Norway has a variety of more than 450 different folk costumes, many of which feature highly embellished aprons, purses, beaded breastplates, and other adornment. Join textiles instructor Jane Addams and Chief Curator Laurann Gilbertson as they explore examples of the fine handcraft that makes each style of bunad so striking and special.
Get outside and enjoy the winter at the annual Barneløpet, a non-competitive ski or walk event for the community’s youngest skiers, ages 3-13. The collaborative Vesterheim Museum and Sons of Norway event will be held at the Decorah Community Prairie at 10:00 a.m., with registration beginning at 9:30 a.m. Skiers must provide their own skis.
Join us for Vesterheim's series of cross-cultural webinars exploring stranded colorwork in knitting from multiple cultural perspectives. Cultural Connections: Norwegian Sweaters is the first in the series and is led by the celebrated Norwegian author and knitting designer Nina Granlund Saether. The cross-cultural series webinars will foster perspective about the way Norwegian and Scandinavian handcrafts...
The murals in Vesterheim’s Gathering Room were created in 1999 by Norwegian rosemaler Sigmund Aarseth and Iowa rosemaler Sallie DeReus. The murals are an example of interior painting, relatively common in Scandinavia, in which every surface is decorated. The murals are inspired by the primstav, a calendar stick widely used in Norway during the Middle...
[vc_custom_heading text="February 8, 2025 1:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m." use_theme_fonts="yes" el_class="medium-heading bold"]Join celebrated Norwegian Arctic cultural presenter and preserver Stina Fagurton to hear folktales from north of the Arctic Circle. Join us for an hour of stories that will delight the children and whoever else in the family loves a good story. Gather the family together to...
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 Febuary as we discuss the novel Cabin in the Mountains by Robert Ferguson. The hytte – or wooden cabin home – is a crucial part...
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...