2013 Nordic Kultur

2013

nordic

kultur The magazine of the Nordic Heritage Museum

SCISSORS FOR A BRUSH: The Dream of America Revisited 12 Ørnulf Opdahl’s Mood Paintings 26 Looking to the Future Museum 2

karen Bit Vejle 20

Contents nordic KULTUR 2013 The magazine of the Nordic Heritage Museum

Eric Nelson

CEO

lizette Gradén

Chief Curator

Erin M. Schadt

Marketing & Communications Manager

EDITORIAL Ani Rucki

Graphic Designer

Contributors Karen Bit Vejle Per Dahlström Karrin Daniels lizette Gradén Sissel Guttormsen Eric Nelson Sandra Nestorovic Kirsten Olsen

BOARD OF TRUSTEES Irma Goertzen Einar Pedersen Hans Aarhus

President Vice President Treasurer

Trustees Hans Aarhus Curtis Arnesen Per Bakken Steven J. Barker Brandon Benson Ann-Charlotte Gavel Adams Irma Goertzen Peter Henning Ken Jacobsen Floyd Jones Sven Kalve leif Mannes lars C. Matthiesen Valinda Morse Allan Osberg Everett Paup Einar Pedersen Rick Peterson Vi Jean Reno Borje Saxberg Berit Sjong lisa Toftemark Tor Tollessen Debbi Vanselow Margaret Wright Consuls Erik D. laursen, Denmark Matti Suokko, Finland Kristiina Hiukka, Honorary Vice Consul, Finland Jon Marvin Jonsson, Consul General, Iceland Geir Jonsson, Honorary Vice Consul, Iceland Kim Nesselquist, Norway lars Jonsson, Sweden Honorary Trustees Dr. Stig B. Andersen Representative Reuven Carlyle leif Eie

Nordic Heritage Museum 3014 NW 67th Street Seattle, WA 98117 206.789.5707 www.nordicmuseum.org

The Nordic Heritage Museum receives important funding from

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Welcome to Kultur

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Looking to the Future Museum

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Putting Nordic Heritage in Place

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The Dream of America

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Upcoming Exhibitions

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The Art of Nostalgia

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Scissors for a Brush

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Mood Paintings of the North

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Carving Traditions

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Voices of Ballard & Beyond

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New Nordic Cuisine

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Nordic Ballard Cover photo by Marjaana Malkamäki.

Back cover photo by Per Magnus Gjerde

Welcome to Kultur

Eric Nelson

I am pleased to welcome you to Nordic Kultur, the new annual magazine of the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle, Washington.

The magazine’s name, Kultur, comes from the Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish word for culture (Finnish: kulttuuri, Icelandic: menning), not simply a word, but a concept that is central to the Museum’s mission and celebrated in our community. Since its opening in 1980, the Museum has served as a beacon for local and international audiences to explore the Nordic experience, from our immigrant heritage and traditions to the best in contemporary Nordic art, music, and cinema.

This publication is a manifestation of our mission: to share Nordic culture with people of all ages and backgrounds by exhibiting art and objects, preserving collections, providing educational and cultural experiences, and serving as a community gathering place.

We present Nordic Kultur in order to share the inspirations that are the driving force behind our Museum. With a focus on bridging contemporary Nordic culture and the Nordic-American experience, the Nordic Heritage Museum offers a diverse range of events throughout the year, from our Nordic lights Film Festival in January to our traditional Yulefest in November. Our volunteers, members, and visitors make us an active and thriving community with their participation in language and craft classes, concert and movie series, and exhibition-focused lectures and events.

Since its opening in 1980, the Museum has served as a beacon for local and

Our location in Ballard, the heart of Seattle’s Nordic community, also allows the Nordic Heritage Museum to present the story of the Pacific Northwest, as it was made by settlers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden through permanent and temporary exhibitions (see page 12). Simultaneously, our temporary exhibition galleries allow us the space to bring cutting-edge exhibitions from Norden today to the Pacific Northwest in a cultural and artistic exchange like no other. You can read about three intriguing new exhibitions to the Museum starting on page 15 of this magazine.

This is an especially exciting time at the Nordic Heritage Museum. We are approaching the fi nal stages of a Capital Campaign that will move us to a central new location on Market Street in downtown Ballard. Designed in conjunction with award-winning local architecture fi rm Mithun and internationally renowned Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa, a new state-of-the-art facility will be built to expand our programming and offer more of our extensive permanent collection (see page 2). Nordic Kultur allows us to expand our reach to new audiences and bring us closer to our dedicated core community of volunteers and members as we approach this important milestone.

international audiences to explore the Nordic experience, from our immigrant heritage and traditions to the best in contemporary Nordic art, music, and cinema.

Nordic Kultur could not exist without the generous support of our talented staff, donors, sponsors, volunteers, and members. As we look forward to an exciting new chapter for the Nordic Heritage Museum, I hope you’ll plan on visiting us here in Ballard, and join us in sharing the Nordic spirit!

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Lo o kin g to th e Futu re M u se u m The Museum is in a strong position to move forward and fulfill its vision of a new, permanent home, allowing us to better serve the community and share Nordic culture with a broad audience.

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ages and backgrounds by exhibiting art and objects, preserving collections, providing educational and cultural experiences, and serving as a community gathering place.

It has become the nexus for Nordic culture in Washington state and remains the only museum in the United States dedicated to preserving and exploring the cultural heritage of each of the five Nordic countries. Our mission is to share Nordic culture with people of all

Recognizing the limitations of its current home, the Museum has acquired property in a prime location on NW Market Street in Ballard.

The location will provide the visibility and access necessary to fully engage the community. The new Museum will reflect Nordic sensibility in every aspect of its design, programming, and operations. As an arts and cultural institution that

ituated in a region with deep Scandinavian roots, the Nordic Heritage Museum is a vibrant cultural institution that is continually enhancing and expanding its distinctive collections and diverse programming.

 

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celebrates the sustainable ingenuity of Nordic cultures, the new Nordic Heritage Museum will seek not only to integrate sustainable approaches to energy, water, and materials, but also to reflect these as a part of the visitor experience.

The Museum stands at the edge of a new and exciting chapter in its history; after years of planning and fundraising, we have generated over 60% of the funds required to construct a new purpose-built facility.

With a total Capital Campaign goal of $44.4 million, as of December

2012, the Museum has raised $26 million. With less than $19 million to raise, the Museum is nearing the completion of the schematic design phase and preparing to spend the next 18 months focused on fundraising, securing necessary permits, and refining and finalizing exhibition design specifics.

Careful Planning To date, the Museum’s successes result from the careful and creative use of a 1907 school building.

Despite renovations and refurbishments to the Seattle School District–

owned property, this leased facility lacks the infrastructure necessary to house a state-of-the-art museum for the 21st century. The antiquated systems prohibit the Museum from hosting premier exhibitions, international film festivals, and large performing groups on-site. Consequently, in 1999, we began developing a strategy to create a new, permanent home for the Museum.

Opposite: A conceptual view of the new Nordic Heritage Museum as guests enter. Features include, from the left: the admissions desk; the Museum gift shop that opens both to the lobby and outward onto bustling Market Street; an orientation area for school groups; the light-filled hall opens out to a sun terrace and the Ballard working waterfront; the entrance to a spacious auditorium.

Between 2003 and 2009, the Museum secured three parcels of land in a thriving area of Seattle’s Ballard District. The site is only minutes from the Hiram M. Chittenden

Above, bottom: Features of the first floor and grounds include the Kaffestuga and gift shop, dedicated class and craft rooms, a 4,000 sq.-ft. changing exhibition gallery, the National Identity Galleries, a sculpture court, auditorium, and ample parking.

Above, top: The second floor of the new Museum will include core exhibitions space dedicated to telling the story of the immigrant experience; the Maritime Gallery with a view of the working waterfront; and the Cultural Resource Center, which will provide a valuable research center for scholars, visitors, and community organizations.

Looking to the Future Museum

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Rendering of the exterior and entry courtyard to the new Museum by Stephanie Bower, Mithun.

Locks, one of Seattle’s most popular tourist attractions. The design team for the new Nordic Heritage Museum includes Seattle-based architectural firm Mithun, Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa, and exhibition design firm Ralph Appelbaum Associates; each preeminent in their respective fields. (See sidebar.)

for visiting exhibitions will host world-class traveling exhibitions from the five Nordic countries. A large auditorium will house concerts, lectures, films, and workshops; and fully equipped classrooms will provide space for audiences of all ages interested in language study, arts and crafts, and Nordic cuisine.

Updates and Improvements

A cultural resource center will house the Museum’s extensive archives, and will provide visitors with access to historical documents, oral histories, and genealogical records. Improved storage systems will accommodate the Museum’s extensive collection of artifacts, photographs, documents, and artwork. The Museum will also provide a gathering place for regional Nordic organizations, expanding community involvement.

The new Museum will reflect Nordic values in every aspect of its design, programming, and operations. This entails 53,000 sq. ft. of new construction. An expanded core exhibition, including an updated Dream of America exhibition and National Galleries, will explore Scandinavian culture and North America’s Nordic heritage. A state-of-the-art gallery

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Green Building The new Nordic Heritage Museum will receive, at a minimum, a USGBC LEED Silver certification. In addition to the use of high-performance energy and water systems, the project will seek to optimize high-performing materials, with special focus on strategies that enhance use of local and regional resources.

The design for the new Nordic Heritage Museum will reduce greenhouse gas emissions using strategies of a high-performing building envelope, bioclimatic building response for sun and wind, and efficient lighting and climate control systems. Rooftop and power systems will be designed to incorporate photovoltaic panels and solar hot water systems as funding allows.

Model of the exterior of the new Museum as seen from 28th Street on the west side of the property.

In addition to constructing a highly efficient building to house the Museum, our new location will encourage alternative ways for visitors to reach the Museum. A Metro transit hub will be located right at the entrance to the Museum, and the Burke-Gilman Trail will link the new Museum site to adjoining neighborhoods and to downtown Seattle for bicyclists and pedestrians.

Your support for this new era of the Nordic Heritage Museum is crucial as we move forward. Visit our website at www.nordicmuseum/ support.aspx to make a donation or to view more images of the plans.

If you are interested in securing naming rights through a major gift, please contact Eric Nelson, CEO, at 206.789.5707 ext. 14.

Cross-Continent Partnerships Our key partners are critical to this Capital Campaign Project.

Mithun, the award winning Seattle-based architectural firm, is a national leader in sustainable design and urban planning, and has completed projects such as the Seattle Aquarium renovation, the Suquamish Museum, and a children’s center at the Woodland Park Zoo. Finnish architect and museum designer Juhani Pallasmaa is the team’s consulting Nordic designer.

Managing the building project is Kirk Robinson of the Robinson Company. Working in conjunction with Chief Curator Dr. Lizette Gradén is exhibition design firm Ralph Appelbaum Associates.

The firm has been responsible for noteworthy projects such as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Newseum, the National Constitution Center, and the Clinton Presidential Library, as well as the National Civil Rights Museum and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

See more plans online at www.nordicmuseum.org/support.aspx.

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Capital Campaign Donors $5,000,000 +

Allan and Inger Osberg & Osberg Family Trust & Osberg Construction Company Einar and Emma Pedersen

$1,000,000 – $4,999,999 Nina and Georg Pedersen

A Lasting Legacy, A Promising Future There are many ways to contribute to the Nordic Heritage Museum; through donations of time, money, and specifically through planned giving. The most common planned gifts are bequests, which can include cash, securities, real estate, or other property. Including the Museum in your estate planning, no matter the size, helps support the programs and activities of the Museum as we plan the future of this vital community resource.

Many have already arranged a planned gift to the Museum, including Georg and Nina Pedersen who came to the United States from Denmark and who have been actively involved with the Nordic Heritage Museum for many years.

“Both of us came to the United States with the expectation of experiencing the Promised Land, and we did in full measure,” say Nina and George. “Along the way we both learned a very important thing: ‘no matter where in the world you journey, you never leave behind your roots.’ Encountering other cultures and traditions, you will find that you always return to your roots and heritage to understand who you are, from where you came, defend your life’s philosophy, and appreciate the moral compass with which your roots endowed you.

“It was an easy leap to become committed and engaged in our cultural tradition and heritage once we became members of the Nordic Heritage Museum. We have become convinced that in the big picture it is important that the culture that the Scandinavians brought to America survives and continues to make an impact in the large melting pot that is America, a culture and heritage of which we are exceedingly proud. Therefore we are very pleased to support the continued mission of the Nordic Heritage Museum; that is, to preserve and present Scandinavian culture and tradition to all people.”

