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Conference on Norwegian Woven<
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| Date: | 10/21/2005 - 10/23/2005 | | Category: | Seminar | | Location: | Decorah, Iowa, US |
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Conference on Norwegian Woven Textiles Held in Decorah, Iowa
Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum and Luther College are hosting the Norwegian Textile Guild¹s third Conference on Norwegian Woven Textiles. The event will be held in Decorah, Iowa, on October 21-23, 2005, and will include presentations by Norwegian and American scholars, book signings, exhibitions of historic and contemporary weaving, and pre- and post-conference workshops.
The conference will be held at Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, the Hotel Winneshiek¹s Steyer Opera House, and Luther College¹s Center for the Arts. Lila Nelson of Minneapolis, Minnesota, has generously contributed funds to support this conference. The deadline to register for the Conference on Norwegian Woven Textiles is October 15, 2005. Registration material can be obtained by calling Vesterheim Museum at 563-382-9681.
The Norwegian keynote speakers at the conference will be Marta Kløve Juuhl, Ellen Kjellmo, and Annemor Sundbø. Kløve Juuhl¹s presentation will introduce conference-goers to the brightly colored wool rya, or woven-pile coverlet, that is traditional in Voss (her hometown) and that has been revived by contemporary artists. Ellen Kjellmo will speak on the rich textile traditions of the north coast of Norway.
Sundbø will lecture on symbols used in weaving and knitting. Sundbø¹s presentation is the first Grace Rikansrud Memorial Lecture. The participation of these three women is made possible in part by a grant from the Andrew E. and G. Norman Wigeland Fund of the American-Scandinavian Foundation.
In addition to the three Norwegian keynote speakers, Vesterheim has invited Therese Hauger and Margaret Hayford O¹Leary to present at the conference.
Hauger will focus her presentation on Norwegian applied-art
textiles from 1945-1990. Hayford O¹Leary will be singing the ballad of Åsmund Fregdegjeva, which is in conjunction with the exhibition ³Weaving Bewitchment: Gerhard Munthe¹s Folk-Tale Tapestries.²
³Weaving Bewitchment: Gerhard Munthe¹s Folk-Tale Tapestries² is on view October 21, 2005, until January 22, 2006, in the Hauge Gallery in Vesterheim¹s Westby-Torgerson Education Center. It features a series of ten tapestries (loaned by Hordamuseet in Fana, Norway) depicting the medieval ballad of Åsmund Fregdegjeva, a dramatic tale of hero, princess, and trolls. This exhibition is sponsored by Lila Nelson, Barbara Stam, and Ronald Hovda.
There are three other special exhibitions in connection with the conference. ³A Common Thread: Weaving Traditions of Norway and Sweden² celebrates the host of similarities in the textile heritage of Norway and Sweden and also recognizes the distinctive elements that distinguish these neighboring traditions. Katherine Larson, a Seattle-area weaver, researcher, and the author of ³The Woven Coverlets of Norway,² is the curator of ³A Common Thread,² on view October 10, 2005, to February 20, 2006, in Vesterheim¹s main building. The exhibition is sponsored by Helen Garnaas and The John O. and Barbara N. Hanson Family Foundation.
³Frisk og Flink! Fresh Artwork by Clever Weavers² is a special juried exhibition of contemporary weaving in the Norwegian tradition as interpreted by members of the Norwegian Textile Guild (NTG). The themes of the exhibition are frisk (fresh)‹artwork woven with traditional Norwegian techniques and showing excitingly fresh contemporary designs, and flink (clever)‹artwork woven with a clever and creative combination of two or more traditional Norwegian weaves. This exhibition is on view September 19 to October 23, 2005, in the Christophersen Hands-on History Room in Vesterheim¹s Westby-Torgerson Education Center. This exhibition is sponsored by Steve and Solveig Storvick Pollei, and Christine Spangler.
On view October 10 to 22, 2005, at the Gustafson Gallery in Luther College¹s Center for the Arts will be ³Exhibit of the Flesberg Study Group.² The exhibition will include traditional and contemporary pieces of Flesberg weave, which is a unique blend of krokbragd and rosepath. The pieces were woven by the 27 members of the NTG¹s Flesberg Study Group. For two years the group has been exploring this weave with the help of photos and drafts shared by the Flesberg Bondekvinnelag (Farm Women¹s Organization). In the 1990s, Flesberg Bondekvinnelag, of Numedal, Norway, documented their local weaving tradition, called Flesbergplegg, by registering coverlets in private collections.
Vesterheim is offering a number of fiber-arts workshops before and after the Conference on Norwegian Woven Textiles. Workshops are between one and four days in length. A wide variety of subjects will be covered, ranging from tablet weaving to dyeing and less-known Norwegian weaves. The full list of workshops may be viewed online at www.vesterheim.org.
For more information or to register for the Conference on Norwegian Woven Textiles or the fiber-arts workshops, please contact Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum, P.O. Box 379, Decorah, Iowa, 52101, or by phone at (563) 382-9681. Additional information and the conference itinerary are available online at .
Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum embodies the living heritage of Norwegian immigrants to America. By sharing this cultural legacy Vesterheim seeks to inspire people of all backgrounds to celebrate tradition.
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