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Nordic News and Notes, April 2024

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Exhibits

“Karin Larsson: Let the Hand be Seen.” American Swedish Institute, Minneapolis, MN. June 8, 2024 – October 27, 2024.

Explore the colorful work and legacy of Karin Larsson—a trendsetting artist, designer, and style icon ahead of her time—in a special exhibition at the American Swedish Institute from Carl Larsson-gården.

Karin Bergöö Larsson (1859–1928) was a groundbreaking artist whose approach to textiles and design ushered in a new era of interior design and established the iconic Swedish style that continues to inspire contemporary artists worldwide. The floral motifs, vivid colors, and charming simplicity of her style remain heavily influential nearly a century after her death, inspiring both independent makers and major brands like IKEA.

Many of Karin’s works were forever captured in husband Carl Larsson’s iconic paintings of Swedish life. It was Karin who designed and created Lilla Hyttnäs, the Larsson’s home just outside of Falun in Sundborn, Sweden, which was so often the subject of Carl’s paintings.

This exhibition presents Karin Larsson as an artist, designer, dressmaker, and style icon through her art and textiles.

Tendencies 2024 – In the Right Hands. Galleri F15, March 23 – June 12, 2024. Moss, Norway.

The 46th edition of Tendencies focuses on craft’s materiality, the work of the hands, and making statements through textiles. The exhibition presents the practices of 15 artists based in Finland, Norway, and Sweden.

For those who can’t travel to Norway, a short video on the gallery website gives an overview of the works. The Norwegian text of the video is mostly in English in the exhibit description, except for this, “The source of inspiration for this edition of the Tendencies exhibit is the artistry of the Norwegian textile artist Brit Fuglevaag. She is an 84 year old woman who was very significant n the development of textile art and weaving in the 1960s, and who remains active in textile art today.” Photos of individual works can be seen in the Media Gallery.

Lectures Online

Nearly Wild Weaving.  Tapestry: In Conversation – With Robbie LaFleur. Wed, April 24, 2024 7 pm UK time. (Eventbrite calculates the time for each guest’s time zone. It costs 10 pounds, which Eventbrite conveniently charges you for in your own currency.) Register here.

During our conversations we find out how our guests approach their work, what inspires them, what techniques they favour and why. Throughout this season we are taking a more international view of tapestry weaving, and this month delighted to be crossing the Atlantic once again, this time to talk to Robbie LaFleur who is based in Minnesota. And as we talk, we’ll also be travelling back across to Scandinavia, finding out more about Robbie’s long association with weaving in Norway.

Robbie’s work is strongly influenced by traditional Norwegian weaving. She has a particular interest in the work of Frida Hansen, which she studied in depth during a funded research programme in 2019. Robbie has been the editor of the Norwegian Textile Letter for many years and is also an instructor, introducing many others to the different facets of Scandinavian approaches to tapestry weaving.

We will find out what brought Robbie into tapestry weaving and especially the world of Scandinavian weaving, how she approaches her designs, the influences on her work and discover where her work has taken her.

“Early Swedish Folk Weavings” with Wendel Swan. May 1, 2024, 1 pm EDT, 7 pm CET. Registration is required. Click Here to Register. Cost: Free

Wendel Swan, who has loaned 54 rare and exemplary textiles for the current exhibition Swedish Folk Weavings for Marriage, Carriage, and Home 1750-1840, at the American Swedish Historical Museum in Philadelphia. He will discuss the historical background of Scandinavian weavings since the Viking era and, with numerous illustrations, the enormous diversity and aesthetic merit of design elements, color and weaving techniques of Swedish textiles that were produced for personal household use in relatively small Scania.

Lectures (In Person)

bunad

“Norwegian Folk Costumes: A Living Tradition.” Lauran Gilbertson, Curator, Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum. May 18, 2024. 11 am. Location: New Directions Real Estate Building, lower level, 110 North Main Street, Westby, Wisconsin.

As part of the Westby Syttende Mai celebration, Vesterheim Chief Curator Laurann Gilbertson will explore Norway’s tradition of colorful folk costumes is as old as the Middle Ages, and as young as the 1940s. Learn about the history of costumes from Hardanger, Telemark, Hallingdal, and many other regions of Norway. The forces of politics, fashion, and immigration have left their mark on this important part of Norwegian and Norwegian-American folk culture.

The program is open to the public and starts at 11:00 am. For more details about the event contact Dave Amundson at nissedal@mwt.net or visit HOME | Westby Syttende Mai (syttendemaiwestby.com).

Helena Hernmarck tapestry at Hudson Yards

“Hernmarck Tapestries at Hudson Yards: Artist Talk with Helena Hernmarck and Matilda McQuaid.” Wednesday, May 22, 7 pm. Free. (Reserve tickets.) Scandinavia House, located in New York City at 58 Park Avenue, four blocks south of Grand Central Station.

Tapestry artist Helena Hernmarck and moderator Matilda McQuaid discuss Hernmarck’s latest commission: two sets of monumental tapestries for a residential lobby at 35 Hudson Yards in New York City, Flowers and Maple Tree. The program will also include a screening of the documentary Hernmarck Tapestries at Hudson Yards (20 min.), which showcases Helena’s ongoing collaboration with weavers and spinners in Sweden. The film also explores the complex design and installation requirements for the unique commission, and highlights the relevance of tapestry as an art form in contemporary architectural settings.

Helena Hernmarck

“The Influence of Karin Larsson on the Art World and the Work of Helena Hernmark,” an artist talk by Helena Hernmarck. Sunday, June 9, 5-9 pm. American Swedish Institute, Minneapolis Minnesota. Cost: $30 ($25 ASI members) (Register here.)

Be the first to view Karin Larsson: Let the Hand Be Seen at this preview event featuring a special FIKA Café menu and artist discussion from the renowned Swedish textile artist, Helena Hernmarck, who was heavily influenced by the work of Karin Larsson.

Have you ever caught yourself marveling at the massive tapestry in the Nelson Cultural Center? Now’s your chance to meet the artist herself! Following a screening of a new short film about her work, Helena Hernmarck will discuss her work and the influence of Karin Larsson on the art world.

Join ASI for small plates in the courtyard available for purchase, featuring a menu inspired by Karin Larsson’s cookbook and curated by FIKA Café’s executive chef, Amalia Obermeier-Smith. Dress up inspired by Karin or come as you are!

Web Sightings

“Tradition in Transition: A Colorful Baptismal Dress from Norway.” Laurann Gilbertson, Curator, Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum. Piecework, April 3, 2024.

This short essay begins, “Garments worn for special occasions make up a significant percentage of many museums’ collections because they are the textiles that people tend to save and pass along.” Beautiful textiles become even more meaningful when accompanied by the stories of the people who made and used them.

hardanger embroidery

“Hardanger Embroidery: Needlework to Do When the Loneliness Comes.” Laurann Gilbertson, Curator, Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum. Piecework, November 3, 2023.

Anna Anderson began her tablecloth on her journey from Norway to the United States. “My mother gave me the tablecloth when I was leaving and told me that when I was feeling lonesome I should work on it,” she recalled.

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

Nordic News and Notes, March 2024

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Scandinavian Weaving classes

North House Fiber Art Courses

Among the many tempting fiber arts courses held on the shores of Lake Superior are a few with a specific Scandinavian theme: Scandinavian Band Weaving with Caroline Feyling, Swedish Toothbrush Rugs with Melba Granlund, Tvåändsstickning – Mittens in Swedish “Twined” Knitting with Lily Bell, and Warp Weighted Tabletop Loom: Build and Weave with Melba Granlund.

Vesterheim Folk Art School 

Vesterheim Folk Art School has announced their summer and fall 2024 in-person and virtual classes. Be sure to check out both the Fiber Arts and Weaving categories.

Video

Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson. “With Sail over the Baltic Sea.” (On the potential connection between the introduction of sails and the Viking phenomenon). Part of a 2022 conference, “Vikings before Vikings.”

From the description: “The iconic image of the Viking Age is arguably the sailing boat, as e.g. seen on the Gotlandic picture stones… Sail production was an extensive and in research often underestimated process, requiring extensive amounts of raw material that then had to be processed, spun and woven. Sailing provided quicker and less arduous means of transportation, increasing the range of travel, but the making of sails was an advancement that required a new level of organisation and planning. The connection between sails and the Viking Phenomenon is significant, but the social development it reflects is equally important, constituting an even more significant indicator of the beginning of a new era.”

