The first Norwegian Textile Letter bonus interim article is a review of Nina Granlund Sæther’s new book from Trafalgar Press, Nina’s Favorite Mittens and Socks from Around Norway by Nina Granlund Sæther

If you are planning your summer trips, this book might be the perfect place to find a portable travel project. The reviewer, Mary Skoy, enthusiastically ended her review with, “After looking at a knitting book as inspiring as this, I wish I could knit faster.

I recently gave a webinar for Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, The Mystery of the Missing Swans and Maidens: A Frida Hansen Tapestry Tale. It aired on April 2, but is now available on the Vesterheim YouTube channel. This lecture is timely if you get a chance to visit the exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum, Scandinavian Design in the United States: 1890-1980, where you will be able to see Frida Hansen’s Southward in person. This is the webinar description: 

Back in 1903, Norwegian-born socialite and tapestry teacher Berthea Aske Bergh was determined to show Americans the brilliance of Norwegian billedvev, or tapestry. She traveled back to Norway and purchased Sørover (Southward), a tapestry of swans and maidens with shimmering threads from the famous Art Nouveau artist Frida Hansen.

Southward was an important, often-displayed monumental tapestry, so when the curators for the blockbuster show, Scandinavian Design in the United States, 1890-1980, sought key textiles, Frida Hansen’s tapestry was top of mind. But where was this 11 x 10 foot weaving now? Only a few grainy black-and-white photos and many glowing descriptions remained.

In January 2021, nearly 90 years after Southward was last displayed publicly, noted rug dealer Peter Pap opened a plastic bin in a storage building in Maine. He unfolded a woven treasure in dusty, but pristine condition, and with a quick google search, he learned it was a long-lost Frida Hansen tapestry.

The veil of mystery, as well as the dust of decades, has been removed from Southward. The Frida Hansen masterpiece was restored to the world in time to add to the Scandinavian Designexhibit during its recent run at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and at the Milwaukee Museum of Art, showing March 24-July 23, 2023.

Join Robbie LaFleur for this timely webinar to celebrate the life and work of Frida Hansen and, especially, to hear about the Southward tapestry mystery as it unfolded.

Coming soon, an article about a Finnish weaver…

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:

 

I greatly admire people who learn a technique, investigate it thoroughly, and then go beyond. This issue includes two articles about artists who have taken the Norwegian tradition of sprang and made it a central point of their lives!

Carol James is an American who learned sprang when she was asked, years ago, to reproduce some military sashes in the stretchy knotting technique. Now she has written books with instruction and patterns, and produced how-to videos. She teaches workshops, and continually experiments with new patterns and items to create — even pants. She’s amazing; read “Twist of Fate: Carol James’ Journey in Sprang.”

Liilian Saksi, a Swedish-born artist living in Norway, explores color in her abstract art works. Using sprang, she is able to highlight the wool yarn she spins. Her relationship with the sheep she raises is an important part of her practice. The titles of her works often include the names of the sheep whose wool is used.  Read: “Liilian Saksi: An Artist in Språngning”

Liilian Saksi in the process of making “Konfetti (“Confetti,” from the fleeces of Frida, Lovikka, and Anni), 2022.

Liilian Saksi included a wonderful essay by textile artist and author Anne Karin Jortveit on her website, about the connection between humans and animals — in this case, sheep. I am sure it will resonate with many Norwegian Textile Letter readers. This issue includes a translation of the essay, along with information about a couple of Jortveit’s works. See: “To Seek Connections (Or Wanting to Know Where Things Come From).”

Anne Karin Jortveit. Sørgen’s Signatur (Sorrow’s Signature), 2022. Rug hooking on fabric with hand-spun wool thread (187 x 143 x 5 cm).

I know that many Norwegian Textile Letter readers are fans of ryas, or pile coverlets, from all the Scandinavian countries. This issue includes a translation of a blog post by Elisabet Jansson about some historical Swedish ryas. Read: “Ryas at Sörmlands Museum.”

