Morning (11AM): “From Virgins to Spaceships: A Visual Voyage through Norwegian Tapestry”
Afternoon (1PM): “Frida Hansen: A Norwegian Art Nouveau Artist in Wool”
Morning Program: “From Virgins to Spaceships: A Visual Voyage through Norwegian Tapestry”.
Historical Norwegian billedvev (literally picture weaving) focused largely on religious images,including the Three Wise Men, The Feast of Herod, and the most-woven image, the Wise and Foolish Virgins. When medieval tapestry techniques were revived during the National Romantic period, Gerhard Munthe’s folk tale motifs caught the Norwegian imagination. In the 20th century and up to today, it’s possible to trace the thread of billedvev traditions in the work of contemporary artists, in the materials,techniques, and images they choose. Sit back to view inventive and surprising tapestries from 1180 to today.
Afternoon Program: “Frida Hansen: A Norwegian Art Nouveau Artist in Wool”
Join writer and weaver Robbie LaFleur for a lecture on the life and work of the innovative Norwegian tapestry artist Frida Hansen (1855-1931). LaFleur spent the month of May, 2019, in Stavanger, Norway, on a master artist fellowship from the American Scandinavian Foundation. She studied the weaving of Hansen, whose work captured flowers, enigmatic women, trees, and mermaids in flowing Art Nouveau style.
Frida Hansen was famous for her monumental tapestries, but she also designed transparencies—curtains and hangings with wool warp and weft. In her signature technique she left open, unwoven areas in the weaving, making the textiles flowing and flexible. Her striking designs were enhanced by the play of light and dark with the open warps.
About Robbie:
Robbie LaFleur, from Minneapolis, Minnesota, has been following a thread of Scandinavian textiles since she studied weaving at Valdres Husflidsskole in Fagernes, Norway in 1977. She has continued her study with Scandinavian instructors at workshops in Norway and the U.S. Recent projects include interpreting Edvard Munch’s “Scream” painting into a variety of textile techniques and weaving tapestry portraits of her relatives. She was awarded the Gold Medal in Weaving from the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in 2006. Robbie coordinates the Weavers Guild of Minnesota Scandinavian Weavers Study Group and is the editor and publisher of the digital Norwegian Textile Letter.
In 2019 LaFleur was a fellow with the American Scandinavian Foundation and traveled to Stavanger, Norway, to study the wool open-warp transparent tapestry technique of Frida Hansen (1855-1931).