Båtryer. Romsdal Museum. 

This brief museum video highlights båtryer [pile coverlets, or rya, used on boats]. Båtryer has English subtitles. (It seems odd they chose to make it black-and-white.)

Exhibitions

“Swedish Folk Weavings for Marriage, Carriage, and Home 1750 to 1840.” Swedish American Historical Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. March 15-September 22, 2024. 

From the description: “Swedish Folk Weavings for Marriage, Carriage, and Home is an exhibition of rare and artful cushions and bed covers woven by women for their households. Many have inscribed dates ranging from 1750 to 1840. Such textiles were used on or displayed for special occasions and were a significant form of decoration for the typical household.

“The design elements and patterns reflect the influence of centuries of trade since the Viking era. Visitors will see colorful geometric patterns, exotic birds, real and mythical creatures, religious depictions, crowns, floral themes, and even patterns from Roman mosaics. Swedish Folk Weavings for Marriage, Carriage, and Home was developed in collaboration with Wendel and Diane Swan, both of whom are of Swedish descent, and whose collection is primarily featured in the exhibition.”

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!

A Tribute to Ane Marie Aleksandersdatter (1847-1906)

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Ane Marie Aleksandersdatter, great-great grandmother of the author.

By Lill-Karin Elvestad

One day in 1863.  Joy ignited in her chest as she closed the door behind her. It was chilly in the room, but she would soon warm up. The evening light that wandered past the window made the colors in the cloth stand out clearly. Green at the bottom and horizontal  lines in red, black and blue. She knew each thread, they had slipped through her fingers as she spun them, and the colors were hers too. She still wondered how moss, lichen and birch leaves that were always just there, out in the landscape, could be transformed into strong colors and give life to grey-white wool.

They said she was good. They said she had her own flair for weaving, that what she created was beautiful. And maybe it was like that, but she thought mostly about getting the next thread as smooth as the previous one.

She settled herself, tightened the knot of hair at the nape of her neck and spread her arms over the weave like a pianist over the keys. Soon the rhythm found her and she fell into it and danced along.

Women’s Day, March 8, 2024. Today I think of my great-great-grandmother Ane Marie Aleksandersdatter, who was only 16-17 years old when she wove the dress you see in the picture. The thin, thin wool threads are perfectly even, and the pattern stands out clearly in four colors. Most likely she had carded and spun the wool herself, and perhaps also sheared the sheep. She gathered plants and vegetation to dye the yarn, and knew exactly which plants produced which color.

Jacket woven and sewn by Ane Marie Aleksandersdatter, front

The whole painstaking process from wool on the sheep until she could put on the beautiful dress life and accompanying skirt, required knowledge, accuracy and creative urge.

But Ane Marie could not write. Maybe not read either. I know that because when I wrote the book Til livet skilte oss ad  – skilsmissehistorier 1879-1909 [Till Life Did Us Part – Divorce Stories 1879-1909], in which her and her husband Theodor’s divorce is one of the stories, I saw that all the documents she had signed include m.p.p. underneath, which means med påholden penn [with held pen] – someone had held the pen for her.

Was she illiterate? I don’t know.

But what I know today is that she had great abilities in textile art, on the same level as many other women of her time. Perhaps Ane Marie would have had a career as an artist and weaver if she had been placed in another place, in another time. But like thousands of other women whose significant knowledge and artistic abilities were given little recognition, Ane Marie came to live a quite anonymous life, a cog in the wheel of grey everyday existence. 

Fortunately, Ane Marie’s daughter Anna, my great-grandmother, was far-sighted enough to give the dress life as a gift to the Tromsø museum sometime in 1935. Thanks to this, one day earlier in February this year I was able to join a conservator in the magazine at the museum and look at the art created by my own great grandmother.

Which again says a lot about the importance of preserving our cultural history! Happy Women’s Day!

Jacket woven and sewn by Ane Marie Aleksandersdatter, back. Aleksandersdatter’s dress was delivered to Tromsø museum by her daughter Anne (my great grandmother) in the 1930s, and is now being used by students and other textile-interested people as an example of the great handcraft that existed in Northern Norway at this time. The museums page for this is: https://www.unimus.no/portal/#/things/dcc035d0-5749-4baa-9bff-ab728d5dd854

Editor’s note: Lill-Karin Elvestad wrote this tribute to her great-great-grandmother on Instagram recently, and I asked if I could include it with her other article, “Old Clothing Tells our Story.” She responded, “I’m just thrilled that the story of Ane Marie gets known. Her fate became somewhat dark and miserable, but she had outstanding skills that today would have brought her out in the great world, I think.”

Lill-Karin Elvestad is a writer, journalist and historian from Troms. Her interests lies in cultural history of Northern Norway, and she’s written several books and a lot of articles for various magazines through the years. She lives at a little farm in Balsfjord, in the midst of Troms, with a husband, two cats and two nearly grown up kids. On the farm there’s a house from 1926 which she restored in 2022 and now uses as a meeting place for arrangements, writing-courses and story-nights. More about Elvestad on Instagram: @lillkarinelvestad or Facebook: Lill-Karin Elvestad forfatter
Translated by Robbie LaFleur
Help support wonderful articles on Scandinavian textiles with a donation to the Norwegian Textile Letter. Thank you! Tusen takk!

 

Swedish Munkabälte [monk’s belt]

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By Emelie von Walterstorff

Translator’s note: This is an English version of the section on monk’s belt, or Swedish munkabälte, from the online Hemslöjds Guiden [Handcraft Guide] published by the Föreningen Sveriges Hemslöjdskonsulenter [Association of Swedish Handcraft Consultants]. I became interested in this monk’s belt variation with stars when I saw a beautiful coverlet purchased this year by my friend Annelie Holmberg. I found the Swedish guide describing these special star-filled monk’s belt weavings and received permission to share the information in English. Robbie LaFleur

Beautiful monk’s belt stars woven by an unknown weaver. Photo: Annelie Holmberg.

“Tärna” – Detail from a monk’s belt weaving produced in the 1990s by the Västmanland County Handicraft Association. It is part of an older weaving from Tärna parish in Västmanland County Museum’s collection, VLM 7097.

Munkabälte [monk’s belt], from the Scanian word for certain common four-shaft fabrics, is now widespread in Sweden. Two shafts are used to form the ground or base weave, and two for the pattern element, which, as in upphämta technique, lies loosely over the surface. The pattern threads are of two different lengths, for example over six and under two warp threads. The colored pattern threads, usually of wool (or cotton), contrast with the white linen ground weave.  Certain weavings in southern Skåne have a black wool ground weave.

It has been debated whether monk’s belt is a technique or just a pattern. It is a weaving technique that was done earlier with a pick-up stick. One of the pioneers of the revival of Scanian textile methods near the end of the 1800s, Mrs. Thora Kulle in Lund, described how monk’s belt earlier was woven with a wide pick-up stick that was raised behind the ground weave, to lift the pattern threads. The square “star” or the two different stitch lengths of which it consists, in different combinations, was characteristic of what is called monk’s belt. However, the star has not always been woven with loose pattern threads. Here we can surmise that it probably became known partly through the famous Dutch dräll (weaves in which warp-float areas contrast with weft-float areas) satin weave. These dräll weavings dated to the 1600s are preserved in upper-class homes. 

Retrieved from Svenska vävnadstekniker och mönstertyper: Kulturgeografisk undersökning [Swedish Weaving Techniques and Pattern Types: Cultural Geographic Survey]. By Emelie von Walterstorff. Proceedings of the Nordic Museum: 11. Stockholm, 1940.

Monk’s belt on Scanian blankets

Or why not call them “flower blankets from the region of the green hills,”1 as it is so romantically described in Gammal allmogeslöjd fra Malmöhus län [Historical Handicraft from Malmöhus County] about the large decorative blankets in monk’s belt technique that were woven in large quantities in the areas around Vemmenhög county in Skåne.

That the beautiful weavings are described as “flower blankets” is not so strange considering that the weaving technique has been used in such a way that the pattern shapes imitate flowers. “It’s as if the women in Wemmenhög set out to create their own ‘garden’ with their work within the farm’s walls, which would be in bloom all year round.”