I will just mention the other articles, and let you discover and enjoy them. Mendable: An Exhibit and Environmental Investigation describes the textile works that were part of an exhibit of the Norske Kunsthåndverkere (Norwegian Association of Arts and Crafts). Molly Elkind reviews a book about Norwegian weaver Solveig Albert’s 100 “miniatures,” Continuum. Katherine Larson and Marta Kløve Juuhl wrote a scholarly article for the Archaeological Textile Review, Norwegian Double-Cloth: Warp-Weighted Loom Experiments in a Complicated Technique. Larson also wrote an overview for Norwegian Textile Letter readers, with background and highlights of their research project. (Don’t miss her story of pennies and the pandemic…)

This is the first issue in the new semi-annual publishing cycle. The next full issue will come out in October, but several articles will be coming out before then, and added to the main page for this issue.

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

For those who would like to donate, here’s an easy link.

February 2023

Dear Norwegian Textile Letter readers and supporters, 

The end of 2022 marked ten years for the Norwegian Textile Letter online. It was a good time to take stock of the newsletter and my own research, writing and weaving. It’s been a rewarding challenge. When the newsletter was published in print, there were around 250 subscribers; now more than 1550 people receive notification of new issues, from many countries. Yet, it briefly crossed my mind — maybe this was a long enough run for the newsletter?

But wait! What about my five-page, ever-growing document titled “Future NTL Articles?” What about the articles already planned for the 2023 issues? What about all of the older black-and-white newsletters buried in pdfs, with articles that could be reprinted with new content and color photos? What about all of the amazing contemporary weaving underway by Norwegian artists? There’s too much to share to stop now!  

The upcoming issue will include an article about the life (with sheep!) and work of Norwegian artist Liliian Saksi, who interprets traditional Norwegian Sprang twining technique in a painterly way.

My goal with the newsletter is to create connection among fans of Scandinavian textiles, unearth and publish gems of historical research, and inspire weavers with information about beautiful historical and contemporary Scandinavian textiles. I’m still excited about that goal, and all the possibilities. I want to keep access wide and free, without burying articles behind a paywall. My mission is to spread information and inspiration, and to keep it available long into the future. Perhaps a weaver will find inspiration and connection through a Norwegian Textile Letter article twenty years from now.

The most-read article over time is “Varafeldur: An Icelandic Rya Reconstruction,” by Marta Kløve Juuhl, from November 2013.

The Next Chapter for the Norwegian Textile Letter

I’ve decided to change the publishing schedule from four times per year to semi-annually, March and October. However, the total content will remain the same, or even expand. During the interim between issues, new articles will appear on an occasional schedule and be added to the Current Issue page. The “Nordic Notes” column will come out more frequently, to keep readers abreast of upcoming lectures, exhibits, videos, and more. 

With this schedule the full administrative, formatting, and deadline-sensitive work of producing four separate issues is reduced to two, yet readers will get the same full plate of articles throughout the year. 

Watch for the new issue in late March! Through this year, I hope you’ll be as excited about the new format as I am. I’m always happy to hear your comments and ideas for content. (Email here)

Robbie LaFleur, Publisher

P.S. I’ve enjoyed making custom headers for each new issue. Here are a handful of my favorite header images. There will be a new one soon!

What an abundance of opportunities this month. I updated the Nordic Notes: Happy 2023 post with details on two more virtual lecture opportunities. See more details for each in the Nordic Notes column.

Virtual Lecture: “Somewhere in America: The Story of Petra’s Quilt.” By Katherine Larson. Sponsored by Livsreise Norwegian-American Heritage Center in Stoughton, WI. Saturday, February 25, 2023, 1 pm-2 pm CST. 

Lecture: Warmth and Color: Traditional Scandinavian Coverlets. Sponsored by the Textile Center of Minnesota as part of “Fiber Art of All” week. Speaker: Laurann Gilbertson, Chief Curator of Vesterheim Norwegian American Museum. Friday, Feb. 21, 11 am CST. 

Also, today, February 10, at noon, Vesterheim Norwegian American Museum opens up registration for in-person 2023 classes. Check them out!

Robbie LaFleur, Publisher, Norwegian Textile Letter 

Thank you to everyone who helps support the Norwegian Textile Letter with donations to cover expenses. Your donations matter. Thank you for being a subscriber! 

For those who would like to donate, here’s an easy link.

Two zoom lectures about Scandinavian textiles are coming up in February, before the new issue of the Norwegian Textile Letter comes out at the end of the month. Check them out here.