If you would like more information about planned giving, or intend to include the Museum in your planning, please call Eric Nelson at 206.789.5707 ext. 14 or email ericn@nordicmuseum.org

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Jane Isakson Lea and James Lea Floyd Jones Kaare and Sigrunn Ness Einar Sr. and Herbjorg Pedersen Family Scan Design Foundation by Inger and Jens Bruun City of Seattle State of Washington

$500,000 – $999,999

Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation

$100,000 – $499,999

Jan and Priscilla Brekke Peter Henning Stan and Doris Hovik Koon Family Trust Nesholm Family Foundation Donald and Melissa Nielsen Everett and Andrea Paup Dean Robbins Chris Siddons Marvin and Barbara Stone Judy and Norman Thordarson Leo Utter

$50,000 – $99,999

Pearl and Ben Graham Skandia Music Foundation Judith Tjosevig

$25,000 – $49,999

Albert Victor Ravenholt Fund of Seattle Per and Inga Bolang Irma and Don Goertzen Michael and Jill Heijer Karen Koon and Brad Edwards Georgene and Richard Lee Marilyn and Rodney Madden Karl Momen Peach Foundation Louise Solheim Svend and Lois Toftemark

$10,000 – $24,999

Anonymous Karin Ahlstrom Bean Etienne and Nancy Debaste Gertrude Glad Carina Halgren Jon Halgren Sven and Marta Kalve Olaf Kvamme Leif Erikson International Foundation Alice Ness Eldon and Shirley Nysether Andrew and Marianna Price Börje and Aase Saxberg Patsy and Larry Small Donald and Kay Thoreson

$1,000 – $9,999

Hans and Kristine Aarhus Rick and Marlene Akesson Richard and Constance Albrecht Stig and Ruth Andersen Isabella Backman Johnson Steven J. Barker Brandon Benson Keith and Kathy Biever Herb and Shirley Bridge Jette and Stephen Bunch Gloria Mae Campbell Jean and Coldevin Carlson Patricia and Robert Charlson Laura Cooper and Stuart Mork Ragnar Dahl Danish Brotherhood Lodge #29 Sandra Egtvet John and Linda Ellingboe Francisca Erickson Martha Fagnastol Kegel James Feeley

Looking to the Future Museum

Finland Room Committee Gunilla and Jerry Finrow H. Weston Foss Asmus Freytag and Laura Wideburg Lisa Garbrick Glacier Fish Co., LLC John Martin Hansen Richard and Marilyn Hanson Harbor Enterprises, Inc. Electa Hendricks and Electa Anderson Jeff and Linda Hendricks Woody and Ilene Hertzog Kristiina Hiukka Olavi Hiukka Ruth and Preben Hoegh-Christensen Roy Holmlund Karen Holt Mr. and Mrs. Gunnar Ildhuso Curtis Jacobs Ernst and Linda Jensen Steven Jones Jacob and Ellen Jordal Leadership Tomorrow Alumni Association John S. Legg C. Stephen and Donna Lewis Svenn and Elaine Lovlie Limback Lumber Richard and Patricia J. Lundgren Florence L. Lundquist Olav Lunde Birgit Lyshol Jon Magnusson John and Hanna Liv Mahlum Josephine M. and William J. Mahon Leif and Cindy Mannes Lars Matthiesen and Yara Silva Ronda and Brad Miller Egon and Laina Molbak Kay Most Susan and Russell Ness Sigurd and Else Odegaard Cindy and Ron Olander Richard and Kay Olsen Carol Oversvee Johnson Pacific Nordic Council Kathryn and Jay Pearson Walter Pereya Erik Pihl Eilert and Virginia Prestegaard Evan T. Pugh Megan and Greg Pursell Gustav and Claire Raaum Ed and Marjorie Ringness Ringstad Enterprises E. Paul and Gayle Robbins Rotary Club of Ballard Ralph Schau Sons of Norway, Hovedstad Lodge #94 Gordon Strand Arlene Sundquist Empie Norman and Phyllis Swenson Dorothy Trenor Trident Seafoods Corporation Debbi and Larry Vanselow Raiti Waerness Colleen White Karin and Colin Williams Dale Wright Margaret and Richard Wright

$500 – $999

Eric and Bobbie Bremner Gro Buer Jennie Burwell Richard and Judith Curley Grete Dixon John Erickson Kristin Erickson Family of Reidar Fammestad Geoff Ferguson and Joan Valaas Ferguson James and Anna Freyberg Sharon Friel Frihet Lodge #401, VOA Lotta Gavel-Adams and Birney Adams Sandy Haug Wally and Kristin Haugan Jason Herrington Fritz Horand Richard A. Johnson Richard and Ingri Johnson Stan Jonasson and Linda Jangaard Mari-Ann Kind Jackson Elise Knudsen

Glenn and Rosemary Krantz Kristine Leander Kathleen Lindberg and David Skar Joseph and Charlotte Matsen Hans and Irina Mauritzen Norman and Constance McDonell Carl Nordstrom Elsie Norman Marie Ramstead Zobrist Alice Sagstad Roald Severtson and Liz Gallagher Severtson Helen Sommers Donald and JoAnn Thuring United Finnish Kaleva Brothers & Sisters Lodge #11

Up to $499

Chris J. and Liv Aaro Molly Aasten Karen Abelsen Diane Adams Greg Aden Kay Lynn Alberg Aven and Shirley Andersen Dennis Andersen Margrethe Andersen Arlene Anderson Doug Anderson Ellen Anderson Karla Anderson Marilyn C. Anderson Roger Anderson and Gene Ampon Lars Andreasson Fred Arnason & Family Curtis and Kimberly Arnesen Ballard Seafood Fest Musicians John and Claudia Barnings Carolyn Basanich Glen and Susan Beebe Jolie Bergman Tanya Bevan Michael Bigney-Russell Margareta Blix Sharon Blomlie O’Hara Shirley Bohannon John and Tonjia Borland Pirkko and Brad Borland Robert and Margaret Boyce Patricia and Arne Brakke Olav and Cynthia Brakstad David Branch Dorothy and Chris Bredal Marilyn Bringedahl Kari Brothers Ruth and Richard Brown Thelma Brown Ward and Boni Buringrud Patricia Carey Dale and Jean Carlson Barbro Carlson Ulbrickson Elaine and Richard Carpenter Katherine and John Casida Gary and Henryetta Castellano Jackie Caswell Hank Chin and Soo Kyung Chin Kristina Clawson Jo Ann Coney John and Jodi Coney Clyde Curry Daughters of Norway, Embla Lodge #2 Daughters of Norway, Gina Krog #38 Daughters of Norway, Sigrid Undset Lodge #32 Jan E. Delismon Edla Deppman Karoline Derse Cathleen Dickey Richard and Linda Domholt John and Mary Douglas Marcia R. Douglas Earl and Denise Ecklund Edna Eckrem Betty Edwards Donna Eines Kathryn Emmenegger John Enge Amy Erickson F/V Gene S. Inc. Barbara and Frank Fanger Mildred Fast Sylvia Field Finnish American Heritage Committee Joanne Foster Fred Fredrikson Paul and Ellen Friis-Mikkelsen Hansine Frostad Ivar Gilje Bonnie Good Bill Greger

Rigmor Hansen Jon and Susan Hanson Kermit and Jane Hanson Bill Harbert Susan Haris Torgeir and Helen Haugland Jim and Ann Hayes Alice Hedberg John Heggem Ken and Ruth Helling Paul and Barbara Heneghan Tom Herche Inger-Marie Hermann Ruth and Gene Hockenbery Frank Hofmeister Charlotte Hoiosen Rolf Hokansson Horgan Associates Inc. Tore Hoven Lois Huseby Melanie Ito and Charles Wilkinson John and Justine Jacobsen Pekka and Mari Jaske Richard Johnsen Sigurbjorn Johnson James and Dianne Johnston Paul Johnston and Lillian Rogstad Johnston Elaine Jorgensen Ellen Juhl Camille Kariya Astrid Karlsen Scott Christina and Michael Katsaros Raisa Kaufman Donald Kerr Doug Kilgren Edith Kilgren Sam Kito Victoria Knoll Lowell and Shirley Knutson Jeanne Kohl-Welles and Alex Welles Jari and Minna Koponen John Kvinge Rolf Laderach and Minna GronlundLaderach Lang Manufacturing Co. Dorothea Larsen Adaskin Helen Lee Bill and Jody Lemke Rocky and Casey Lindell Brett and Jennifer Liskey Lockhaven Development Co. Pat Loftin Jette Lord Richard and Carolyn Luark Stuart and Dorothy Lundahl Lunde Marine Electronics, Inc. Laura Lundgren Edith Maines Victor and Karen Manarolla Richard and Elizabeth Marquardt Pat Martin Paula Maxwell Art McDonald Robert McEwen Eeva and Jeffrey McFeely Gwen McGrath Neil McReynolds Renate McVittie Joan Melcher Walter Meredith Bruce and Carol Meyers William and Bonnie Meyers Curtis and Mary Mikkelsen Kaare Mikkelsen Andrew L. and Doris Nelson Marvin and Sandra Nelson Ingrid Ness Nordiska Folkdancers Steve and Catherine Numata Joan Oates Rick Olafson Shirley Olsen Steve and Nancy Olsen Leanne Olson and Jim Bailey Thomas Ousdale Dorothy Owens Alene Patterson Virginia Paulsen Jeffrey Payne Eric and Ingrid Pearson Ray and Ruth Pennock Melba Petersen Dorothy Raymond Mollie M. Reeves Kea Rehn and Douglas Chatfield R. R. and Hedda Reid Kay Reinartz and Richard Frith Kirk Reiten Steven Reiten

Fred and Alyne Richard Roger Rippel Robert and Carmen Robbin Stanley and Erika A. Rogala Mabel Rosvold Claire Sagen Luis Salazar and Yolanda Leon John Salenjus David Savage and Laurie Medill Steve and Peggy Schmitz Roy Schonberg Marilyn Sheldon Jonas Simundson C. Elmer and Patricia Skold Patricia and Landis Smaaladen Barbara Snoey Sons of Norway, Grays Harbor Lodge #4 Sons of Norway, Poulsbo Lodge #44 Anker and Ruth Sorensen Henrik Sortun Eli Stahlhut Liv Stangeland Monica Stenberg Judith Anne Stenford Kirk Gunnar Stensvig Joyce Strand James and Jenny Strock Bethany Sugawara Vesa Suomalainen Molly Svendsen Frank and Jennifer Swant Carl Swenson and Jean Eastman Swenson Alice Swinland Taku Graphics Mary Tannehill Norma Thomasson Neil and Patricia Thorlakson Heidi Thorsen and Johnny Stutsman Lorna and Ritchie Tilson Carl and D. Marlene Tingelstad Daniel and Jean Tolfree Alan and Camille Torget Louise Torseth Anne Tstee Aronson Sonia and Richard Turner Gordon Tweit Sylvia Vikingstad Mark Vinsel Malfrid Vintertun Ed and Joyce Waight Marlys and Lynn Waller James Warren and Dr. Wendy Hutchins Cook Evelyn K. and Don Weaver Margit Weingarten Ross and Nancy Weinstein Norm Werner West Coast Finnish American Singers Association Norman and Benita Westerberg Richard and Judith White Randal and Kristi Wiant Lorrin Williams and Lisa Lindstrom Lynn and Sonny Wirta Archer Wirth Elsa Wise Richard T. Wise Rosemary Wood Frank and Shirley Zahner Murlyn Zeske

Donations Given in Honor of Don Campbell Sonya Campion Rue Gullickson Douglas Marianne Forssblad Guttorm and Andora Halsen Nancy Strand Harbert Andrew Hendrickson Olavi Hiukka Aaron and Marni Kahn Elvira “Dolly” Kenney Mari-Ann Kind Jackson Edith Kilgren Jan Knutson and Ed Hutchinson Pat Loftin Collin and Deanna Madden Mary Matson Jens and Erna Nielsen Maurice Nysether Axel and Hilma Osberg Ivar Reiten Kathleen and Keith Stamm Terry Taylor Lisa Toftemark