The monk’s belt technique is the simplest among the Scanian art weave techniques and has therefore perhaps not received as much attention as blankets and cushion covers in, for example, röllakan, flamskväv and krabbasnår. Despite the relatively simple technique, the women around Vemmenhög developed the pattern shapes and the technique into something very special and the textiles are well worth highlighting and admiring. “They give a telling testimony of the Scanian people’s passion and ability to compose patterns even in simple forms.” What gives a monk’s belt pattern its basic character is the so-called monk’s belt star. This basic shape has since been assembled into a variety of patterns.

The monk’s belt star

Monk belt star, black and white sketch

Monk belt star, black and white sketch

The ground weave of a monk’s belt fabric consists of a plain weave, or two-shaft weave. The pattern is formed by a number of pattern elements that float above and below the base fabric. According to Anna-Maja Nylén2, monk’s belt is a Scanian dialectal term for a four-shafted fabric where two of the shafts form the base fabric and two form the pattern. Technically, monk’s belt and, for example, tärningsväv fabric are similar, but the pattern shapes differ. In tärningsväv fabric, the monk’s belt star does not occur.

Zickerman3 writes that the name monk’s belt does not really denote the name of an individual technique but a variation of the dräll technique, “but this form has come to – in some localities – make such a strong contribution to the village, that it has been counted as a separate technique.” Both in terms of pattern and technology, monk’s belt has a clear connection with textiles that were imported during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Map with Skåne's district divisions

Map with Skåne’s district divisions

Monk’s belt fabrics of various types have been manufactured throughout the country, mostly on linen bottom fabric with an interlaced pattern so that the textiles have cross-striped pattern formations. But in south-west Skåne, the monk’s belt technology developed in a very special way. In the areas around Vemmenhög’s district (see map) large magnificent weavings have monk’s belt stars that have been picked star by star in different colors so that the blankets have the expression of blooming meadows. The ground fabric of these weavings usually consists of black or black-brown plain weave in wool on a linen warp.

In an inventory of older textiles, dating from the 17th century to 1840, carried out by Lissie Möller under the auspices of the Malmöhus läns hemslöjdsförenings [Malmöhus County Handcraft Association] during the years 1918-1925, no fewer than 561 monk’s belt blankets were inventoried in Malmöhus County, mainly around the Vemmenhögs, Skytts and Oxie districts. This can be compared with how many blankets were inventoried in other weaving techniques at the same time in Malmöhus County: 122 blankets in röllakan, 97 blankets in krabbasnår, 34 in dukagång, 6 in flamskvävnad, 94 in rosengång, and no less than 2,205 blankets in opphämta.

Through the inventory, it can be established that blankets in monk’s belt technique were the second most common technique when it comes to woven blankets in Malmöhus County during the period. However, we cannot know for sure whether all of these 561 weavings were of the “flower blanket” type with inlaid pattern details. It is possible that also blankets with only inlaid patterns appear among the inventory material.

Through Möller’s inventory, we can also deduce that the monk’s belt technique in Malmöhus county was mostly used for blankets and not for cushion covers. In terms of woven cushions, only 59 in monk’s belts have been inventoried in the county compared to 1,232 in röllakan, 852 in opphämta, 462 in flamskvävnad, 355 in tränsaflossa [a half-pile technique], 297 in krabbasnår, 68 in dukagång, and 20 in rosepath.

What is characteristic of the flower blankets around Vemmenhög is that the monk belt stars are picked in different colors and not shuttled across (which is more common). On the vast majority of blankets, the stars also form diamond-shaped patterns over the surface. There are two main groups within the blankets – those with a striped bottom and those with a solid color. In addition, there are four different ways to insert the monk’s belt pattern. The different pattern placements depend on how the warp is threaded, or alternatively how the pick-up stick has been used in the weaving.

Picture 1
Picture 2
Picture 3

Striped Ground Weave

The striped blankets are considered to be the oldest1 and on some there are both picked and shuttled monk’s belt patterns. The bottom striping can consist of only wide fields in different colors, color fields that are separated by one or more narrow stripes, or stripes with shuttled monk’s belt patterns. Examples of different stripes can be found in pictures 1, 2 and 3. Sometimes the shuttled pattern has been excluded in favor of the picked one (for example on the blanket in picture 1). You can guess that the blanket was then woven with a pick-up stick and not with a threaded pattern. When a shuttled monk’s belt pattern occurs, the entire star is often not included vertically in the stripes (see examples in pictures 2 and 3). Sometimes the stars have been placed colorwise so that diamond shapes form across the surface, but this is not as common as on blankets with a plain base. Diamond shapes on the surface often become a little more indistinct and harder to perceive on blankets with a striped bottom because you are distracted by the stripes. Borders around the edges seldom occur on striped blankets. On the other hand, they are very common on those with a solid color base.

Picture 4
Picture 5
Picture 6

Plain Ground Weave 

Most of the blankets have been woven with a plain base, usually in black or black-brown. On blankets with a plain background, the stars have almost always been placed in terms of color so that diamond patterns are formed over the surface in different ways. You can see that in pictures 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Most of them also have a border of some kind either in monk’s belt or krabbasnår (the blankets in pictures 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 all have a border in krabbasnår but with slightly different pattern shapes). Picked-up krabbasnår stars are also often included in the center of the pattern shapes, as on the blankets in pictures 4, 5 and 7. On blankets with a single-colored base, pattern stripes with shuttled monk’s belts never occur. Often the bars have been used so that large coherent diamond shapes show clearly in the patterns. In picture 8 you can clearly see this (green bars). On the blankets in pictures 4 and 7, the bottom has been kept solid black and not filled with bars, here only the independent monk’s belt star has been used in the pattern shapes together with the krabbasnår stars. On the weavings in pictures 5 and 6, there are also no bars used as padding between the monk’s belt stars. Here, instead, it is the visible ground weave between the stars that highlights the diamond pattern formed by the monk’s belt stars.

Picture 7
Picture 8

Every one is unique

The main thing that can be said when you look at the monk’s belt blankets from south-west Skåne is that there are great variations in pattern compositions and expressions. Many blankets seem quite similar at first glance, but upon closer inspection you will see that there are differences. This is probably due to the fact that a development of the pattern forms has been ongoing. A blanket was woven, another weaver used it as a template and changed something a little in the pattern composition or treadled differently. Perhaps she moved a star, wove a different border or chose a different color combination. The blankets have been given different expressions depending on the patterns, tools, aids and knowledge the weavers had. One might think that the monk’s belt star as a flower shape has been the central thing and not the technique itself.

One can’t help but admire these women who had such imagination and skill to compose different flower blankets and one has to agree with the statement that “Nowhere has it flourished as in the green hills.”1

Below are more examples of how the blankets could look. The pictures show black-and-white, ¼ part hand-colored, photographs from Lizzie Möller’s inventory in Malmöhus County in 1918-1925, which are stored in Stiftelsen Skånsk Hemslöjd SSH’s [Institute for Scanian Handcraft] archive in Landskrona.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes in the text

1. Malmöhus County Handicraft Association. Old peasant craft from Malmöhus county. Malmö: Förlagskatiebolaget’s printing house in Malmö, 1916.

2. Nylén, A. Hemslöjd [Handicraft]. 4 ed. Stockholm: Bokförlaget Cordia, 1995.

3. Zickerman, L. Sveriges folkliga textilkonst [Sweden’s folk textile art], part IV-V Munkabälte och uphämta, manuscript. The Nordic Museum’s archives, Stockholm.

Source list

Höst, C. “Blomstertäcken från de gröna kullarnas bygd” [Flower blankets from the green hills region], essay from Handarbetets Vänners school, 1999.

Zickerman, L. Volume 29, Munkabälte och krabbasnår i alla landskap [Monk’s belt and krabbasnår in all landscapes] and Volume 188, Monk’s belt, Skåne A-O, photographs. The Nordic Museum’s archives, Stockholm.

Inventory material of the Malmöhus County Handicraft Association from 1915 – 1927, Stiftelsen Skånsk Hemslöjd, Landskrona.

Wemmenhög County’s Historical Society’s Textile Exhibition 1929, photographs of textiles and associated text material. Folklivsarkivet [Folk Life Archive], Lund.

