Gold Medalist Portfolios

When I was young my mother taught me how to crochet and sew and that started me on my lifelong love affair of working with yarn and fabric. As a young wife and mother with a husband who worked at night I taught myself to knit. But it wasn’t until my sister-in-law let me try out her loom that I fell in love with weaving. A love affair that I have had all the years since that fateful day.

Several looms and weaving classes later, I retired to Decorah and got in touch with my Norwegian roots. Here I first took my first Norwegian weaving classes at Vesterheim and discovered the type of weaving that I was meant to do. The Scandinavian colors and geometric designs in the traditional textiles spoke to me. I was especially intrigued by the practicality of the weaving and that the objects were both decorative and useful.

Syvilla Bolson, a Gold Medal weaver and folk-art weaving teacher, became my mentor and friend and taught me so much about Norwegian weaving. Her advice and guidance helped me along the path to winning a Gold Medal. My story would not be complete however, without giving a big thank you to Vesterheim. The excellent folk-art teachers have been a wonderful source of knowledge, the textile collection has been a wonderful source of inspiration, and the Museum Store is a wonderful source of Scandinavian weaving books.