Sverre Mogens Andersen, cousin of Josephine M. and William J. Mahon Marie Haga Anderson Norman Carl Anderson Norma Beebe Raymond Bentson Bjarne Bringedahl Sonja and Finn Buer Robert W. Burwell, Sr., husband of Jennie K. Burwell Sigrid and K. Einar Carlson Eva Carlstrom James Theodore Douglas, son of Rue Gullickson Douglas and James S. Douglas Al Edwards Philip Egtvet Ivar G. Eines Fred and O.A. Erickson Gjøri and Ivar Fagnastøl, parents of Martha Fagnastol Kegel Reidar Fammestad Vera C. Feeley, mother of James M. Feeley Gunnar Fredrikson, father of Fred Fredrikson Andrew and Sofia Freeland Kathi Goertzen Amanda Sundquist Green, grandmother of Dorothy M. Owens Christopher R. Graff Margaret J. Gustavson Fern Gwin Eric Håkansson Nancy Strand Harbert Sverre Hatley Elna Solberg Haynes Ole Hendricks Helen Serine Henning Henry and Ina Holma Roy Holmlund Louise Marie Horand Shirley Jacobs Bessie Haugen Johnson Yvonne Johnson Oscar M. Jorgenson Ove Kilgren Jon Knudsen Jan Koren Glenn Krantz Bill Kristjanson Kristine and Hans Krogh, parents of Jennie K. Burwell John Kvinge Mabel Kyle Ruth Lake Folke Landstrom Samuel Lord Olav and Louise Lunde Algot and Alveda Lundquist, parents of Florence L. Lundquist Dr. Ole Mathisen Ola and Helen Mork Donald E. Nelson Alice Ness Thore Ness Carl J. Nordstrom Evelyn Nordqvist Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Northfield Ron Olsen Russell Pearson Myrtle B. Peterson Ruth K. Ramstead Allan Rein Robert G. Ringstad Cora Peterson Robbins Margareta Rundquist Alfrid and Karolina Samuelson Pearl Osborn Schau Mrs. Sissel Slette Doris Sortun Evelyn V. Staaf Trygve Stangeland Sheila Stangvik Lars Steinnes Thomas and Julia Strand Elsa Rydin Stuberg Sisko Svaleng & Arne Svaleng Laina Taipale Robert A. Taylor Arnold L. Torget Rolf and Elsa Ulricksen Leo Utter John Robert Knox Valaas, Sr. Arne Vemo Charlene Larsen White

Donations Given in Memory of Liv Aaro Margrethe Laessoe Barfoed Andersen

Looking to the Future Museum

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Putting Nordic Heritage in Place

Lizette Gradén

A PRIME EXAMPlE OF HOW CUlTURE IS TRANSPlANTED AND transformed comes from the emigrants who came from the Nordic countries to the United States. Having created an infrastructure in America comprised of schools, universities, hospitals, churches, newspapers, businesses, and homes in the 19th and 20th centuries, these Nordics merged with their new societies.

The objects, and their stories, in the Nordic Heritage Museum come from many of these individuals, families, and communities that were connected to Nordic immigrants. The items are effects of movements they made when they migrated from one place to another and during their way through life.

As such, these objects also raise questions about the relationships among individuals, groups, and material things, about how heritage is perceived as something we relate to and carry into the future. Most important, these objects stretch the margins of the Nordic countries and show how Nordic culture can emerge as museums, collections, and exhibitions in the United States.

Objects as Cultural Bridges The concepts of heritage and culture intertwine at museums dedicated to telling the stories of immigration from the Nordic countries.

In 2012, the Nordic Heritage Museum accepted more than 300 artifacts into the collection, one of the items being a spinning wheel from Finland. The spinning wheel from circa 1880s belonged to the donor’s grandmother, Sofia Juliana Johnson (née Rausk), who immigrated to the United States in 1912.

The spinning wheel was used by Johnson as a girl and young woman in Finland but had to be left behind when she came to America. It was restored by one of her brothers in Finland and sent to her in Aberdeen, Washington, about the time of her retirement as a logging camp cook from the ITT Rayonier Company in 1955.

The wheel was used by Johnson again in the 1950s and 1960s, and so it was used on her family farm in Pensala, Finland, and in her home in Aberdeen.

Johnson was a skillful knitter, crocheter, seamstress, and weaver. She took up spinning again when reunited with the wheel.

Spinning wheels, often individually made and sometimes personalized, are abundant in the Nordic Heritage Museum collection and represents rural

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culture in the Nordic countries in the 19th century and in Nordic-American culture in the wake of migration.

Another example is a silver chain with a silver cross pendant, which reads “P.lIE 1882: Christian,” a maker’s mark that indicates it was made by Peder Arnesen of lillehammer, Norway, in 1882. The pendant belonged to Marie Bengtsen Moe from Trondheim, who brought the necklace with her when she immigrated to the United States to be married in the late 1880s. She settled in Duluth, Minnesota, and the necklace was donated to the Museum by her granddaughter, Betty J. Falkner.

A shared feature among the objects donated to the Museum is that grandchildren are active participants in building the heritage of their grandparents’ culture. Another shared feature is that all objects in the Museum collection are products of their specific time, a statement so obvious but yet so important.

Swedish Orrefors glassware from the 1920s is different from Swedish Orrefors glassware in the 1970s, as social and political movements influence design; and when we look at folk art or traditional arts there is variation over time but also over provinces and regions.

If we think of how things from the past are used and framed in the present, the Nordic Heritage Museum can be understood as a place dedicated simultaneously to preservation of Nordic culture in the wake of

migration and to the interpretation of such culture as heritage.

The Museum with its objects and collections can be understood as bridging the Nordic American culture with the Nordic countries.

Reaching over time, the Museum is a place that creates continuity and links generations.

Creating a Sense of Place By transplanting and reiterating material culture, as well as practices of everyday life (fi shing, baking, gardening, decorating, dressing, etc.), immigrants, their descendants, and expatriates produce distinct place.

While today’s visitors to Seattle may see an American city, some residents pinpoint neighborhoods and buildings they know as Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Danish, or as Scandinavian or Nordic because of the objects and practices in the area.

Descendants of early arrivals have attached importance to what they believed was their obligation to preserve and perpetuate what they inherited, so that the labors of their parents and grandparents would be celebrated. The Nordic Heritage Museum was founded in 1979 as a grass roots initiative to preserve the Nordic past for the future by nurturing it in the present. The Nordic Heritage Museum is therefore an example of a place where both objects and practices assemble.

Opposite: This necklace belonged to Marie Bengtsen Moe who brought it with her when she emigrated from Norway in the late 1880s.

Below: The spinning wheel used by Sofia Juliana Johnson both in Finland and here in Washington state, donated by Eric Carlson.

Ballard is an example of a distinctive Seattle neighborhood with a defi nite Scandinavian flavor. Ballard was established as a town in 1890, and grew rapidly due to lumber mills and the Scandinavian fi shing fleet. A town hall was built in 1899 and was followed by a thriving business district around Ballard Avenue.

Ballard was then annexed to Seattle in 1907. Immigrants from the Nordic countries continued to arrive well into the 1960s when Boeing recruited engineers, and Seattle and the Ballard neighborhood has retained its Scandinavian character.

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Museums are a form of cultural display used all over the world; however, a museum adapts to specific local, regional, and national circumstances — or perhaps more accurately, emerges from them.

Each museum has a heritage of its own. As the Nordic Heritage Museum moves forward with plans for a new purpose-built facility, its staff, board, and community will continue the discussion of what the label “Nordic” means.

The Heritage of Museums The concept of museums playing an active role in understanding history and cultural change is not a new one. The rise of museums of regional folk culture shaped Europeans’ views in 19th-century Europe. The Scandinavian countries played a pioneering role, exemplified by the Museum of National Antiquities (1819) in Copenhagen, and Stockholm’s Skandinavisk-Etnografi ska samlingen (the Scandinavian Ethnographic Collection) (1873), followed by the Skansen Open Air Museum (1891), Nordiska Museet (1907), and Norsk Folkemuseum (1894) in Oslo.

Although increasingly nationalized in the 20th century, the focus was on Nordic and Scandinavian culture when these museums were founded in the 19th century. In Sweden, Artur Hazelius, through his founding of the Skandinavian-Ethnographic collection, Skansen, and Nordiska

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Museet, set a model for the collection, preservation, and display of cultural heritage. He did this by showcasing various categories of material culture together: architecture, folk costumes, furniture, tools, and other categories associated with specific communities were collected and re-staged into life-like scenes in Stockholm, invoking places all over Sweden. These re-stagings of places where people met and lived were an integral part of Hazelius’s aim to preserve cultural heritage, not only from Sweden but also comparative material from neighboring countries. Thus the traditional Nordic understanding of museums is as places to “know oneself.”

When Hazelius and his counterparts established museums of folk culture in the Nordic countries, this process ran parallel with emigration from these countries to the United States.

Between the 1840s and the 1950s, waves of emigrants from Scandinavia were pushed by a multitude of reasons including poverty, religious beliefs, military duty, and despair, and pulled by factors such as work, land, adventure, and the dream of America as a land of the future. This push–pull process created a possible

Putting Nordic Heritage in Place

trajectory across a vast space. While museums such as the Nordiska Museet and Norsk Folkemuseum branded Sweden and Norway as progressive nations by turning the peasant past into museum material, a more diverse image of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and their neighboring countries took form in the United States.

Some U.S. museums were formed relatively early after the fi rst waves of migration, such as the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa, in 1925, and the American Swedish Historical Museum in Philadelphia in 1926, while others were established later in the 20th century. For example, the Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn, Iowa, which was founded in 1983 and opened to the public in 1994.

What all these museums have in common are the grass roots efforts that were employed to successfully open these institutions. The Nordic Heritage Museum is no exception.

In 1979, in the residential area of Ballard, fi rst-generation immigrants and their heirs participated in transforming a schoolhouse into the Nordic Heritage Museum. From the

Museum’s inauguration until today, this institution has had a mission to share Nordic culture through exhibitions, preservation, and education and through serving as a community center. Since its opening, the Museum has served as a gathering place for people who identify themselves as Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, Finns, Icelanders, Swedishspeaking Finns, and Sami living in the American Pacific Northwest.

On both sides of the Atlantic, being Nordic is a matter of putting heritage in place. The same group of people in the Pacific Northwest identify themselves as members, visitors, and volunteers of the Museum, and as descendants of immigrants to the United States, or as expatriates. Some people who have been exposed to Nordic culture in the United States identify themselves as Scandinavian or Nordic by choice. Others refer back to their families as having fueled the American economy through the fi shing, logging, merchant, and fl ight industries. Today, recent immigrants often refer to their employment at Microsoft, Boeing, Amazon, or Nordstrom. Moreover, many immigrants or descendants speak of themselves as American, Scandinavian, or Nordic in overlapping ways.

The museums in America dedicated to the heritage of immigrants from the Nordic countries must therefore be understood in rela-

tion to the practices and processes through which they are shaped.

That is, how they are selected, collected, arranged, and displayed. In recent decades, the heritage made by settlers in the early 20th century and presented in pioneer museums has become “early heritage” as the vernacular emerging from the 1960s and 1970s has moved into museum institutions. Originally based on gifts themselves, these museums are operated by, cater to, and collaborate with Americans of Scandinavian or Nordic descent and a wide audience interested in Nordic culture.

Even in the early 21st century, Americans tell census takers of their ancestry from overseas. As the distance to the time of massimmigration grows and globalization increases, ethnic heritage may become less important to some descendants. Reinventing themselves in contemporary times, these museums focus on design, architecture, and connections overseas when reaching out to a wider audience.

collections make up the material with which families, organizations, and individuals infuse the museums, develop culture, and push the boundaries of the concept of Nordic heritage further.

Lizette Gradén is Chief Curator at the Nordic Heritage Museum.

Opposite: The box for Marie Bengsten Moe’s necklace, which was donated to the Museum by her granddaughter Betty J. Falkner in 2012.

Below: This Porsgrund porcelain teacup was donated to the Museum this year by Judy Anderson. The cup was made in Norway sometime between 1911 and 1937. This is one of more than 60,000 items in the Nordic Heritage Museum permanent collection, which range from folk costumes to modernist furniture, Dala horses to designer fabric, and much more.

In recent years, people have handed over for care and keeping items that range from family heirlooms including paintings, folk costumes, furniture, and crystal bowls along with more everyday items such as kitchenware, Dala horses, trolls, Christmas tree ornaments, and souvenirs. These objects and

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The Dream of A The Transfer and Transformation of an Exhibition Like the story it tells, The Dream of America exhibition is itself a transplant to the United States from foreign shores.