Image material

Map of Skåne’s county division, Möllegården culture in Åkarp, www.mollegardenkultur.se

Picture 1-8, Photographer: Thomas Hansson. All the monk’s belt cushion covers in these pictures are stored in Svaneholm Castle’s archive in Skurup. The archive material is shown only for research purposes by agreement.

Hand-colored images of monk’s belt weavings. Photographer: Camilla Höst. They are stored in Stiftelsen Skånsk Hemslöjd’s archive in Landskrona. If you are interested in studying the material in more detail, contact the chairman of Stiftelsen Skånsk Hemslöjd.

Other literature tips

VÄV Skånska allmogevävnader, by Gunvor Johansson, Stiftelsen Skånsk Hemslöjd. In this book there is both a bit of history and three different weaving drafts for the Scanian monk’s belt (as well as material on many other Scanian common fabrics such as röllakan, krabbasnår, halvkrabba, treskaft, dukagång, trensaflossa and opphämta). The book can be ordered through Hemslöjden Skåne AB in Landskrona. It is available in the U.S. in the English version, Heirlooms of Skåne, through the Vävstuga Weaving School bookshop. 

Old Clothing Tells our Story

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By Lill-Karin Elvestad 

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in Lokalhistorisk magazine, Number 1 and 2, 2016, in a special themed issue, “Art and Handcraft,” and translated by Robbie LaFleur.

A worn piece of clothing, crumpled and frayed. At one time a warm stocking for a young woman, but now a seemingly worthless rag? Not for the project leader Lillian Magnussen with the project “Registration of Clothing in Troms.” Since 2011, the project, run by by the Troms fylkeshusflidslag [Troms County Handcraft Association], has registered all sorts of clothing, as well as accessories and jewelry, belts, caps, and shoes. 

“Museums have put a lot of effort into the preservation of objects, houses, boats, and bits and bobs. But they have few textiles, when things like clothing can tell us much about our ancestors’ histories,” said Lillian Magnussen. 

The Troms County Handcraft Association is a part of the Norges husflidslag [the Norwegian Handcraft Association], and in many areas of the country the registration of textiles has been underway for many years. 

“In the South several thousand articles of clothing have been registered.  In North-Norway we have not reached 1000. We are well underway, but it has not been so easy to make people interested and curious enough.” 

gloves

Gloves from Troms, purchased by the Nordiska Museet in 1891. Photo: Anne-Lise Reinsfelt. https://digitaltmuseum.no/011023223482/vott-fingervante

Registering

Since 2011 seminars and meetings have been arranged to attract people to come with clothing. The project has traveled around the whole county, sometimes in cooperation with the Troms historielag [Troms History Association], and we have registered a good deal of clothing and accessories. We have also registered  some of the objects that were once in rural settings and those in museum collections. But one would like to see more. 

“It is important to emphasize that we don’t keep the clothing. We describe the details of an item on a form, take photos and measure its dimensions. We also register as much as possible about the owner, together with where they lived, how old they were, and whether there is a special story connected to the clothing,” Magnuson explained. 

The textile experts with the project also look at the way the clothing was sewn or constructed. The handwork can tell us a lot, especially if the clothing is quite old. It mirrors society, and how people lived. For example clothes from a fisherman might tell whether he has adequate finances. Clothing was patched for reuse, and later was used for rugs or insulation. The smallest scraps were used as long as possible.”

Information on the clothing was added to a database called Primus. Everyone can see information and photos on the clothing through the Digital Museum, but private information, like the names, are withheld. 

This baby shirt was sewn by Nanna Nilsen, Bjarkøy, ca. 1947. It was given to the Sør-Troms Museum in connection with the Registration of Clothing in Trøms project. https://digitaltmuseum.no/021028322025/skjorte

Clothing History

The oldest find in Målselv so far happened when clothing was found in a window frame. The bodice of a dress was used as insulation. It appeared to be from the 1700s, or 1800 at the latest. For this project we wanted older clothing, preferably from before the 1920s, and not newer than the 1950s. The older the clothing, the more interesting it is, but clothes from the 1930s and 40s also have stories to tell. The Norsk institutt for bunad og folkedrakt [The Norwegian Institute for Bunads and Folk Dress] takes a thorough registration of the oldest clothing items and puts them online at digitaltmuseum.no. 

Magnussen thinks that one of the problems with registering more clothing is that people are reluctant to bring clothing that is wrinkled or stained. But as a rule the things you find in a paper bag in the loft are not newly-washed. 

“So we try to gain the confidence of the people bringing in clothing. If they don’t want to tell about an item, or they don’t know anything about it, there’s no pressure. But for those of us interested in textiles, seeing these items can as valuable as gold.”

So far mostly women’s clothing has been registered, but also underwear and work clothing belonging to men. There has been little children’s clothing, explained Magnussen, who lives in Målselv. In Målselv and Bardu the immigrant history is especially interesting, and clothing from the colonizing era of the 1800s can tell us much about the people who came. Did they use a different clothing style than the people who usually lived in the North? Could you tell the difference between a new settler in Målselv and someone who was born on the coast? And if you can, how? 

dress bodice

Dress bodice in blue linsey-woolsy, cotton warp and wool weft. Back covered shoulder and side seams. Back seam and panel seams. Breast penetration. Sewn-on, black, pattern-woven silk bands along the edges. Closure with pulled buttons and buttonholes. Small stand-up collar. Sewn-on black lace edging along the bottom edge. Two-seam sleeves sewn on with a peekaboo edge in between. Heilfora with beige, twill cotton fabric. https://digitaltmuseum.no/011024089867/liv

More is needed 

Registration is also about the preservation of the handcraft itself. “Earlier it was common to sew all your clothing yourself. You sheared the sheep, carded the wool, wove, and sewed. Later store-bought clothing was available, and cotton became common in Norway as the 1800s progressed. Before, wool and linen that you grew yourself were most common. Both the fabric itself, and the methods used for sewing and construction, tell a story.”

Embroidered belt from Lavangen in coarse wool Panama weave, embroidered in loosely-twisted wool yarn in blue, green, and natural. Lined with natural-colored linen. Cast metal buckle. Photo: Norwegian Institute for Bunads and Folk Dress. https://digitaltmuseum.no/011024089888/belte

Since the project started in 2011 it received resources from Troms fylkeskommune [county]. It will continue through 2015, and longer if more resources are available. The project leaders are sure there is more clothing to be discovered. For example, throughout the county there are countless homes and outbuildings that are full of old things, junk, paper bags, packages — and clothing.

“We really want to get in more clothing. Everything is of interest! We are also interested in old photos that show clothing customs,” says Lillian Magnussen, who finished by noting an especially fine clothing item that was registered. “A silk shawl with fringes was submitted from Sørreisa. It was well-worn but had a beautiful rose pattern in blue brocade. It was from the 1800s, and its owner had been especially proud to own such a fine textile.”  

March 2024.

Editor’s Note: According to the project leader, Lillian Magnussen, all the data are safe, but there has been no activity with this all-volunteer project in the past few years. They hope to find new, younger volunteers to take it up again!

Lill-Karin Elvestad’s research led to learning about the amazing textile talents of her great-great-grandmother. Read her tribute in this issue: “A Tribute to Ane Marie Aleksandersdatter.”

Lill-Karin Elvestad is a writer, journalist and historian from Troms. Her interests lies in cultural history of Northern Norway, and she’s written several books and a lot of articles for various magazines through the years. She lives at a little farm in Balsfjord, in the midst of Troms, with a husband, two cats and two nearly grown up kids. On the farm there’s a house from 1926 which she restored in 2022 and now uses as a meeting place for arrangements, writing-courses and story-nights. More about Elvestad on Instagram: @lillkarinelvestad or Facebook: Lill-Karin Elvestad forfatter
Translated by Robbie LaFleur
Help support wonderful articles on Scandinavian textiles with a donation to the Norwegian Textile Letter. Thank you! Tusen takk!

 

Rya Rugs…Coming of Age: An Exhibit of Work by Elizabeth Hunter

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By Elizabeth Hunter

Exhibit: Elizabeth Hunter, RYA RUGS……COMING OF AGE
Scandinavian Cultural Center and Library
206 Waltham Street, Newton, Massachusetts
March 1 – May 15, 2024

Rya rugs date from medieval times and have been used by mariners against the frigid cold at sea; in carriages; as bedding; and as a signature of the mid-century Scandinavian modern era. Here they are used for social comment…they are coming of age. 

