Join Decorah Travel Club as they host Vesterheim Chief Curator Laurann Gilbertson for this engaging presentation about Norwegian deaconesses in America. Deaconesses, women called to serve the church and humankind, come from a tradition dating from Biblical times to the Middles Ages. Their work was revived in Germany in 1836 and the “modern” diaconate spread...
A Dying Norway – in a Living America? Exhibit Closes on February 16, 2025. This exhibit of documentary photographs by Lars Idar Waage is a portrait of Stavanger, Illinois, by someone from 6,000 miles away in Stavanger, Norway. The tiny town of Stavanger, Illinois, in LaSalle County, is the location of the first permanent settlement...
Vesterheim welcomes preschoolers and their caregivers to Barnetimen Children’s Hour. Meet in the lobby of the museum’s Main Building to explore objects and stories in the museum’s collection and make fun art. Meet in the lobby of the Museum Building to hunt for heart shapes in the museum’s collection and create heart-inspired art before enjoying...
Join Vesterheim for a free concert by local favorites The OK Factor! Playful and unexpected, new-classical crossover duo The OK Factor writes and performs folk-inspired music influenced by multiple genres and styles, with an artistry that reveals their classical training. Cellist Olivia Diercks and violinist Karla Colahan find great joy in defying expectations and delivering...
[vc_custom_heading text="February 23, 2025 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m." use_theme_fonts="yes" el_class="medium-heading bold"]Join us for Vesterheim's series of cross-cultural webinars exploring stranded colorwork in knitting from multiple cultural perspectives. Cultural Connections: Stranded Colorwork in Knitted UK Gloves is the second in the series and is led by Dr. Angharad Thomas, an author, researcher, and knitter from the UK....
Four tapestries, woven in traditional Norwegian billedvev or “picture weaving,” for the historic Valley Grove Stone Church in rural Nerstrand, Minnesota, will be on exhibit in the Vesterheim Commons while the church is closed for the winter. The Valley Grove Preservation Society commissioned Vesterheim Gold Medalist Robbie LaFleur of Minneapolis, Minnesota, to design and weave the tapestries...
Be transported back in time through words and photos from a 10-week-long trip Andrew and Elise Hoiness took to Norway in 1908. Using visuals from postcards as well as the messages in those and in letters home to family members in Iowa, you will get a sense of the realities of travel at the time...
Join Vesterheim on Zoom for a free webinar, “Fiddlesisters – The History of Female Fiddlers in Norwegian Fiddle Tradition from 1700s until Today" with Benedicte Maurseth. Benedicte Maurseth is a well-established and esteemed performer and composer on Norway's music scene. She has studied with Hardanger fiddle master Knut Hamre for close to 30 years and...
Vesterheim welcomes preschoolers and their caregivers to Barnetimen Children’s Hour. Meet in the lobby of the museum’s Main Building to explore objects and stories in the museum’s collection and make fun art. During March’s program, we’ll closely look at the nature-inspired patterns of Ojibwe, Sámi, and Nordic artisans in the exhibit Leading With Our Hearts...
Dr. Maren Johnson, Luther College's Associate Professor of Nordic Studies and Torgerson Center for Nordic Studies Director, facilitates a monthly bokprat, discussing Scandinavian authors and Scandinavian life. Join us in March for a discussion of The Night of the Scourge by Lars Mytting. A riveting and epic family drama set in WWII-era Norway, award-winning author Lars Mytting's...