On display since is its opening at the Nordic Heritage Museum on June 5, 1986, the exhibition was originally produced by the Danish National Museum in Copenhagen and Moesgård Museum outside of Århus, Denmark. It was shown at these two museums in 1984 and 1985, breaking all records for attendance at both sites. The wish of these two institutions was that parts of the exhibit would travel to the United States after it closed in Denmark, but no definite arrangements had been made until the Nordic Heritage Museum stepped into the picture.

Initial contacts between Moesgård Museum and the Nordic Heritage Museum were established in 1985.

A brief visit to Moesgård and discussions in August confirmed our determination to bring the exhibit to Seattle. In September 1985, a proposal was presented to the Board of Trustees of the Nordic Heritage Museum which was greeted with enthusiasm and wholehearted support. Contract negotiations, fundraising, and construction took place rapidly over the following months, and The Dream of America opened on June 5, 1986.

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Similar exhibitions around the United States followed in the “Dream’s” wake. One such exhibition was To the Promised Land, produced by the Nordiska Museet in Stockholm in the mid-1990s to tell the story of the great emigration from Sweden to America. After being shown at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, the Swedish American Museum in Chicago acquired parts of To the Promised Land, where it remains on display.

At the Nordic Heritage Museum, The Dream of America, which originally told the story of emigration and immigration from a Danish perspective, has been reinterpreted for its present location. The story has been modified and expanded to tell the story of emigration from all the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Over the years, objects from the Museum’s own collection have been added to the original exhibition.

Augmenting The Dream The Museum continues to enhance the visitor’s understanding and experience of this engaging exhibition.

The exhibition narrative has been streamlined, and first-person stories are being brought to the fore. Now, some of the fascinating personal

The Dream of America

stories behind the collection objects on display are being told, such as the trunk used by the family of Emma Louise Mehus when they emigrated from Norway in 1916.

The trunk is an iconic object in stories of immigration to America, and each one vests a personal story.

This trunk tells the story of 8-yearold Emma who traveled with her mother and three siblings in third class aboard the ship Bergensfjord, to join their father, Ludvig, in Seattle.

Ludvig, a fisherman in Norway, had already left for the United States.

The family was separated for six years as Ludvig worked in the fishing and construction industries in the Seattle area, finally saving enough to establish a farm and send for his family. The trunk was by Emma’s side for the journey, which took more than a month and included a stay on Ellis Island — where their immunization status was confirmed and eyes checked for trachoma — and a long train trip across the United States to their new home.

Other iconic items of immigration to America are those associated with passage from one country to another.

Passports and inspection cards (immigrants and steerage passengers) such as the one issued to Hans Simonsen on May 14, 1907, is featured

America Lizette Gradén & Kirsten Olsen

in the exhibition. This particular card is numbered “Contract Ticket No. 54923,” and was issued after Simonson’s arrival in liverpool from Trondheim and before his departure for Boston on the Ivernia. On the reverse side of the card is verification of his vaccination.

In addition to objects related to departure and transition, The Dream of America presents individuals and families who came to Seattle from the Nordic countries. The Brygger family of Ballard has a collection that includes varied objects and archival materials. It ranges from a gold thimble with initials “A.S.B.” (Anna Sophia Brygger), to a black cast iron holder for matches, to numerous photos.

The updating of The Dream of America, with personal stories told through the objects in the Nordic Heritage Museum collection, reflects the ways in which museum displays from the past offer opportunities for museums to reflect upon their own heritage. As the Nordic Heritage Museum looks toward a new home, we also look at new ways to tell the important stories of immigration and heritage.

Lizette Gradén is Chief Curator at the

Top: This inspection card for Hans Simonsen is included in The Dream of America exhibition.

Nordic Heritage Museum and Kirsten

Middle: Pictured in this 1930s photo from the Brygger family collection, left to right are Frank H. Van Valkenburg, Frank Sidney Hanawalt, Ruth (Nelson) Hanawalt, and Janet (White) VanValkenburg.

Olsen is the Museum’s Exhibitions Coordinator.

Bottom: A scene from the exhibition at the Nordic Heritage Museum.

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UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS The Museum will host several exhibitions in 2013 that showcase a wide range of Nordic subjects from art to history to fashion.

November 30, 2012 – March 3, 2013 Bad Art? 1,000 Birch Board Pictures from Sweden

June 28 – September 1, 2013 Ørnulf Opdahl: Mood Paintings of the North

The 1,000 mixed-media works featured in this visiting exhibition from the Backlund & Håkansson Collection in Sweden represent a ubiquitous form of folk art from unknown origins in northern Europe. Sold as tourist souvenirs for more than a century, these humble objects have spread around the world. Art they Art? Kitsch? Or something more?

The exhibition will showcase 30 of Opdahl’s recent works, a repertoire of landscapes heavily influenced by the magnificent sense of place that is West Norway’s unique coastline.

Read more on page 15.

January 18 – March 3, 2013 The Impression of Amundsen: Roald Amundsen’s South Pole Expedition 1910-1912 Three Norwegian artists — Tore Hansen, Ulf Nilsen, and Håvard Vikhagen — used Roald Amundsen’s diary to inspire the artworks featured in this exhibition visiting from the Fram Museum in Oslo.

Read more on page 26.

September 13 – November 17, 2013 Dressing Swedish: From Hazelius to Salander In this exhibition, regional and national folk costumes from Sweden serve as a vantage point in exploring ethnic identity and invocation of Swedish places in the United States. The exhibition will explore how genealogy and place of origin is entangled with fashion and mobility, and how the folk costume is increasingly politicized and individualized; that garments, material, and designs are used to express complex family trees, time periods, and places of belonging.

March 22 – June 16, 2013 Scissors for a Brush Karen Bit Vejle’s form of expression, psaligraphy, is the art of drawing or painting with scissors. For more than 35 years Bit Vejle has been absorbed, fascinated, and deeply committed to this art form that developed from small, simple snowflakes to unusually large and highly complex image cuttings.

Read more on page 20.

Some of the pieces featured in Bad Art? 1,000 Birch Board Pictures from Sweden.

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By Tore Hansen from The Impression of Amundsen exhibition

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Upcoming Exhibitions

By Karen Bit Vejle

By Ørnulf Opdahl

Folk costumes such as this will be shown in Dressing Swedish.

The Art of Nostalgia Part art, part kitsch, part nostalgia, Swedish birch board pictures have a deceivingly complicated history.

Per Dahlström

THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT BIRCH BOARD pictures that reminds me of the Sweden of my youth.

I grew up among timber workers, family farmers, and birch groves in western Värmland during the sixties.

Much of rural society was unchanged, even though Sweden was becoming a modern country. Our games were simple and uncomplicated. I can still remember my joy when I would throw a stick into the spring creek and watch it whirl downstream, or the smell of a warm moped motor, or how newly laid eggs felt in

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my hand when I was in my grandmother’s chicken coop. The birch board picture is a link to a time as a child when I would play in the moment, not in an artificial, online world like is often the case for children now. The pictures are a link to a time and a rural Sweden that have disappeared, never to return: the era of my grandparents and of a family farm Sweden, which was still alive when I was growing up.

The birch board picture was popular from the beginning of the 20th century into the seventies, although it was not considered a sign of good

taste to have one hanging on the wall. Today its motifs appear simple and somewhat plain. They portray small town and village scenes: squares, bridges, waterfalls with power stations, and other examples of the wonders of the day — things that were practically tourist attractions but have now been mostly forgotten.

Sweden was modernized much later than other countries in Europe.

When we Swedes began to move into apartment buildings in the larger cities during the beginning of the 20th century, we longed for the outhouses and cow pastures. Our hearts remained in the countryside, and we dreamed of buying our own little red cottage when we could afford it. Perhaps this is why we hung birch board pictures on our walls. They were remembrances of well-known places — pictures of birch trees as an expression of a nostalgic sentimentality. The birch board picture was part of a past to which we clung.

The birch board picture appeared when working class people did not aspire to be elegant, and vanished when we wanted to become like our social betters.

Campaign for Beauty During the entire 20th century, there was a camLeft: Collector Borghild Håkansson peeks out from a large birch picture in the exhibition.

paign in Sweden to enlighten the Swedish people as to what belonged in a proper Swedish household. The author Ellen Key and the Swedish Handicrafts Organization tried to make the average Swede understand the right way to furnish and decorate a household through magazines such as Skönhet för alla [Beauty for all], which appeared in 1899; Vackrare vardagsvara [More Beautiful Everyday Objects], which appeared in 1919; and Acceptera [Accept], which appeared in 1931.

Within modernism, there was the idea that beautiful and ugly were objective values, which the initiated understood best of all and therefore were best suited to spread the message to the masses. Beautiful and ugly were compared to right and wrong as well as true and false.

Beauty could change and ennoble people and contribute to a more harmonious society.

Key was one of the 20th century’s most influential tone-setters and played an important role within the feminist movement. She is most famous for the book Barnets århundrade [The Century of the Child], published in 1900. It was translated into a number of languages and made the author internationally famous. Ellen Key also had ideas about the importance of the environment of the home and was convinced that beautiful objects within the home could change and ennoble the people living there. They would be healthier, friendlier, and happier if their homes contained the proper items. In her eyes, there was a connection between the inner and outer life. A beautiful environ-

ment would make people better and happier.

Beauty also was something every human being had a right to enjoy, according to Key. This resulted in an influential pedagogical movement directed at the working class.

Inspired by William Morris and the British Arts & Crafts movement, Key connected beauty with simplicity, harmony, honesty, and a relationship between the object and its use.

Key despised dark and overbearing interior decoration with its aging expensive materials, overstuffed furniture, heavy drapes, fringe, tassels, and useless decorative objects.

All of this could be found in the new middle class homes and the working class also wanted such design when they could afford it.

At the Stockholm Exhibition of 1930, the ideas of modernism were launched on all fronts. Functional model dwellings were shown in the interior design exhibit. Many people, however, had difficulty accepting the geometric language of form and the exhibit was debated long afterward.

One year later, the magazine Acceptera appeared. This magazine was a forum for functionalism and design in the same spirit as Skönhet för alla and Vackrare vardagsvara. The propaganda became part of the ideology of the Swedish People’s Home and the new welfare state, which was built up in Sweden during the middle of the 20th century.

Nevertheless, the propaganda was not successful in the beginning. The Swedes loved their coffee cups with curlicues, their heavy stuffed furniture, and their birch board pictures.

The campaign for how a beautiful home should appear was most intensive in the thirties, but continued long into the sixties.

Although it took a few decades, by the sixties most people knew how a beautiful home should appear: clean furniture in natural materials and light-colored wood. This interior design model is now known throughout the world as Swedish Modern or Scandinavian Modern.

Finally, everyone understood that accordion music was dreadful and you couldn’t hang whatever you wanted on your walls. The birch

board pictures that weren’t burned in the fireplace, were hung in the outhouses or hidden in the attics waiting for better times. The years went by, however, and now that modernism is less influential, even a birch board picture may have some kind of quality.

Typically Swedish Even if the birch board picture is an international phenomenon, in that other European countries also have them, the Swedish birch board picture is still typically Swedish.

The birch tree, which has given the pictures their name and also a good

Anonymous Artists Most of the artists who created the ubiquitous birch board paintings remain anonymous to this day. However, one well-known birch board creator was Kay Glans, a house painter by trade, who made thousands of these pictures. His son, Gay, describes the process (that frequently involved the entire family) for a custom order that Mora-Nisse, a famous Swedish skier, had commissioned: “While I was cutting the edges of postcards, my father placed about 20 birch boards, which had already had the edges of postcards cut and were already spackled, on his worktable. He mixed a clear blue shimmering paint with white onto a broken birch board, which he used as a palette.

This color would give the viewer the impression that the skies were unendingly high behind the white, cotton-like clouds. Once Pappa had finished painting the skies, he went on to lengthen the ski track, which Mora-Nisse had skied on his way to becoming the eminent winner in his ‘forefather’s tracks.’

“A few days later, once the paint was dry, Pappa set a birch on the right flank using a template cut from hard cardboard. He spackled over the template with a sure hand. Using that same hand, he lifted the template and the birch tree leapt into the motif, in spite of all obstacles in the form of buildings, cars, or people. . . . Pappa felt that the birch tree, in spite of appearing to be misplaced, demanded its spot. A birch board picture without a birch tree was no birch board picture at all.”