Works included in the exhibit 

The Seasons They Go Round and Round. Four large pillows with a circle representing a season. It is accompanied by the lyrics to Joni Mitchell’s song, “Circle Game.” This was my first try at rya technique, which I learned in Landskrona, Sweden. I wanted the design to have the simplicity of the circle.  I loved the color blending that was possible with my collection of vintage Danish CUM yarns. But as I wove things changed. The song “Circle Game” came to mind and I couldn’t get it out of my mind.  The pillows changed from being decorative household items — they went from circles, to seasons, to the passage of time — and to talking about aging. Kerry Lavin, Executive Director of the Scandinavian Cultural Center & Library, has added a QR code so visitors can listen to Mitchell’s song.  (These pillows were devils to get into the sewing machine to put them together!)

Elizabeth Hunter. The Seasons They Go Round and Round

In and Out of Clarity. This piece, moving from left to right, represents a thought getting a bit foggy over time….changing…as it goes from blues to greens.  I used the longer white linen threads to create fog.  I didn’t feel this piece was as successful because it is dependent on explanation, but it was an idea that stewed for a long time and just had to get out.  It was woven with Danish CUM yarns.

Elizabeth Hunter. In and Out of Clarity.

Open to Change. I was talking with my neighbor days before the excruciatingly tense 2020 election.  I said something about “open to change.”  She looked at me and said that when she went to Berkeley Law School, there were 300 men and 3 women and they were divided into three classes with the ratio 100 to 1.  And that she was the first female prosecutor for the City of San Francisco and Kamala Harris was the first black, female prosecutor for the City of San Francisco.  So, this is Open to Change. It uses Danish CUM and Swedish Berga yarns.

Elizabeth Hunter. “Open to Change”

On Climate Change, a series of three rugs. Glaciers Melting was woven with Icelandic Lopi yarn; Deforestation used Norwegian spelsau wool; and Volcano Breaking the Earth was made with Danish CUM and Swedish Berga yarns. The three speak for themselves.  Deforestation is my favorite.

Elizabeth Hunter. “Glaciers Melting,” “Deforestation,” and “Volcano Breaking the Earth.”

Wisdom of the Crone.  This set is a rug hooked piece and a rya.  In youth-oriented society where anything new is prized, the crone celebrates the patina which come with time and experience.  The wisdom of the crone comes from learning life lessons — judgment and compassion. She balances light and dark and even life and death.  The crone is selfless, yet loves herself. She is all-knowing yet questioning. She is kind, but can be blunt and harsh when needed…and a bit quirky.  This is my first hooked rug and my first time drawing a face. They use wool strips, Icelandic Lopi, Danish CUM and Swedish Berga yarns.

Elizabeth Hunter. “Crone One”

Elizabeth Hunter. Crone Two

Eight of my pastels and twelve watercolors are featured in addition to the ryas. Also, the director has set up a video from Finland (in English) describing the history of the rya tradition, “Woven Beauty – Four centuries of Finnish ryijy textiles.”

The exhibit is up through May 15, 2024. Watch for future textile-related exhibits at the Scandinavian Cultural Center, including one on bunads. The Center has a growing collection of donated bunads. 

Elizabeth Hunter is an artist from Kennabunk, Maine. She started floor loom weaving in high school, traveling from her home in Stamford, CT, to Klara Cherepov, a designer for Bergdorf Goodman who lived in nearby Greenwich.  In the mid 1970s she spent six months at Friundervisnings Tegne og Vevstue in Oslo, Norway. She also studied in Reykjavik, Iceland, and Torshavn, Faroe Islands.  

March 2024

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

 

Full Circle: A Return to Sweden to Repurpose Family Heirlooms

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By Nancy Gossell

My mother, a first generation Swedish American, never practiced Swedish death cleaning.    For those unfamiliar with the term, Swedish death cleaning is a method of decluttering to get rid of the stuff neither you nor your family needs after you pass away.

As I emptied my parents’ house to ready it for sale, I discovered a box filled with linens. I immediately recognized woven patterns I had seen in the homes of family members when we were in Sweden.  In my mother’s handwriting, slips of paper identified which immigrant family member the item came from.

To say I was dumbstruck is an understatement.  Mom had several Swedish cousins who wove but I could not recall any mention of weaving done by those who immigrated, including my grandmother who I often spent time with.  

The linens were in good to excellent condition. Quickly doing the math, I realized many were 100+ years old, traveling to their new life in Minneapolis.  

The largest linens had a handsewn seam connecting identical weave patterns precisely together.  Looms back then were constructed wide enough to weave towels, some table coverings and rag rugs.   The bed sheet and tablecloths for dining, discovered in this box, were wider than the 22-26” width of the loom, so meticulous seams connected two identical lengths together.  Talk about pressure to weave with no treadling errors!

In my time spent at the Tingsryd Vävstugan in Småland, Sweden the past two years I have admired the many items on display sewn from damask and various dräll patterns woven there.  Pillows, handbags, cosmetic bags, and stuffed animals are constructed from fine cotton and linen weaving. 

Here is an example of the items one finds at the Tingsryd Vävstugan.

items made with repurposed linens

Late fall, 2023, I wrote asking if I could bring  family items woven in Småland to the Tingsryd Vävstugan in 2024 to repurpose. Pictures were included so they knew what I had: 

I hoped to create items that upon being offered to the multigenerational USA descendants of the weavers, their response would be an enthusiastic YES, as opposed to a side glance questioning what would they do with (fill in the blank).

In late January I packed the 9.5 lbs. of woven items to return to Sweden once again.

The first day at the Vävstugan I laid every piece out.  After measuring each item, identifying wear and stains, suggestions and tentative conclusions were made. I left that afternoon with a list of items to purchase at the local Yarn/Fabric/Notions store and research to double check sizes of pillow inserts available in the United States.  

I spent the next 15 days at the Vävstugan cutting, pressing, sewing and baste stitching. Did I mention pressing, often with a wet piece of fabric to add more steam to the linen?  I had never sewn an exterior pillow cover. Thankfully, 50+ years ago I had sewn all my clothes, so I dug deep in recessed memory to baste, cut the fabric to make sure patterns matched at seams and installed zippers.   I conducted silent conversations with my grandmother and grandfather’s sister as I cut the linen woven by them to create new memories from their work.  

Nancy Gossell

One night the last week I was there, the left-over pieces came front and center to my mind.  Was I to leave these pieces to be recycled/ composted in Småland or what could I do with them?  I remembered a handmade drawstring bag I had in my suitcase filled with lavender.  I had a plan.   I was not leaving the pieces in Småland.  This spring I will be creating drawstring pouches and a small handbag or two from the left-over dräll.  

I am extremely happy. The results exceeded my expectations: large and semi-large square pillows, long pillows, neck rolls, pillow cases for sleeping and 4 thick linen twill aprons.  

The “new” pieces of Swedish linen returned to Minnesota from Småland.    

March 2024

Nancy Gossell, from Minneapolis, Minnesota, is not letting grass grow underneath her as she takes full advantage of an open calendar and her long held interest in Swedish weaving.  She has strong Nordic roots, learning and working in Norway as a young adult.  From her 30s on she and her family visited many of her mother’s cousins in southern Sweden where she saw the magic in community based Vävstugor.

Read more about Nancy’s weaving adventures in an earlier Norwegian Textile Letter: “A Weaver’s Dream: The Weaving House in Tingsryd.”

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

 

A Bit about the Transparent Portieres of Frida Hansen

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By Astrid Bugge (1902-1988)

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in “By og Bygd” (Yearbook of the Norsk Folkemuseum), 1962, pp. 133-138. Today many of the tapestries described in the article are in the digital collections of museums and available for us to enjoy in color.

When the Norsk Folkemuseum acquired a pair of portieres1 in transparent weaving technique in 1962, it was the fourth time this special type of weaving turned up in the museum’s collection. 