Happy New Year! Robbie LaFleur

The new issue of the Norwegian Textile Letter is up! (If your email does not show images, read this web version.)

A focus on Finland continues in this issue, with two articles on Finnish folk ryijy (or ryas)  by Marjo Ahonen, Curator at the Craft Museum of Finland–such a clear and interesting history. I hadn’t thought of a rya this big:

In the large rooms of stone-built royal palaces and manor houses, ryas were used on the sleeping lounges along the walls of the rooms. Blankets with thick piles to ward off the cold were the lifeblood of sleepers. Ryas made in narrow looms were joined with several seams to make a wide blanket, and up to four people could sleep side by side under one blanket.

In her second article, Ahonen describes many of the symbols typically found on the folk ryas.

Read “The Meanings of Finnish Folk Rya: Cultural Traditions” and “The Meanings of Finnish Folk Rya: Patterns in the Folk-Style Ryas.”

It is an honor to conclude our Finnish Focus with articles by noted Finnish tapestry artists Aino Kajaniemi and Inka Kivalo. Their styles are different, but both articles are deeply personal explorations of their work. You’ll be inspired!

Read “Playfulness and Joy in my Atelier” by Inka Kivalo.

Read “Impressionism in Tapestry: Translating Thoughts and Feelings with Thread” by Aino Kajaniemi.

Don’t you love the idea of a project that reconstructs Viking-age fabric for contemporary commercial production? Norwegian fashion designers and a furniture company did. Read “VikingGold: Weaving History and Fashion Together” by Tone Skårdal Tobiasson.

A Nuen chair with fabric woven by Krivi Vev from wool spun at Hillesvåg Wool Spinnery.

Norwegian artist Ann Cathrin November Høibo wove “Dreams Ahead” on an enormous loom. Read how she faced the challenge both technically and emotionally during her seven months of weaving. “To Reach the top of a Mountain: Ann Cathrin November Høibo.”

Mary Skoy reviewed a new book by a Danish knitting expert: Vivian Høxbro’s Knitting Handbook: 8 Schools of Modular Knitting. I would like someone to knit me every one of the projects in this book. “Book Review: Vivian Høxbro’s Knitting Handbook: 8 Schools of Modular Knitting.”

If you did not get a chance to visit Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum this summer, you can still see the 2022 Ribbon Winners from the Annual Exhibition of Weaving in the Norwegian Tradition.

Laura Demuth, Decorah, IA. “Two Long Winters” People’s Choice Award

I sent out the “Nordic Notes” column early, but there are additions now, an abundance of Scandinavian textile materials to read and view.

And 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

For those who would like to donate, here’s an easy link.

Sometimes I fall down a research rabbit hole, yet despite my efforts, a mystery remains. But sometimes research lands in my lap, or in the case this week, in my email inbox. You may remember the story of Frida Hansen’s rediscovered tapestry – an amazing find! But the mystery was not completely solved. Where had it been since public references ceased and it was likely bought by the final owner, around 2010? Read about some new information here: “Frida Hansen’s Southward: More Provenance Puzzle Pieces are in Place.”

An auction listing tells us where the tapestry was from 1930-1961…

The upcoming issue of the Norwegian Textile Letter continues the focus on Finland, with articles on two of the best-known Finnish tapestry weavers, Aino Kajaniemi and Inka Kivalo, and a double article on the cultural history and the meaning of symbols in traditional Finnish ryijys.  It will also include an article on the Norwegian VikingGull (Viking Gold) project, when fabric based on Viking textile fragments was examined and recreated as commercial yardage. The story includes contemporary fashion and a reality TV show. There will be a recap of the ribbon-winning entries at this year’s Annual Exhibition of Weaving in the Norwegian Tradition at Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, a review of a new Danish knitting book, and more! Watch for the issue late this month.

In the meantime, here is an early peek at the “Nordic Notes” column – “Nordic Notes: November 2022.” I wish I could travel to Trondheim this month to see this exhibit, “Kari Steihaug – Potetbøtta og parfymen [Kari Steihaug: Potato Buckets and Perfume].”

Photo taken from the Dropsgallieret website.