Read more from Gay Glans in the exhibition catalog, available to view online at www.nordicmuseum.org/exhibitions.aspx.

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part of their material, is our national tree. Many artists have used the birch tree as a symbol for Sweden and Swedishness. The most well known is the Swedish artist Carl larsson, who was active in the late 1800s.

During the era of national romanticism, it was more important that art should be anchored in the national consciousness. Within Swedish cultural life, there was a debate of what best represented the Swedish nation. Simply put, it was Carl larsson’s light birch trees vs. John Bauer’s dark evergreen forests.

When Carl larsson moved back to Sweden shortly before 1900, after many years on the Continent, it was important to him that his art be Swedish. To him, the white birch trees, the red cottages, and the blonde, blue-eyed people of Dalarna represented his homeland and its Swedishness more than anything else.

His books, especially Ett hem [A Home] from 1899 and Spadarvet [The Farm] from 1906, show this vision and were read widely throughout Europe. In Ett hem, larsson shows his and his wife Karin’s childfriendly home in Sundborn with light watercolors. It became an ideal, even for Key, who used it as a pattern for how modern Swedish interior design should appear. In later Swedish design history, from Bruno Mattson to IKEA, the light birch has come to stand for something defi nitively Swedish.

This was not as clear at the beginning of the 20th century. For many

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other artists returning from Paris around the turn of that century, a dark, masculine, harsh Nordic nature with giant evergreen trees was seen as typically Swedish. Nevertheless, the light birch emerged victorious as a symbol for genuine Swedishness.

Today, larsson is seen as the most Swedish of all artists and the province of Dalarna, with its red cottages and light birch groves, is the most Swedish of landscapes. In the area of design, furniture in light birch wood is viewed as more Swedish than furniture in dark wood. When we Swedes celebrate Midsummer, the most Swedish of holidays, we use birch branches to decorate our homes and summer cottages. In this manner, the birch board picture can be seen as particularly Swedish.

Today, birch board pictures are popular again. Having a birch board picture on the wall may even be stylish, in fact, and there have been exhibitions of them in museums.

Their function has changed, however. Today a birch board picture is a “conversation piece” and a way to thumb one’s nose at those who believed that quality was determined by objective measures and at those who were so sure that the kitsch of the People’s Home was not fashionable in the world of culture.

My own relationship to the birch board picture is just as divided as I’ve described above. During the entire time I was growing up, it was an example of bad taste and something that one was told not to have hanging on one’s wall. On the other

hand, the pictures awaken nostalgic memories from a by-gone time and a world left behind. As an art historian, the birch board picture is a special object, which allows me to theorize. It is a form of folk art, which also brings questions about hierarchies in the art world and who sets the norms for what is valuable.

The birch board picture is part of theoretical reasoning concerning the function of a picture and how beautiful and ugly are determined, as well as who has the right to make this determination. Perhaps it’s still only the experts who follow this discussion. Those who were never “cool” or never listened to others, but rather followed their own vision and always enjoyed their birch board pictures.

They are the ones who kept and cared for their pictures. Perhaps they collected pictures, which appeared in flea markets and small farm auctions. They are the ones who have saved the pictures we now can see in exhibitions.

Per Dahlström, Ph.D. is the curator and research director of the Gothenburg Art Museum in Sweden. In his doctoral dissertation of 2002 he studied art of eccentrics and how a modern art esthetic derives from discourse of artistic creativity. Dahlström was previously the curator for the Röhsska Museum for Fashion, Design and Artistic Folk Art in Gothenburg.

Bad Art? November 30, 2012 through March 3, 2013 The exhibition Bad Art? 1,000 Birch Board Pictures from Sweden is the largest collection of its kind in the world and made its U.S. debut at the Nordic Heritage Museum in November 2012. The 1,000 mixed-media works featured in this visiting exhibition from the Backlund & Håkansson Collection represent a ubiquitous form of folk art from unknown origins in northern Europe. Sold as tourist souvenirs for more than a century, these humble objects have spread around the world.

Although these works were made in large numbers — as is apparent in this expansive exhibition — they were not mass produced. Instead, the artists created these pieces individually; typically by gluing postcards to a thin, diagonally sliced pieces of tree trunk — in Sweden, preferably from birches. The postcard images were then hand painted to the edges of the oval slices of wood and sometimes included threedimensional objects. Early pieces were simply painted landscapes with no postcards.

The pictures selected for this particular exhibition celebrate folk art or vernacular art. The birch board pictures, which were once displayed in private homes, restaurants, gift shops, and cultural clubs have now made their way into museums. Such art tells about aesthetic impulse, creativity, and production, but also about the transition from living culture to heritage.

Bad Art? 1,000 Birch Board Pictures from Sweden challenges notions of fine art, folk art, bad taste, and good taste by asking: what expressions of human creativity can be called art? Who decides, and does it matter? Are these birch board pictures art? Kitsch? Or something more?

Exhibition support is provided by The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation, 4Culture, ArtsFund, and the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs.

Translated by Laura Wideburg, Seattle, Washington.

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Photos by Helle S. Andersen

S c i ss o r s

f o r

a

B r u s h

Sissel Guttormsen

With sewing scissors,

Photo by Marjaana Malkamäki

Karen Bit Vejle creates images of air and paper. Using a pair of scissors as a tool, she cuts her own multifaceted world into the paper. The works are formed from a large, continuous piece of paper that is folded one, two, and three times, and then cut using only a pair of scissors.

Every single scissor cut is carefully planned, as the slightest mistake can have disastrous consequences for the finished result.

This is a slow art of painstaking patience that demands the utmost concentration. The distinctive character and development of paper cutting has been much overlooked in the history of art. Many may call themselves paper cutters, but few count themselves true artists of the discipline. It is in this rare category that Bit Vejle is at home. Psaligraphy, her form of expression, literally means the art of drawing or painting with scissors.

rolls and reams of

souls,” said Chinese national poet Tu Fu some 200 years later.

paper, and thousands of snips, Karen Bit Vejle creates magical and contemplative artwork.

History of Paper Art Paper has great potential as creative material. It can be cut and shorn into patterns, folded into one- or three-dimensional figures, or soar through the sky in the form of fantastic kites. Ever since paper was invented in China more than 2,000 years ago, the use of the material in art works has been significant.

In fact, paper was used to decorate long before it was used to write. The oldest known paper cutting, stemming from the 500s, is a symmetrical circle from the Xinjiang province. “I cut paper to summon my

In the beginning, when paper was still something of an exclusive item, paper art was primarily practiced by members of imperial courts. Written sources speak of a number of paper cutters who demonstrated great variety in pattern and technique. The motifs were either purely decorative or contained scenes from everyday life. While professional paper cutters were primarily men who often worked together in workshops, a feminine tradition developed in the rural areas of mainland China.

Every young woman was expected to master paper cutting, and bridesto-be were often judged on the basis of their skill with scissors. Paper cutting is still a highly valued form of folk art in China. Doors and windows are decorated with colorful and spectacular cuttings for special occasions.

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Photo by Helle S. Andersen

The art of paper cutting spread with the Silk Road to the rest of the world during the 1300s. From India we know the Sanjih tradition, a ritual cut that is associated with the adoration of the Krishna figure. In various countries, such as Japan, Mexico, Poland, Germany, and Switzerland, paper cutters made considerable contributions to Christian and folk art. In Jewish tradition stemming from Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, and elsewhere, paper cutting has played a central role in mysticism and symbolism, where religious texts are often incorporated in the work.

Paper later became a more affordable item, and paper cutting therefore became an accessible art form. From less costly paper grew

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the most fantastic works of art and decorations.

One variant of paper cutting is known under the name silhouette cutting or shadow outlines. The origin of the silhouette as an idea goes all the way back to classical antiquity, but established itself as a form of art in Europe in the late 1600s.

The name was taken in honor of the French finance minister Etienne de Silhouette (1709–1767). His favorite hobby was cutting profiles and portraits in black paper. The silhouette caught on and became fashionable, even in royal circles where several members of the court would spend time cutting out portraits and landscape scenes. Later, in the 1800s, painting silhouettes instead of cutting them became increasingly

Scissors for a Brush

common. With the introduction of portrait photography, interest in the silhouette waned.

Pa p e r C u t t i n g i n Denmark Paper cutting’s strong position in Bit Vejle’s homeland of Denmark can be linked to the tradition of sending gækkebrev, which is a small paper cutting with a verse inside. Since this often took place around the Easter season, the gækkebrev became a tradition closely associated with this holiday. Gække is a word for snowdrop in Danish, and a little snowdrop is supposed to be included in every gækkebrev — as a messenger of the coming spring. The gækkebrev was sent to a person one was fond of or in love with, and the sender left his or her name conspicuously absent. If

Photo by Marjaana Malkamäki

the recipient managed to guess who had sent the letter, the sender either had to offer a kiss, an Easter egg, or a ticket to the theatre. If the recipient couldn’t guess correctly, he or she had to send back a similar offer.

“Cutting is the fledgling beginning of poetry,” wrote Hans Christian Andersen in a letter to a good friend in 1867. He was undoubtedly the most well-known paper cutter in Scandinavia during his time, and certainly helped contribute to the great popularity of the art form in Denmark. H. C. Andersen was an excellent paper cutter and not only considered cutting a delightful diversion but also a challenge for the spirit. He was therefore never without a small pair of scissors that he kept together with his pen.

Often H. C. Andersen would tell an exciting story while he cut paper.

The story ended when the cutting was complete. As a finishing touch he would unfold the folded paper and reveal the content to his audience — a magical moment.

Bit Vejle’s magical cuttings in the traveling exhibition Scissors for a Brush are rooted in a tradition that has known a long journey through history. But she has created a personal style and technique that are entirely her own. For more than 30 years she has been absorbed, fascinated, and deeply committed to this art form that developed from small, simple snowflakes to unusually large and highly complex image cuttings. She is one of very few in Scandinavia who can cut at such

an advanced technical and artistic level.

There is a great degree of humor in Bit Vejle’s world of imagery, humor, and the ability to identify joy in small things. Just as often, though, she confronts deep seriousness and themes intended to evoke involvement or reflection. Her works are captivating surprise packages. By meeting Bit Vejle’s images of air and paper we can find ourselves both surprised and inspired!

Sissel Guttormsen is the Curator at the Ringve Museum in Trondheim, which is Norway’s national museum of music and musical instruments. Guttormsen has served as the curator of many exhibitions including Scissors for a Brush since 2008, Light and Darkness: the History of a Song by Norwegian rock star Åge Aleksandersen (2009), and The Sound of Edvard Grieg (2007).

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K a r e n

B i t

V e j l e

I cut paper because I just can’t stop myself.

My heart and soul are at peace when I have the scissors in hand and the paper dances between the blades. Time stops and every time I open a cutting I feel the same sense of anticipation as when I opened the very first one. I wonder what it will look like? Did I manage to achieve the cut I had in mind? It is just as exciting every time — just like opening up an exciting gift.

I have finished a number of cuttings over the course of nearly 40 years, and as I never had anywhere else to keep them, they had just remained hidden underneath my rugs. They might have stayed there forever, if a colleague had not happened to look under my rugs and find them. He thought they should see the light of day. Ever since, these paper cuttings have taken on a life of their own and started a crusade for the rediscovery of paper cutting — a journey that I hope will bring a sense of wonder and happiness, and a breath of adventure to everyone who visits the traveling exhibition Scissors for a Brush. If my sewing scissors can manage to make you stop and wonder for just one instant, then I will be happy.

Many ask: How did you get started cutting paper? Do you remember when you yourself were a child, sitting together with your family, cutting Christmas decorations in December? The atmosphere was like nothing else, was it not?

There was something slightly magical in knowing that a flat piece of paper could turn into flowering angels or snowflakes. This is how it was for me from the very beginning — at the kitchen bench in my childhood home in Denmark, where we had our own tradition of cutting out gækkebrev. Around Easter all Danish children used to cut out small paper cuttings that were adorned with the first signs of spring; snowdrops, as we called them. I loved to cut out gækkebrev and was skilled with scissors.