The first time was in 1954 when a set of two curtains and a single piece came from Louis Nicolay With’s villa, Haugen, at Hoff in Skøyen. Haugen is a typical Swiss-style villa with an interior of painted timber walls. A photograph from 1908 shows how the portieres hang in a broad  doorway so that the woven pattern appeared clearly against the transparent ground threads, as was intended. Now the same portieres are displayed in the dragon-style room in the city collection. The materials are all wool in many strong colors. The design: roosters, large flowers and twining leaves – all strongly stylized – are woven in with regular tapestry, but the ground consists only of uncovered warp, in this case two-ply dark blue yarn, doubled and tightly twisted, and “see-through” as the technique intends. The warp ends in long fringes at the bottom and the top. In the tightly-woven border at the bottom “DNB 1901 LXXXIII” is woven in, meaning “The Norwegian Tapestry Studio, production number 83, 1901.” The Norwegian Tapestry Studio was a company founded by Mrs. Randi Blehr with Frida Hansen as its director to undertake a revival of historical coverlet and tapestry weaving on a modern basis. It was active from 1897-1904. 

Villa Haugen

Villa Haugen. Photo: https://digitaltmuseum.no/011013387071/haugen

Frida Hansen, née Petersen, was born in 1855 at Hillevåg near Stavanger. She intended to become a painter and had studied drawing at home and abroad, but in the middle of the 1880s she became interested in our historical weaving. At the first Almindelig Norske Husflidsudstilling [Universal Norwegian Handcraft Exhibition] at Tivoli in Kristiania [now Oslo] in 1890 she displayed her first tapestry, Birkebeinerne, after a lithograph by Knud Bergslien. The exhibition catalog noted that “all the yarn for the tapestry was dyed and handspun by the artist.” Some time after the exhibit Frida Hansen moved to Oslo, and in 1892 opened her studio, with instruction in weaving for students from the city and countryside. This studio became the Norwegian Tapestry Studio in 1897, with large, light-filled rooms in the merchant Simonsen’s building at Stortorvet. The tapestries were woven on large vertical looms, one of Mrs. Hansen’s improved models. 

In 1894 Frida Hansen began a dye studio that worked with plant dyes and, after Miss Augusta Christensen’s method, dyed unspun wool that would be carded together afterwards. This allowed her to create yarn in a myriad of nuances and shades from 3-4 simple main colors. The jury at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900 wrote that in this way Miss Christensen’s yarn attained color combinations that were more full of energy and fresher than by dyeing already-spun yarn. It was the theory of deconstructing colors in modern painting translated to yarn. 

portier in transparent technique

One of a pair of portieres. Warp: two-ply wool yarn doubled and tightly twisted, three threads per centimeter. Dark blue with some lighter blue. Weft: two-ply wool yarn, six ends per centimeter. Light blue, medium blue, bright red, dusky rosa, beige, light brown, orange. All yarn is handspun and plant-dyed. Height: 340 cm, width 111 centimeters. Fringes on both ends. Full record: https://digitaltmuseum.no/011023185980/portiere-1-fag. Note: Throughout the article, reference numbers have been replaced with links to the museum records.

Each yarn is specially spun for its location in the weaving, just as every nuance is specially blended for the painter’s brush, the jury concluded. 

This is a form of expression that we don’t fully understand in our time. With few exceptions, and perhaps especially with Mrs. Hansen, tapestries from the Art Nouveau period worked with their imprecise colors. Yarn from carded-together wool gives a different appearance than the juxtaposition of pure color areas in painting. Frida Hansen, who drew for tapestries herself, was moreover clear over the need for good cartoons and in 1897 received a royal grant of 1000 kroner for a studio for pattern designing.  

The first time The Norwegian Tapestry Studio [DNB] appeared was at the husflidsutstillningen [handcraft exhitibion] in Bergen in 1898. Among the things the press noted and was excited about was a pair of “distinctive portieres with dense flowers and transparent base…the see-through curtains, one of Mrs. Hansen’s artistic inventions.” A hanging in transparent weave with flowers in white and orange marked NABV 1898 X, which in 1962 was purchased by Kulturen in Lund [a museum in Sweden] is the earliest known example. (http://carl.kulturen.com/web/object/60480) so far. At that time the studio signed pieces with the original name, Norske Aklæde og Billedvæveri [NABV; Norwegian Weaving and Tapestry Studio], and had only reached example #10. 

But it was at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900 that Mrs. Hansen’s work caused a sensation. We quote the judges committee: “Our attention was immediately drawn to a whole group of transparent weavings in the form of portieres. The greatest honor is due to Mrs. Frida Hansen, who has created the compositions of these completely modern portieres. They reveal her deep knowledge of the possibilities of weaving, and that with nuanced areas in a limited number of strong yet well-balanced colors you can create the most enchanting decorative effects. These textiles in transparent tapestry are the only ones of that type in the exhibition and they are, we will declare in two words, truly new. These weavings are designed to work as portieres between adjoining rooms. They are woven in a way that allows a person in one room to see what is unfolding in another room. The weaving, which is created like other tapestry on an upright loom, is woven on the warp threads only in the areas that create the pattern. The warps are left bare in the areas that would have been a one-color background.

“As you will understand from this short explanation, this is tapestry in which you weave only the pattern and not the background, and it is through the free spaces between the warp threads that you can see what is happening on the other side. Therefor you need an especially meticulous composition for the work. Even though the jury regrets that such a technique requires a high sales price, we admire the skill with which they are made and spare no congratulations in connection with this new creation, of which several examples are laid out for us in a variety of lively colors.”

Then the jury switched over to discussing Frida Hansen’s tapestries from Gerhard Munthe’s cartoons. The DNB, Frida Hansen, and Gerhard Munthe all received gold medals. 

When Frida Hansen returned to Oslo she was interviewed by Urd [a magazine], and she described her gold medal and the orders that came from museums in Copenhagen, Basel, Brno [in former Czechoslovakia] and Kensington. “‘It was especially the curtains in transparency that were sold at the exhibition, and now I have a new idea regarding them — ceramic beads. I think they will be beautiful — here you can see, I’ve made them myself,’ and she brought out some small things, glimmering in strange metal colors. ‘Don’t they remind you of antiquities, as from an old Egyptian find? They will form the sepals in flowers.’”

No examples of transparencies with beads have been found to date. 

Frida Hansen had taken a patent out on her discovery. When the Norwegian Tapestry Studio was discontinued in 1904, she gave up her patent. There were several others who took up the technique. According to Einar Lexow, the most important weaver in the Gobelin and transparency technique, in addition to Frida Hansen, was Ulrikke Greve. Using her own designs, Greve wove the other hangings the Norske Folkemuseum received from the Haugen villa, commissioned between 1910-1914. These are a pair of portieres in front of one door and a single hanging in front of a door in the same room. They are more tame in their designs than Frida Hansen’s rooster portieres, they have almost rug-like patterns in subdued tones, the first in reds and greens on a rust-red warp (https://digitaltmuseum.no/011023185982/portiere); the other in green, lilac and beige tones on a deep red warp (https://digitaltmuseum.no/011023185981/portiere-1-fag). The yarn is hand-spun and carded together, from dyed wool. 

Ulrikke Greve. Portiere. Full record: https://digitaltmuseum.no/011023185982/portiere

Ulrikke Greve. Portiere. Full record: https://digitaltmuseum.no/011023185981/portiere-1-fag

At Norway’s Jubilee Exhibition at Frogner in 1914 there was a large showing of transparent weaving. Frida Hansen delivered two hangings, Hvite Fugler [White Birds], a long, narrow panel, and a large rectangular hanging, Sommernattsdrøm [Summer Night’s Dream]. The last had a completely tapestry image with trees, greenery and water, all quite stylized. They were both particularly noted by Carl W. Schnitler in the official exhibition document, who determined that it was the technique that gave Summer Night’s Dream its dream-like effect. 

Others who wove in the transparent technique around 1914 included the wife of Consul Robertson in Hammerfest (using a cartoon by Anette Schirmer); Ingeborg Arbo; Titti Karsten (sometimes with her own, and sometimes with her sister Marie’s designs); Ragna Nicolaisen; Agnes Røhr; and Aslaug Mohr in Bergen.  

Ingeborg Arbo: Nasjonamuseet/Andreas Harvik.

Ingeborg Arbo: Nasjonamuseet/Andreas Harvik. https://www.nasjonalmuseet.no/samlingen/objekt/OK-1991-0394

The Norsk Folkemuseum’s newest transparent curtains were also at the Jubilee Exhibition in 1914. They were woven by Miss Aagot Lund from her own design: large red rowanberry clusters and leaves in different shades of green and brown against a warp of medium blue, doubled, tightly twisted three-ply wool yarn. The wool yarn here was also dyed, carded together, and handspun. 

