carolyn Halliday were the judges. The first prize winner is show at the top of this page. Second place was awarded to Kelsey Skodje for her exquisite embroidery rendition of the Baldishol Tapestry–but with women at the helm of a Viking vessel.

A detail from Kelsey Skodje’s “Stories from the Future”

The Baldishol Tapestry: Inspiration for the Show

Most people aware of weaving traditions in Norway (or Europe) have seen an image of the famous Baldishol Tapestry.  This tapestry textile fragment, depicting the months of April and May, was discovered in Norway in 1879 when a church was torn down. It is now recognized as one of the earliest European tapestries.

This Norwegian historical treasure has been replicated many times.  The Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa, alone has three full-sized copies. A group of Norwegian-American women presented one to Mrs. Calvin Coolidge in 1926, in honor of the Norse-American Centennial celebrated the year before. (It’s tucked away in a White House closet.)

The Norway House exhibit featured original weavings and other art works in fiber that look to the Baldishol Tapestry for inspiration, not replication. The purpose of the exhibit was to highlight the talent and creativity of textile artists, internationally, while educating Norway House audiences about the famous Norwegian tapestry. Sponsors include Norway House, the Scandinavian Weavers Study Group of the Weavers Guild of Minnesota, and the Norwegian Textile Letter. 

From Old and Admired to New and Amazing

The exhibit included a wide variety of textile techniques: tapestry weaving, knitting, felting, digital printing, silkscreen, embroidery, rug weaving, quilting, fabric collage, and more!

The birds in the Baldishol Tapestry pop up in several of the pieces.

The response to the Call for Art, posted during the last half of 2019, was outstanding; entries were accepted from the U.S., Canada, and England, all with thoughtful interpretation based on the theme, design elements, colors, or technique of the original.  

The Artists

Read about all of the artists and their pieces on the Norway House virtual tour, here. Several more articles about the artists and their fiber art processes are listed below.

For more background on the Baldishol Tapestry, see these articles in the Norwegian Textile Letter:  “Baldisholteppe: A Treasure from the Middle Ages;” “The Baldishol Tapestry in the White House,” which originally appeared in the Kulturhistorisk Leksikon (Cultural History Encyclopedia), published by Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane (the County Archives of Sogn and Fjordane); and “The Baldishol Tapestry–The White House Replica and Others.”

Questions? contact Robbie LaFleur at lafleur1801@me.com. The curatorial committee:  Max Stevenson, Norway House; and Claire Most, Sara Okern, Lisa Ann Bauch, Lisa Torvik, and Robbie LaFleur from the Weavers Guild of Minnesota.