From gækkebrev I learned the basic techniques for paper cutting: you take a sheet of paper and carefully fold it one, two, three, perhaps four times. Then you clip away to your heart’s content. But you have to be careful and think along the way, because if you cut in the “wrong” places, then the whole thing will fall to pieces. There were many, many times I watched my work amount to nothing because I had been overly eager and cut in the wrong places. But you can learn from these mistakes, and along the way I eventually learned the code as to how all the lines of the paper cut are linked to each other in an intricate and complex network. You have to keep a close eye on what you’re doing, because if you cut the wrong way, then it’s all over!

Photo by Øystein Orderud

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Scissors for a Brush

Until I was 16 I thought that paper cutting was only something done for holidays such as Easter and Christmas. But one beautiful summer day in Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, a whole new world opened up to me. By a tree next to the Tivoli pond I saw a man who was sitting in the sun cutting out paper silhouettes with motifs I had never before seen. I was enraptured, and stood there staring for a long time, watching the man as he maneuvered his scissors to bring forth the most beautiful little paper cutting. I was so taken with the idea that I went right home and got my mother’s sewing scissors, and I have never let them out of my sight since.

Many say: You must have a special type of scissors to be able to make those cuts, or perhaps you cut with a knife? A knife, never! Paper cutting can only be done with scissors! I use regular, everyday scissors. There’s nothing special about them.

But you do use a special type of paper, right? No, all you need is regular old paper.

Copy paper, for example, is just perfect. That’s what I used myself for many years in the beginning. But the A4 format placed a natural limit on size, and I eventually went on the hunt for larger sheets of paper. It was not so easy to find, but when I spent a year at the end of the 1980s living in Tasmania, I came across black, white, red, and blue paper that was fairly thin and on large rolls. From there the cuttings gradually grew larger and larger.

Many people wonder where I learned paper cutting and they are quick to suggest that I was inspired by Japanese and Chinese cutting. As far as I know, there are no schools where you can learn the secrets of psaligraphy. You can only take out the scissors and start practicing, cut after cut after cut. There are paper cutting traditions in China, Israel, Poland, Austria, and India, and Hans Christian Andersen’s small paper cuttings are well known in Denmark, but my work draws little inspiration from these.

My own personal sources of inspiration lay in endless reflections on time, eternity, sorrow, grace, happiness, and love. It is also rooted in the ornamental work of the 17th and 18th centuries, but perhaps in music more than anything. When I work, the scissors are always accompanied by music. The cuts find their natural rhythm in the idiom of the arabesque, and the folding technique creates the paper cut’s symmetry.

The same basic rule can be found in the way that a piece of music is constructed — in repetitions and modulations over themes. The early works of the exhibition bear testimony to my desire to explore the mathematics of ornamentation, where my later works are more motivated from a contemplative perspective.

Many people want to know how long it takes to cut out an image. When I am about to do a cutting, I spend a very long time visualizing and memorizing the design of the cut. Both technique and image composition must be entirely complete in my mind before I can put scissors to paper. Once I have the image clear in my mind, I draw guidelines on the paper and then I begin working with the scissors. When I created the commissioned work “1897” for the Britannia Hotel in Trondheim, the actual clipping took 250 hours and consisted of 240,000 cuts. Add to this the time I spent on research and planning. The most time-intensive cut to this day, however, is “The Fifth Season,” which I spent six months working on.

Psaligraphy is a slow and time-intensive affair, but I enjoy every minute of it, and time spent with scissors and paper has become my catharsis!

A Danish citizen, Karen Bit Vejle has lived in Trondheim, Norway, since 1985. Her career was in journalism for NRK and her paper cutting simply a pasttime, until her paper cuttings were discovered in 2006. The next year she received a scholarship from Løgumkloster Refugium in Denmark and was nominated for county artist in Sør-Trøndelag. She has shown her work at museums and galleries since 2008 and has worked full time as an artist since 2011.

Scissors for a Brush visits the Museum The exhibition Scissors for a Brush will open at the Nordic Heritage Museum on March 22, 2013, and will run through June 1, 2013. The show features many of Karen Bit Vejle’s paper cuttings in a variety of sizes — some more than four feet tall — and all intricate and magical.

The exhibition has traveled around the Nordic countries and makes its U.S. debut at the Nordic Heritage Museum.

In addition, the exhibition will showcase four original paper cuts by Hans Christian Andersen, on loan from the Hans Christian Andersen Museum in Odense, Denmark.

Scissors for a Brush is made possible with funding by Scan Design Foundation by Ingers & Jens Bruun, 4Culture, Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, and the Washington State Arts Commission. Stay tuned to the Nordic Heritage Museum website for more information as the exhibition nears.

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Photo by Peder Otto Dybvik

Mood Photo by Per Magnus Gjerde

Paintings of the North Norwegian painter Ørnulf Opdahl’s landscapes are full with atmosphere, expressiveness, and mood.

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Photo by Peder Otto Dybvik

Ø

rnulf Opdahl is Norway’s most distinguished contemporary landscape painter, and one of the most noteworthy artists working in the Nordic countries today. He has shown his work in dozens of solo exhibitions throughout Europe since 1966. Opdahl’s work can be found in collections of Norway’s National Gallery, the British Museum in London, the National Library of Norway, among many other private and public collections.

He lives and works on the island of Godøy west of Ålesund. Like the Pacific Northwest, Godøy is a landscape marked by contrasts in elevation, transitory weather, and ephemeral light. The landscape of the Sunmøre Mountains and nearby fjords informs his work, which reflects his knowledge and affinity for his surroundings: the glaciers, the trails around the fjords, and dramatic cliff faces.

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Mood Paintings of the North

Above: Snefjell / Snow Mountain, 2011, 40 x 40 cm, oil on canvas.

Previous pages: Landscape, 2009, 70 x 240 cm, oil on canvas.

Portrait of Ørnulf

Photo by Peder Otto Dybvik

Opdahl’s approach to landscape work is meditative, and his subdued palate conveys a sense of the atmospheric; paintings of colossal mountains and deep fjords are rendered expressively in shades of grays and charcoal black, bringing to the viewer a sense of proximity and radiance.

Above: Påskemorgen / Easter Morning, 2009, 130 x 120 cm, oil on canvas.

Thanks to funding from Synnøve Fielding, Erik Breivik, and The AmericanScandinavian Foundation, the Nordic Heritage Museum will feature the exhibition Ørnulf Opdahl — Mood Paintings of the North, opening on June 28, 2013, and running through September 1, 2013. The exhibition will showcase 30 of his recent works, a repertoire of landscapes heavily influenced by the magnificent sense of place that is West Norway’s unique coastline. His work in this exhibit draws upon the Norwegian landscape painting tradition and the post Second World War abstract art movement.

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Carving Traditions Erin M. Schadt

Erik Holt is a long-time instructor at the Nordic Heritage Museum, teaching everyone from teenagers to 80-somethings the intricacies of Nordic woodcarving.

Holt himself is a skilled woodcarver who began woodworking when he was in 8th grade.

“When I was in high school, my aunt from Norway visited us and was interested in what I was doing,” says Holt. “later that year there was a documentary on Norwegian television that she saw. It was about a carving school in Norway that she thought I would be interested in, so she enrolled me in the class and sent me the paperwork.”

Much like learning woodcarving itself, Holt’s path took persistence and dedication. The program accepted just two students from abroad each year, and there was a perennially long waiting list. Holt was fi nally accepted into the program after five years, a personal visit by his mother, and an exception to let one more foreign student into the program that year.

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When Holt arrived, he was enrolled into a one-year course aimed at hobbyists, a husflid kurs, which was a combination of woodcarving and furniture making.

“One of the requirements was that I had to speak the language, so I went over six months before school started to learn the language and work on the farm in lofoten (my mother’s homestead).

After the first year of school I decided that there was a lot more to learn and I was automatically accepted for the second year. During that year I took all the theory classes in both the carving and furniture-making classes, since they were not included in the hobby course I was enrolled in.”

Out of funds after his second year, Holt returned home thinking he would work, save up, and enroll back into the program the next year, but, unfortunately, the process wasn’t quite that simple.

“After another five years of applying and getting rejected, I was in Nor-

Carving Traditions

way on a construction project for the family when I called the enrollment department and convinced them to accept me again. Then it was a quick trip back home to fi nish up some projects, close down my business, and sell off a bunch of stuff to afford fi nishing my education.

“I like the fact that you can make a finished piece with just a chunk of wood and some chisels in a minimal amount of workspace without a lot of machinery, and that you can imagine something, put it on paper, and figure out how to produce it.”

— Erik Holt “At the start of my third year I mapped out a plan with the rektor (head of the school) and the teachers to change my major to end up with a svennebrev, or journeyman’s degree, in woodcarving. Using my work experience from my business

Woodcarver and instructor Erik Holt passes on the craft art customs of the Nordic countries through his Nordic woodcarving classes at the Museum.

in the States, the additional theory classes I took earlier, and some night classes along with two more years in school was the plan [to complete the degree].”

This time, things actually went according to plan, and at the end of his fourth year, Holt received his svennebrev in woodcarving, which included designing, drawing, and carving in three styles: Baroque, Rococo, and Dragon/Viking.

In fact, these are the styles that Holt teaches in his classes at the Museum. “I personally like the Rococo style best. The students start with either Baroque or the Dragon style, and many switch back and forth between the two. Some of my advanced students venture into Rococo after they have learned the basics of the Baroque style. The Baroque style I teach is from the Gudbransdahl area of Norway, and some of the best Dragon/Viking styles in the world are from Norway.

Most are from the Viking ship finds and all the stave churches peppered throughout the country.”

When students first begin Nordic woodcarving classes with Holt, they start with practice pieces and exercises. All carving is done with hand chisels and the wood is typically basswood or pine. Beginners start with smaller practice pieces learning how to carve different elements of a design or style.

“After they learn the basics, we go on to projects that I have drawn or if they have a particular project in mind, we work toward realizing their goals,” explains Holt. “[I enjoy] working with the student’s idea and helping them figure out how to accomplish it. I also enjoy seeing when the light bulb lights up and the student gets what I am teaching them.”

Classes are led with a good amount of one-on-one time, so that each student can advance at his or her own pace and can also work on a wide variety of projects. “Some of the projects that my students are working on range from a queensize Viking bed, carved bowls, tine boxes, architectural brackets and elements, large wall hangings,

jewelry boxes, bread boards, spoons, chests, etc.”

Holt says students’ goals vary as well; some enroll to learn production techniques so that they can sell to souvenir shops or to create pieces to show in galleries or exhibitions, but most students are there to learn to make pieces for themselves or as gifts.

“Carving is not for everyone,” says Holt. “Try it and you may like it. I have tools to borrow, so there is no investment other than the tuition fees. If you like it then you will end up getting your own set of tools and continuing. Most of my students have been in the class for years and their ages range from around 14 to 80+. I am lucky to have a great group of students with different interests who are eager to learn and challenge me. We are like a family.”

Erin M. Schadt is the Marketing & Communications Manager at the Nordic Heritage Museum.

Craft School at the Museum Nordic Woodcarving is one of many Craft School educational programs offered by the Nordic Heritage Museum. These hands-on classes are geared for adults of all ages and their aim is to pass on the craft, folk, and food traditions of the Nordic countries. Subjects range from rosemåling to modern cuisine and heart waffles to knitting. For more about the classes currently available, visit the Museum website at www.nordicmuseum.org/ education.aspx#craftschool.

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Voices of Ballard & Beyond The Nordic American Voices project captures the oral history of the Nordic community, and can now share these stories in the new book Voices of Ballard and Beyond.

Lizette Gradén & Erin M. Schadt

T

he book Voices of Ballard and Beyond is the result of several years of collaborative work to capture the spirit and growth of the Nordic community in Seattle through recorded interviews. The stories presented in the book provide a glimpse of the extensive project, Nordic American Voices, consisting of more than 200 recorded interviews. These interviews have been transcribed and archived at the Nordic Heritage Museum where they serve as a rich resource for future research.

The stories included in Voices of Ballard and Beyond speak of the dynamics of cultural differences in society at large and within a group.

In this volume, diverse voices offer perspectives on transitions in the wake of emigration from the Nordic countries to the Pacific Northwest — or more precisely to the Seattle area in the State of Washington, known for its industries, fishing, and logging, and as the home of Swedish Hospital, Microsoft, Boeing, Amazon, and Starbucks.

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Just as many of the stories within this volume emerge from a partnership between the interviewee and the active listener, the book is a result of collaborative work of committee members and organizations, also over time. As such, the book has a heritage of its own.