Aagot Lund. Photo: Anne-Lise Reinsfelt.

Aagot Lund. Photo: Anne-Lise Reinsfelt. https://digitaltmuseum.no/011023193360/portiere-1-fag

Transparent weaving was taught in the tapestry course at Statens kvinnelige industriskole [National Women’s Arts and Design School] up through the mid-1920s. Husfliden [the Handcraft Association] in Oslo wove the last example of weaving in transparent technique, Ygdrasil, after a 1939 drawing by W. Nickelsen. Then it ended — unless there is still a romantic person sitting and weaving a dream into an open warp in this uniquely neo-romantic weaving technique. 

Astrid Bugge (1902-1988) was a conservator and author of many articles in museum magazines and yearbooks, in addition to several books. She was appointed the Senior Conservator for the Norsk Folkemuseum in 1954. 
Translated in March 2023 by Robbie LaFleur and Katherine Larson

1A portiére is a curtain hung in a door opening, from the French word for door: porte. Wool transparent curtains or portieres were often sold as pairs, known as “et fag” in Norwegian.

Sources: 

“Selvhjælp,” Stavanger Husflidsforenings Tidskrift, I. February 1897, I. November 1898.

Husmoderen, 1898, p. 250.

Norges Deltagelse i Verdensutstillingen i Paris i 1900. K.V. Hammer, Kra. 1904, page 175. 

Urd, August 4, 1900, page 313. 

Marie Karsten, Billedvæv og Prydsøm. Kunst og Kultur, 1912, page 61.

Schnitler, Carl W. Norges Jubileumsutstilling 1914, Officiel Beretning, Kra. V. II, p. 432. 

Norske Kvinder, Kra. 1914, p. 421 ff. (Randi Blehr)

Einar Lexow: Moderne Decorativ Kunst i Norge. Kunst og Kultur 1919, p. 159. 

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

You can Count on Wool

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By Sølvi Westvang Skirbekk

This essay from the Anno Glomsdalmuseet, “Du kan stole på ull,” was translated by Katherine Larson.

No textile fiber has as strong a presence in the museum’s historical collections as wool. In past times, it’s hard to imagine people’s everyday lives in the biting cold of Norway’s interior, along our damp, stormy coastline, or in the festive interior of a church, without the valuable fibers of Norwegian sheep. Can we learn something from the use of resources in former times?

People with a sheep and a bucket. Rachel Haarseth, Anno Museum in North Østerdalen

Vital textiles

Through history sheep have given us materials from which we have made both work clothes and decorative textiles. Skilled hands have carefully transformed these fibers through shearing, washing, carding, combing, spinning, dyeing, weaving, knitting and sewing. Thus have our foremothers and forefathers made for themselves the vital textiles that they could count on – in their work and in life in general. In Anno’s collections we find work mitts, coverlets, skin blankets, wadmal trousers, work shirts, leggings, jackets, cushions, blankets and several other types of textiles where wool is used as a material, either in total or in part. Cloth remnants and yarn samples show how valuable a material wool was, especially when you had to spin the yarn or weave the cloth yourself. All these articles offer clear witness to the role wool played in the lives of people in our area.

Fabric scraps of different qualities and a selection of leftover yarns of various qualities and colors. Photos: Emir Curt

At Glomdal Museum we have a collection of nearly 100 houses. A person’s social status, the century in which they lived and their access to resources determined who lived in which houses, but there were some things most had in common. They were dependent on wool, and they had the knowledge of how to work it.

The drop spindle represents the knowledge of the hands and the maximum utilization of time that could not be wasted. One could always spin yarn on the drop spindle while doing something else. Anno Glomdal Museum

Adaptability

Sheep were domesticated over 10,000 years ago. Only the dog has been with us longer. Sheep played a key role as we developed agriculture, grazing in scrub and forested areas not easily reachable by farmers. Even today, this is one of a sheep’s capabilities that is highly valued.

The climate in our country, with its extreme changes in temperature and humidity, has contributed to the development of wool with a unique quality, a fine under wool [bunnull] and a protective outer hair [dekkhår].  Together these factors have made wool from Norwegian sheep quite effective at regulating temperature, but it also has a unique glossy quality, pills very little, and is better at holding its shape than its modern international competitors.

These are part of the reason that Norwegian wool is sought after by the modern textile industry. Its ability to “spring” back into its original form after being stretched makes Norwegian wool especially well suited to rugs, and furniture shows no marks as it does in those made of other fibers such as viscose. Did you know that statesmen walk on Norwegian wool every day in the White House in Washington D. C.?

Yarn qualities

In earlier times wool fibers were carded by hand. One could easily separate the under wool from the outer hair, sorting the fibers to suit the textile to be made. For clothing that would be close to the body the soft under wool was best, but for a rya or a wall hanging, the durable and glossy outer hair was preferred.  Today wool is carded by machine, with the result that carded yarn consists of both types of fiber. No one produces combed (worsted) Norwegian wool. As a result we lose the potential from Norwegian under wool. If you want a soft and comfortable under garment [trøye] made from that wool, you have to make it yourself.  It’s not impossible, but it requires a good deal of knowledge that is not readily available these days.

Thrifty livestock

Sheep were kept as domestic animals by all levels of society. The need for wool was large and sheep were thrifty animals to keep.  They could graze on growth that was not accessible to other animals – or to people. In this way households were outfitted with clothes and tools that were exclusively made from local resources. The fiber was local, work tools were for the most part locally produced, and knowledge of the steps in processing was also local. When a pair of trousers was worn out, one repaired it with yarn and cloth that was also produced of the same local resources. When a mitten could no longer be repaired, it was used as insulation around the windows. In this way people and nature, both in their home and in the community to which they belonged, adapted to one another.  Consumption was low, necessity could be great, but riches and possibilities were based on that which was to be found of resources and knowledge in the vicinity. Thus in the course of normal use, a piece of clothing could end up never leaving the community in which it was made.

Work mittens mended innumerable times. Emir Curt, Anno Glomdal Museum

Work mittens mended innumerable times. Emir Curt, Anno Glomdal Museum

A welcome income

Wool provided the basis for both home production of goods for sale and for larger factory production. The knitting of mittens and sweaters commissioned by the Handcraft Association [Husfliden] has provided a welcome extra income for families throughout the country. In 1785 the small industry Enighetsfabrikken was established in Stor-Elvdal, and it later become part of the basis for the successful textile factory Devold. 

The extraordinary in the ordinary

It is wool’s fiber properties that give it such a large presence in museum collections. Here we find stockings with clear indications of long and careful use, and beautiful decorative textiles for church and home.

These stockings received a newly knitted foot when the earlier foot could no longer be mended.  Anno Glomdal Museum

These stockings received a newly knitted foot when the earlier foot could no longer be mended.  Anno Glomdal Museum

Some of these have clearly been repaired time and again with coarse materials, while on others time and exacting skill have been lavished, seemingly with eternity in mind.  Wool fibers themselves are long lasting, and the tools for preparing yarn and cloth have traditionally been well cared for in homes and on farms. These are tools that carry with them stories of knowledge and resource utilization, of wealth and of hard times.

Beneath the decoratively patterned fabrics of different qualities and fibers lies a warm layer of wool batting. Emir Curt, Anno Trysil Engerdal Museum

Beneath the decoratively patterned fabrics of different qualities and fibers lies a warm layer of wool batting. Emir Curt, Anno Trysil Engerdal Museum

Environmental enemy?

In a well meant sidetrack in 2006, climate activists, basing their activities on a metric for measuring the international textile industry’s climate footprint (the Higg Index), accused Norwegian wool of being the least sustainable fiber in which you could clothe yourself. Now wool has resumed its rightful place as the lasting, sustainable fiber that it truly is – still just as perfectly adapted to the climate that we live in.