Happy Thanksgiving! Expect the new issue of the Norwegian Textile Letter that weekend.

Robbie LaFleur 

The last issue of the Norwegian Textile Letter focused on the rediscovered tapestry by Frida Hansen, Sørover (Southward). If you missed any of the articles about Frida Hansen and the tapestry, they are easily available from a link in the top bar of the Norwegian Textile Letter, Frida Hansen’s Sørover.

I’ve been asked many times in the past few months about the status of the tapestry–has it been sold? It has not, and is still available from Peter Pap. Here is the listing; you can still add it to you cart.

Some good news is that Southward will be on public view as part of the exhibit Scandinavian Design and the United States, 1890-1980 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), from October 9, 2022, through February 5, 2023.

Following the Los Angeles run, the Scandinavian Design show will travel in spring, 2023, to the Milwaukee Museum of Art.

The Scandinavian Design exhibit was shown this summer (March 18-August 7, 2022) in Oslo, Norway, at the National Museum – Architecture. You can read more and view many of the exhibit items in 3d at the Museum exhibition webpage.

I’ll keep you posted as I learn more–if the tapestry sells, and the exact dates of the Milwaukee run of the Scandinavian Design show.

And Thank you to everyone who helps support the Norwegian Textile Letter with donations to cover expenses. Your financial support is crucial. Thank you! 

Robbie LaFleur

For those who would like to donate, here’s an easy link. (As an alternative, the address is: Robbie LaFleur, 1801 Fremont Ave. S. #2, Minneapolis, MN 55403)

The new (extra big) issue of the Norwegian Textile Letter is out! The first four articles have a special focus on Finland, first prompted by a blog post from Selvedge magazine about Finnish raanu weavings. No one weaves them any more, the author claimed. Well no, that isn’t true–Minnesotan Wynne Mattilla makes amazing raanus, and teaches about it, too. Read Wynne Mattila: The Raanu Tradition Continues in Minnesota.

Wynne Mattilla. “Black and White Raanu.”

Pälvi Myllylä wrote a photo-filled blog post about raanus on the site of the Finnish magazine Antiikki & Design in 2016. Read: Raanu: A Minimalist Work of Art (Part One). She highlighted the work of Finnish artist Elena Juopperi, who used old raanus sourced from donations and flea markets in a contemporary sculptural art work. Pirjo Heikkilä provided the translation. 

Bright raanus from the 1970s.

You’ll be surprised to read about how long it takes to set up her installation of stacked raanus.

The fourth Finnish-focused article is about a love-filed project.  Barb Yarusso reconstructed a well-worn rag rug made her Finnish-born grandmother, Alma Norha. Shot-by-shot, rag-by-rag, Barb inserted the weft from the old rug into a new warp. Read: In Honor of Alma: A Reconstructed Rag Rug.

The old rug spent many years in the front entry of Barb Yarusso’s grandmother’s farmhouse in Embarrass, Minnesota.

The post sent earlier came without all of the photos that made the upcoming issue of the newsletter so enticing. This led to an hour and a half of troubleshooting, and chatting with the web hosting agent, trying to figure it out, and ensuring that everything is backed up before updating the plugins that might be the culprit in the missing photos. All this, of course, when I should be chained to the tapestry loom.

So, apologies for the incomplete post. If you click on the title of the summer news message, you will see the message and photos online. 

To see if the problem is solved, here is a photo from a clip of a YouTube video from a Prairie Public Television show,” Scandinavian Traditions.” (If you don’t see a photo below this paragraph, I will be very annoyed, but go back to weaving anyway, for now!) The show included a short piece featuring Katherine (Kay) Larson, author of the wonderful book, The Woven Coverlets of Norway. See Kay talk about some wonderful textiles in a minute-long clip here.

Besides her talent as a researcher into Norwegian textiles, Kay is a major reason that the Norwegian Textile Letter gets published! She is the perfect editor, a wonderful and enthusiastic sounding board for ideas, and careful translator. Tusen takk, Kay! 

Robbie LaFleur
Publisher, Norwegian Textile Letter

Thank you to everyone who helps support the Norwegian Textile Letter with donations to cover expenses. Your financial support is crucial. Thank you for being a subscriber! 

For those who would like to donate, here’s an easy link.