The book builds on Voices of Ballard: Immigrant Stories from the Vanishing Generation, a 1999 joint effort of the Swedish Finn Historical Society, the Ballard Historical Society, and the Nordic Heritage Museum. The aim back then was to capture stories about Ballard’s growth and change, a process of which many emigrants from the Nordic countries had been part; 123 interviews were carried out, transcribed, and made available for future research. The 1999 project in turn was a result of previous oral history projects, including one by Leif Eie and Knut Karlsen in the 1990s. Eie and Karlsen’s group recorded memories among Nordic residents of Ballard. These interviews became core material in the Nordic Heritage Museum.

Voices of Ballard & Beyond

The current book may therefore best be understood as a window to the ongoing work within the Nordic American Voices project, but also as a recourse to past projects and as a prelude of those yet to come.

To provide a glimpse of the Nordic American Voices project’s work, what follows are edited excerpts from Voices of Ballard and Beyond, in particular, stories from people key to the early days of the Nordic Heritage Museum.

Leif Eie Leif Eie was born July 12, 1929, in Drangeid, north of Flekkefjord, Norway, and, after many years in the Pacific Northwest, now lives in Tucson, Arizona. Eie was knighted by both King Olav V of Norway and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. He was instrumental to founding the sister cities Seattle-Bergen, TacomaÅlesund, and Seattle-Reykjavik.

He also established the Norwegian American Chamber of Commerce and the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce chapters, and, in 1988, was chosen The International Norwegian of the Year.

Eie grew up in Norway where, from a young age, he was a talented musician and entertainer.

Joe Granquist, my sponsor [to come to the United States], had seen an ad in Aftenposten that the Norwegian-American line (NAl) needed English-speaking people because the ship was going on a cruise with American tourists for a 56-day tour to the Mediterranean and Caribbean. And it helped that I was a musician and could entertain passengers. On January 1, 1952, I was hired onto the crew of the NAl’s Oslofjord.

When I fi nally arrived in the USA in April 1952, it seemed odd that only yellow automobiles were at the pier. “Are all American automobiles yellow?” I asked someone. “No, those are taxicabs,” I was told.

Bloomingdale’s department store offered me a job. But I decided to visit the nearby Scandinavian Airlines office instead and went to work there as a weight and balance agent.

I knew I wanted to stay in the USA, so I joined the Army and became an American citizen on June 14, 1954, while serving with occupation forces in Stuttgart, Germany. While in the Army I was proud to be awarded the

American Spirit Honor Medal for leadership best expressing the American spirit, honor, initiative, loyalty, and high example to comrades in arms.

When a soldier was discharged from the military he was entitled to get back the old job he had before going into the service. I reported back to SAS and it was like being reunited with family.

Somebody had taken over the load control job I had when I left to join the Army, so I worked the

arrivals and departures where I came in contact with many people.

One time we had the two princesses from Norway, Princess Astrid and Princess Ragnhild, and I was assigned to handle their departure and escort them on board.

Dag Hammarskjöld, Jussi Bjorling, Sonja Henie, and Thor Heyerdahl were other people I met.

Under the CAB [the Civil Aeronautics Board; later the Federal

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Aviation Administration] regulations in that time no hot food could be served in economy class on airlines. Scandinavia is known for its open-faced sandwiches and that’s what we served: the most fancy sandwiches anyone could imagine.

Other international airlines complained to the authorities that we had put too much lobster or ham and cheese on the sandwiches so the bread was not showing. It looked more like a gourmet dinner plate than a sandwich. This was written up in Time magazine and it created the “sandwich war.” SAS got a lot of positive publicity. We did make a small change to the sandwiches: we left a small part of the corner of the bread showing.

After this change we could still serve the same fancy sandwiches.

SAS became very popular during that time.

By February 17, 1957, SAS had promoted me to sales representative. I felt proud having gone from grocery deliveries and working in country stores in Flekkefjord to SAS sales agent in Manhattan.

On January 1, 1964, I took over as the new district sales manager for the Pacific Northwest, including Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington state, Alaska, Idaho; and Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, and the Northwest Territory in Canada. . . . On July 15, 1966, I received a teletype from Washington, D.C., that read: “Permit granting SAS traffic rights at Seattle, signed,

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sealed and delivered at 1500 hours.”

Time to roll up the sleeves and go to work. September 2, 1966, was the first scheduled departure from Seattle for the non-stop Polar route to Copenhagen. The first SAS plane landing at SeattleTacoma Airport arrived from Copenhagen at 5:20 pm. It had 82 passengers destined for Seattle.

In addition we had 1,500 pounds of fashion clothing from Uppsala Kappfabrik, Sweden.

In the late 1970s, after a visit to Seattle by King Olav V, representatives of various Scandinavian organizations thought a joint museum could be an excellent cultural facility. But nobody wanted to take the responsibility to fill in the application to take over the old Webster School [for the Museum’s site]. After the last meeting my good friend Svein Gilje and I walked together to the parking lot.

I said to Svein: “If you will take the job as the president of the museum for the first year, I will take the responsibility to fill in the application and sign the papers on behalf of the Scandinavian community.”

And that’s what happened. Somebody had to step forward and get the museum going.

However, Svein stayed on as president for five years. It took some time to agree on a name and it was finally decided to call it the Nordic Heritage Museum. The Museum opened its doors in 1980, dedicated to collecting, preserving and presenting the Nordic heritage.

Voices of Ballard & Beyond

Marianne Forssblad Marianne Forssblad, former executive director of the Nordic Heritage Museum, retired in 2007 after 27 years with the Museum. Prior to that she worked at the Seattle Art Museum and the Department of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Washington. Forssblad came to the United States in 1957 as a student at Hollins College in Virginia where she received her bachelor’s degree. She later earned master’s degrees in political science, library science, and Scandinavian language and literature. In 2008, she received Norway’s Medal of St. Olav for her outstanding service of Norwegian and Nordic interests during her 27 years of service.

Actually there had been talk about a museum many years before the Nordic Heritage Museum was started. The Norwegians already in the early part of the 20th century had wanted a museum because they realized the richness of their heritage. But nothing happened.

So talks continued off and on, and then during the United States’ celebration of its foundation in 1976 we talked again. And at that time it was realized that not just the one nation should do it but the five Nordic nations should be involved. So that was already from the very start very adamantly stated. It must be a

museum that covers the five Nordic countries.

I saw then what’s possible and I met Leif Eie who was very much [involved] with Svein Gilje and others. And very instrumental in getting the museum started. Actually it was Leif Eie, I think, who proceeded to meet with the school district. . . . And if my memory is right I think that the first year we only paid $300 a month in rent to the school district.

There must have been about 90 broken windows. In the auditorium, there was not the floor that we have today. It was a dark brown linoleum floor directly, I think, on the cement. Very hard.

The kitchen was not like it is today either because IKEA helped us remodel the kitchen.

So we started then collecting. We went around and we got a good start. It was rather eclectic, of course, because we really did not have very thorough guidelines. We were willing to take more or less everything because we were an upstart museum. We had enough to put together two rooms, which I was very proud of. At that time, then in 1980, I was then head of the exhibits and the exhibit committee. And we focused on what we called home life and had different objects and material documents of the Scandinavians such as textiles, house wares, wooden objects, decorative objects, in one room.

And in the other room we had occupational objects such as boat

building, which of course was very prominent, and logging. Boatbuilding and logging, those were the two main exhibits we started.

It was many difficult years to start with but very exciting years.

But we opened on April 12,1980, because there had been a fundraiser for the museum. It had been at the Space Needle and Bert Lundh was one of the organizers of that, and I know that Carl Helgren supplied the champagne. It was a very fancy Scandinavian menu that we had. It was up on the Space Needle that rotated and we were able to raise quite a bit of money.

I remember well in the early days when we had Scandinavia Today, and that was a big, big undertaking. Seattle had been chosen by the American government in conjunction with American Scandinavian Foundation to be part of Scandinavia Today.

Of course [we were] very young, and, as I said, had only two or three exhibit rooms, but we cleaned up a couple of classrooms that now are the temporary art galleries and we were given an exhibit that dealt with Greenland.

And we opened. It was a beautiful, beautiful exhibit showing Greenland today with three-dimensional objects. Like I said, sleigh dogs, sleighs, and everything else. And that was on display when the King and Queen of Sweden came to visit.

So you can see it was really a handson operation but the King and

Collector of Stories Gordon Strand has been a leader in the Nordic American Voices project, with which he has a personal connection. “I am the son and grandson of fishermen who emigrated from Norway in 1889 and 1921,” says Strand. “I never met my grandfather and my father died when I was 18 years old. I wasn’t able to ask them the questions I wanted to about their early lives, the people that were important to them, and their immigration stories. Their answers, I believe, would help me understand more about myself and the community I lived in.”

As for the oral history projects on which he has worked at the Museum, he says, “When asked to participate, many people say they really don’t have anything remarkable to relate, that their lives were quite ordinary.

More often than not we hear very captivating stories about people living, often heroically, through some of the great events of the 20th century. This is history from the bottom up. It is not the saga of generals and great political leaders. We are hearing about the way people and families survived, coped and even flourished through two world wars, a great depression and the transition to life in a new world and the constant effort to retain ethnic traditions.”

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Queen enjoyed it and, of course, the Queen was very, very gracious.

When I look back at it, it’s amusing because we were such a small museum and we had so little to show for it. And we gathered school children from Ballard who could meet with the King and Queen of Sweden, and Olaf Kvamme was involved with that. Olaf Kvamme who later became a board member of the Museum.

In 1985 we were contacted again by the Danes about an exhibit that they wanted to bring to the United States. It was The Dream of America. It was a fascinating exhibit. It was the core of what we have in The Dream of America plus a little bit more in Denmark. The Board also asked me to travel over there to look at it.

And in the meantime Andrew Price who has been a great supporter of the Museum had also been over there and gone to what is called Moesgård, that’s the Danish Museum outside Aarhus, and looked at it and thought this would be perfect for Seattle. It shows immigration and it’s done in a very three-dimensional way.

But I was over there and went through it and was very, very enthusiastic. And I came back to the Board and said we must really try to get this one and I showed them the layout and plans. And they became enthusiastic and Bert Lundh was really the driving force here too in saying that we should, yes, really get this one.

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I wrote lots and lots of grants and we did raise the money and we also approached Jens Bruun of Scan Design because he was Danish. And he said he would sponsor the actual purchase of The Dream of America. Because what it is — it was not a travelling exhibit. They were going to just destroy it or send it to someplace who wanted it. And at that time we were ready for it. So Jens Bruun said he would pay for the core exhibit as it was brought over here.

Lisa Bergman & Olaf Kvamme Both were integral to forming the Mostly Nordic Chamber Music Series and Smörgåsbord, now in its 18th season at the Museum.

Lisa Bergman is a professional musician, a pianist who graduated from the University of Washington, the State University of Stony Brook in New York, and the Julliard School. She was on the faculty at the University of Washington for 10 years as the opera coach and the accompanying instructor.

She has also run a number of music non-profits in the region and is the former executive director of the Icicle Creek Music Center.

Voices of Ballard & Beyond

Olaf Kvamme is a former Nordic Heritage Museum Board of Trustees member who served as the

Board’s president from 1990 to 1995.

He retired from the Seattle School District in 1987 after 38 years of service including periods as a teacher, principal and central administrator.

In 1996 he was awarded the St. Olav Medal by His Majesty King Harald of Norway.

Kvamme: I think it [Mostly Nordic Concert Series] grew out of the 1993 celebration of the 150th anniversary of Edvard Grieg’s birthday.

And that was a very, very big deal in Norway, and they spent a lot of money outside of the country supporting the celebrations. They had celebrations in Japan and in Seattle, we were grouped with Tacoma.

The museum was very involved in that, many of the concerts were here, some at the University of Washington. . . . But I remember Leif Eie who was on the committee. My role on the committee was a sort of liaison with the chair of the committee, Jean Gardner, the outgoing governor’s wife at that time. So Leif said, “Now, what are you going to do? They’ve invested a lot of “Grieg” in you, and you ought to do something about it.”

So I contacted Lisa, and Lisa may say she contacted me. I’m not sure.

But I feel better when I say I did.

As I remember it, we met at the Kaffestua down at the Leif Erikson Hall, and talked about this.