In the excitement of giving consumers guidance in their choice of sustainable clothes, people forgot to take into account a textile’s lifespan.  The Higg Index did not value a textile’s service life as a factor, and based its metric solely on the climate impact from production.  Sheep are ruminants, and like cows they release gas – a known argument against animal products and materials. What the Higg Index forgot to evaluate was that wool clothes are the ones in our closets that we keep the longest and of which we take the most care.  Many people have a national costume [bunad], an exclusive dress, costly to buy yet infused inside and out with life’s changes. One has a bunad for a long time.  Wool underwear is often kept until it completely wears out: darned, repaired and used again. To maintain wool clothing has again become something to admire, with social media tips for visible and invisible mending shared by eager enthusiasts.

Agricultural- and climate-aware consumers are now for the most part united in their view that wool is a sustainable choice of materials. The understanding that production based on local and regional resources is sustainable has established itself for both food and textiles.

Lasting and timeless

We can draw inspiration from an earlier time’s use of resources. We can shop for quality clothes, make clothes ourselves, and we can lower our climate footprint by increasing our knowledge about washing and caring for the clothes that we already own.

Unfortunately the Norwegian textile industry is only minimally accommodating of Norwegian wool. In order to fully utilize the sustainable properties that wool embodies, you would have to take up wool cards yourself. But on the road towards your finished sweater, you can enjoy becoming part of the long line of those bearing these traditions. The number of artifacts from which to take inspiration in the museum’s collection is enormous, a fact that many designers have discovered.

Veronika Glitsch holds a doctorate in design, redesign and clothing. She is a textile designer who prefers to look back in time for inspiration. For her Bynhild Sweater she found inspiration in older sweaters from Byneset [in Trøndelag].  Instructions for this sweater are available for those who would like to give it a try. Photo: Svensson Glitsch

Veronika Glitsch holds a doctorate in design, redesign and clothing. She is a textile designer who prefers to look back in time for inspiration. For her Bynhild Sweater she found inspiration in older sweaters from Byneset [in Trøndelag].  (Instructions for this sweater can be purchased. Instructions for a version of the original sweater are available via Byneset Husflidslag.) Photo: Svensson Glitsch

Sofa produced by Elverum Møbel- og Trevarefabrikk [Elverum furniture and wood products factory]. The upholstery is woven from Norwegian wool. Roger Johansen, Anno Glomdal Museum

Museum collections of the future

The story of Norwegian wool stands in stark contrast to the modern consumer society in which we live. The textile industry has a higher climate impact than ship traffic and air traffic combined. The dust in our homes is dominated by textile fibers processed with carcinogenic and DNA-damaging flame retardants. The mountains of refuse from Europe’s internet-purchased and returned clothes coming from the other side of the globe is a cause for concern that draws major media attention.

We don’t yet know how the future’s museum collections will reflect the profusion and abundance of fibers with which we live. Perhaps the largest paradox will be that the future’s museums reveal few traces of today’s intense overconsumption?

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Sølvi Westvang Skirbekk is a museologist and curator with Anno Glomdalsmuseet, the cultural history museum in Hedmark. Anno Museum is a regional museum in eastern Norway; Glomdal Museum is a member of this regional museum.
Translated in April, 2023, by Katherine Larson, Affiliate Assistant Professor, Department of Scandinavian Studies, University of Washington, Seattle

Editor’s note, Veronika Glitch, whose sweater design is featured in a photo, held a very interesting TED talk, “The Power of Favorite Garments,” basically arguing that well-fitting clothes are more sustainable because you will wear them longer. Smart!

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

March 2024

Kristina Austi: Dialogue between the Ancient and the Digital

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Kristina Austi. “Swim here, swim here, little boy. I will give you a white shirt and a red ribbon!” (The phrase refers to a Lithuanian folk tale.)
Kristina Austi. “The Enchanted Castle”

By Kristina Austi

Background

Kristina Austi (former name Kristina Daukintytė Aas) was born in 1978 in Klaipėda, Lithuania, and now resides in Bergen, Norway. Austi’s multifaceted work spans digital jacquard weave, embroidery, installations, video, and collage. Her artistic inquiries challenge our perceptual understanding and the relationship we maintain with our surroundings, pushing the boundaries of textile art into new realms.

Kristina Austi

Kristina Austi

After graduating from the Bergen Academy of Art and Design in 2011, Austi’s journey in the textile arts has been marked by a profound engagement with digital Jacquard weaving since 2013. This technique, which marries traditional weaving methods with digital technology, has allowed her to explore the woven surface in innovative ways. Her work as a part-time textile designer at Innvik AS, a small weaving mill in Western Norway, further enriches her practice, blending industrial techniques with her artistic exploration.

For Austi, the allure of digital weaving lies in its ability to extend the ancient craft of weaving into the digital age, allowing for unprecedented creativity and precision. This fusion respects the past and embraces the future, reflecting Austi’s deep respect for textile tradition alongside her commitment to innovation.

Current exploration

In my latest endeavour, Hybrid, I venture into the realm where folklore, poetry, and advanced technology converge, creating a narrative fabric that weaves together the mystic charm of Lithuanian folktales with the profound verses of William Blake. This project is an artistic endeavour and a textual exploration that bridges centuries and disciplines. It represents a dialogue between the ancient and the digital, embodying a quest for a new aesthetic and conceptual vocabulary in textile art.

Kristina Austi. “And it grew both day and night. Till it bore an apple bright” Photo: Øystein Thorvaldsen

 

Central to Hybrid is the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) as more than just a tool—it is a collaborator in the creative process, pushing the boundaries of traditional craftsmanship and digital innovation. By feeding AI algorithms with images of my handcrafted weaves, I challenge them to reinterpret 16th-century tapestries. The outcomes are mesmerizing yet unsettling, blurring the lines between creator and creation and prompting a reevaluation of authenticity, originality, and the role of the machine in art.

The project further explores the potential of AI to generate novel patterns that draw inspiration from historical textiles while simultaneously questioning established notions of artistic genesis and authenticity. This inquiry extends into the domain of 3D printing, where digital weaving patterns are transformed into tangible models. These intricate structures, reminiscent of futuristic cityscapes or sophisticated microchips, serve not only as a testament to the versatility of weaving techniques but also as a metaphor for the intricate interplay between tradition and innovation.

Kristina Austi. “The Princess Tears”

The exhibition Hybrid encapsulates this duality, showcasing the collaboration between artisanal expertise and machine intelligence. It’s an invitation to perceive textile art as a tactile experience and a medium for conceptual exploration and technological experimentation. I aim to showcase the tangible outcomes of this artistic journey and initiate a conversation about the evolving landscape of art in the digital age.

Hybrid I marks the beginning of this larger project, with further developments and revelations anticipated in Part II, to be exhibited at KRAFT, Bergen, in April and May, 2024. One selected piece from this series will be displayed at the “Tendencies 24” exhibition at F15 in Moss from March to June. Later in 2024, I will show the project in Lithuania.

In 2023, I started my own company, VEVFT, together with three of my former students. This initiative is born out of a deep-seated desire to explore the boundaries of digital weaving myself and cultivate a thriving professional environment for this innovative craft in Norway.

Through VEVFT, I am dedicated to sharing the knowledge and insights I have garnered over years of experimenting and creating with digital looms. It is a platform for learning, collaboration, and experimentation designed to empower artists to harness the potential of digital weaving in their work. The establishment of this organization reflects my belief in the power of community and education in advancing the arts and crafts. It’s gratifying to witness the impact of these efforts, as a growing number of young artists are now embracing digital looms in Scandinavia. As digital weaving continues to evolve, so will the ways we think about, create, and interact with textiles.

March 2024

Editor’s note: The author sent a link to a review of her current show at the Soft gallery, with the pieces shown above, by Katia Maria Hassve for paragone.no. Because it is difficult to understand the impact of Austi’s tapestries with photos, it is fun to read Hassve’s reactions to seeing them in person. For example, “Turning to the right, I encounter another impressive tapestry with the text “Swim here, swim here, little boy, I will give you white shirt and red ribbon!” This piece immediately captures my attention. I begin to wonder: Is this a forest? Is the forest burning, or is something else happening? My gaze shifts to the stones in the water, and I ask myself if someone could drown there. Could someone drown in the tapestry itself? I notice that this seems more intricate, and I start to think that some form of data must have been used in the creation process. It’s almost like a woven snippet of a video game.”

See more of Austi’s work on her website, austikristina.com, and on Instagram: 
Help support wonderful articles on Scandinavian textiles with a donation to the Norwegian Textile Letter. Thank you! Tusen takk!