The one thing I know is I really had some questions about how is this classical music going to go over with this crowd here? Lisa came up with the solution that just clinched

Support Nordic American Voices it. “We will feed them. We will have a smörgåsbord after the concert and that will bring them in.”

Certainly, she was correct.

Bergman: I remember the very same thing, and that we had wonderful coffee and gjetost on rye bread at the Kaffestua, and I thought to myself, “Something tells me I’m going to enjoy this relationship with Olaf and the Museum.”

My husband and my parents and I were all members, original members, way back, 35 years ago, and really supported this place and all that it represents.

So, this was my chance, then, to give back to the cultural community of the Nordic countries in Seattle. So, I took it very seriously when Olaf came with the concept, but I had some misgivings, too.

I was very careful to also preserve the integrity of each of the cultural presentations on each series, which, of course, had and still do five concerts representing Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, so that each concert was segregated from the other nationalities. I did this not out of some sort of mean spirit, but to make sure that we didn’t wind up with one big conglomeration, because it’s of interest to audiences to hear Swedish music on one concert and Norwegian music on the next.

We knew we had a series that could sell. Then came the ultimate challenge, which was to find the printed music for the musicians to play, because these scores are not

One way to support the Nordic American Voices oral history project is by purchasing a copy of the new book Voices of Ballard and Beyond in the Museum Gift Shop for $19.95. If you are interested in volunteering for the project in a more hands-on manner, contact the Museum at 206.789.5707 to find out more.

commonly found in music stores around the land.

So two things surfaced almost immediately and they saved the day. One was stumbling across this volume, Nordic Instrumental Music for Colleges and Universities, by Professor Mark Lammers, who received a grant from Gustavus Adolphus College to create this volume. And in it is contained information not only on the various composers, but the difficulty level of the compositions and how to find the music. So that then led me directly to the Ohio State University system at Columbus [where there] is a Nordic music archive for both sound recordings and printed scores. This was like stumbling into Pandora’s Box. So imagine the very first concert, I was in the back of the auditorium, which is right next to the kitchen, which is part of the charm of this whole thing . . . And no matter how they tried, the cooks back there made some noise and unavoidably, came the scents of meatballs and boiled potatoes and green salad, and a little bit of caviar. And, of course, none of this is objectionable. But I thought, “Oh my God! You can’t have cooking smells with the music!” And occasionally dropping a spoon and so on.

So I was horrified at first, until people came to me later, and said,

“You know, it adds to the enjoyment, to be listening to the music and smelling the scent of dinner, and realizing what other pleasures were in store for us.” So in this case, it worked.

Kvamme: My impression is that, for a good part of the audience, or of the people who are eating, that’s a nice time to sit around, talk; they have people lingering here after the concert for an hour and a half, maybe two hours for some of them.

It’s sort of a “down home,” around the kitchen table event.

Bergman: Oh yes, we make sure of that, and make sure they [the artists] mingle. It is a down home sort of thing, with very much a touch of the highbrow. . . .

What’s really interesting is how the source of the artists has evolved through time. Remember first, one of my concepts was that we would use local musicians. To my great delight, our reputation has traveled across the ocean and now Nordic artists are contacting me for the chance to play here.

And when that happens, that’s a lucky day. Because then I can rely on their experience with the varied repertoire that they most often play in their home countries.

Lizette Gradén is Chief Curator and Erin M. Schadt is the Marketing & Communications Manager at the Nordic Heritage Museum.

Voices of Ballard & Beyond

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new

cuisine

Catching up with Denmark’s Claus Meyer, an instrumental contributor to the New Nordic Kitchen Manifesto and host of the PBS series New Scandinavian Cooking, about his — and the region’s — culinary journey.

i

Erin M. Schadt

n 2003, Meyer with fellow chefs Rene Redzepi and Mads Refslund, set out on a journey to study and discover the unique ingredients of Norden.

They had decided to create a restaurant, Noma, located at the Nordatlantens Brygge in Denmark, the building that housed the cultural and administrative facilities for the North Atlantic countries. The mission for the restaurant was to create a cuisine that would focus on elevating traditional and non-traditional Nordic ingredients.

The “gastronomic explorers” as Meyer describes them, traveled to Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and

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Iceland, “where we became very enthusiastic about the cultured dairy product, skyr, which is made with an age-old bacteria culture from the milk of the Icelandic cows, a race whose line has continued in an unbroken chain since the time of the Vikings. We tasted the local lamb and the wildly growing Scotch thyme, biodynamic pearl barley, fi sh — including arctic char — and seaweed of an extremely choice quality. Iceland’s dark rye bread, which is baked in steam down below the ground, was also fantastic.”

In the end, Refslund went his own way, and Redzepi and Meyer opened Noma in late 2003. Meyer says, “Our colleagues doubted that we could run a restaurant relying entirely on local produce — what would we do in the winter time when nothing could be harvested in our region?”

Despite skepticism, the restaurant would go on to earn two Michelin stars and was voted Best Restaurant in the World by Restaurant magazine in 2010, 2011, and 2012. A feat that seemed, at best, improbable for what were once considered humble ingredients of the far north.

New Nordic Cuisine

However, even before the accolades began rolling in, just a mere 10 months after Noma opened, something even more monumental came about.

“You can actually leave out the word Nordic from the Nordic cuisine manifesto. The manifesto we formulated may be a weapon against the McDonaldization of indigenous food cultures.”

— Claus Meyer Inspired by their own Nordic cuisine quest, in September 2004, Redzepi and Meyer organized The Nordic Cuisine Symposium. At the symposium, some of the top chefs in the region met and created the New Nordic Kitchen Manifesto (see sidebar). “The basic idea,” says Meyer, “was to unite chefs and farmers in all Nordic countries, small and big companies, politicians, and private people around a common mission: to defi ne the contours of a new Nordic cuisine that one day would be counted as one of the most admirable ones in the world.”

The Nordic Council of Ministers adopted the manifesto as the ideology

of the New Nordic Food program in 2005, with the goal to set a new direction for everything from the food industry to school lunches.

Meyer says one thing that drove the manifesto was “that we, also, had the dream of one day handing over a great cuisine to our children.”

Now, nine years later, the manifesto has fundamentally changed how the region approaches its foods: how ingredients are grown, transported, and prepared; and how the world views the cuisine of Norden.

“Today, cabbage is worshipped and rye is the new black. Wild herbs are collected and sold in supermarkets, and festivals celebrating our food emerge all over Scandinavia,” says Meyer. “Nutritionists and top chefs are turning the new ideas into everyday meals.”

Of course, in any movement, there are continual changes and new challenges. According to Meyer, the next step for Nordic cuisine is “to share our experience with the rest of the world. To make sure that everyone understands that Noma is not an end and that the Nordic cuisine is not about promoting ourselves or our region.”

“We have found out that we, initially, underestimated the scope of the project,” says Meyer. You can actually leave out the word Nordic from the Nordic cuisine manifesto. The manifesto we formulated may be a weapon against McDonaldization of indigenous food cultures.”

This relentless enthusiasm and drive that Meyer possesses has led him to tackle many initiatives since the manifesto was created, including founding a vinegar brewery, establishing a flour company (with farmer Per Grupe, using 100% organic grain grown on three farms in Denmark), running Meyer’s

Bakeries, and opening additional restaurants.

The uniting factors for all these projects? Meyer says, “before pursuing a new idea I have always made sure there is a something imperfect to repair or improve, a potential win-win-win-win scenario, in brief, a greater cause. For 25 years I have been investing myself in projects that were not just fun and beneficial for me here and now but some that could also promote my community, the industry, my country, and, why not, in the long run, make the world a better place in which to live?”

His latest endeavor, indeed, reaches far beyond Denmark. “We are setting up in the capital of Bolivia, la Paz, a non-profit organization: a bakery, a café, a restaurant, including a cooking school for underprivileged indigenous future chefs. The idea is to turn these marginalized young people into culinary entrepreneurs and together with all relevant stakeholders in the country to create a Bolivian food movement.”

The work also presents a true test to the theory that all of the principles in the New Nordic Kitchen Manifesto are translatable to any region. That food’s connection to the territory, whatever that territory may be, is what should make the cuisine of the region distinct and what should be celebrated by the region’s chefs and citizens.

New Nordic Kitchen Manifesto What exactly is the New Nordic Kitchen Manifesto? As established in 2004 by influential chefs of Norden, the aims of New Nordic Cuisine are: 1. To express the purity, freshness, simplicity, and ethics we wish to associate with our region.

2. To reflect the changing of the seasons in the meals we make.

3. To base our cooking on ingredients and produce whose characteristics are particularly excellent in our climates, landscapes, and waters.

4. To combine the demand for good taste with modern knowledge of health and well-being.

5. To promote Nordic products and the variety of Nordic producers — and to spread the word about their underlying cultures.

6. To promote animal welfare and a sound production process in our seas, on our farmland, and in the wild.

7. To develop potentially new applications of traditional Nordic food products.

8. To combine the best in Nordic cookery and culinary traditions with impulses from abroad.

9. To combine local self-sufficiency with regional sharing of highquality products.

Ever the gastronomic explorer, this concept is what keeps Meyer excited about food and drives him to push cuisine forward: “The taste, its connection to the territory; its capacity for communicating love and compassion; its power as an instrument to improve life.”

10. To join forces with consumer representatives, other cooking craftsmen, agriculture, the fishing, food, retail, and wholesale industries; researchers, teachers, politicians, and authorities on this project for the benefit and advantage of everyone in the Nordic countries.

Erin M. Schadt is the Marketing & Communications Manager at the Nordic Heritage Museum.

Learn more at www.clausemeyer.dk.

New Nordic Cuisine

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Nordic Ballard

For a fun day trip, explore the Nordic side of the Ballard neighborhood in Seattle.

Erin M. Schadt

W

hether you are coming down from Bellingham, over from North Bend, up from Olympia or simply from another neighborhood in Seattle, a jaunt to Ballard is a great way to spend a day. Here are some tips to make your trip as Nordic-filled as possible!

people from all five Nordic countries.

For a shorter visit, can’t-miss highlights include The Dream of America exhibition on the ground floor, the visiting exhibitions on the second floor, and if you have Nordic heritage, make sure to check out the gallery (or galleries) devoted to the country of your origin on the third floor.

After all that culture, you’re sure to be hungry. Drive down 32nd and take a quick left to grab an order of fish & chips at Lockspot Cafe. If the day is nice, you can get your order to go and walk “next door” to the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks (you may know it as the Ballard Locks) and watch boats of all kinds pass through. The Carl S. English, Jr. Botanical Garden is a beautiful area for a stroll yearround, and the visitor center features displays on the history of the Lake Washington Ship Canal.

Start out with a pastry and coffee at Larsen’s Danish Bakery at the corner of 80th St. and 24th Ave NW. The bakery specializes in Danish and Scandinavian breads, sweets, and pastries, and has been an institution in Ballard since the 1970s.

TIP: Can’t make it to Ballard?

You can order many of their goodies on their website at www.larsensbakery.com

Nordic Kultur 2013

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Nordic Ballard

Erin M. Schadt

Alistair Nash

Daniel Schadt

allows salmon to pass between fresh and salt water; watch through glass panels below the waterline as the fish make their journey.

A view from the locks

If you find yourself parched after such an enjoyable day, head over to The Viking, which has been keeping Ballardites “in the cups” since 1950; or try local legend Copper Gate (6301 24th Ave NW) bar and restaurant for a nosh on pickled herring and a cocktail made from housemade aquavits. (Fair warning: the walls are lined with vintage pin-ups!) The Stor Agurk cocktail with flavors of cucumber and fennel is a recommended way to cap off this Nordic day. Skål!

TIP: A fish ladder at the locks

At 10:00 a.m. (noon on Sundays), drive over to the Nordic Heritage Museum for a unique cultural experience. Take your time on all three floors of this museum dedicated to exhibiting art and objects and telling the stories of

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Downtown Ballard is full of boutiques for shopping, or keep the day Nordic themed and pop up to Scandinavian Specialties at 6719 15th Ave NW for a treat to take home from their large selection of foods, including house-made knakkwurst, kjottkaker, and fish pudding, as well as a nice choice of cheeses, soup mixes, sauces, and preserves. And that’s just the tip of the gjetost!

Nordic Heritage Museum Membership Membership Has Its Benefits •

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Become a Member today online: www.nordicmuseum.org/support.aspx or call us at 206.789.5707 ext. 33.

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Ørnulf Opdahl’s Mood Paintings 26