Vesterheim Blog

An Anniversary Transparent Tapestry Workshop at Vesterheim Folk Art School

 

In September 2024, instructor Robbie LaFleur taught the class Frida Hansen Transparent Weaving Technique at Vesterheim Folk Art School. She wrote a wonderful blog about the experience! Frida Hansen revived and further developed the Norwegian weaving tradition towards the end of the 19th century and was one of the first Norwegian female artists to receive wide international attention. Read on to find out more about the class and the enthusiastic students. Thank you, Robbie, for sharing!

Find out more about Frida Hansen in this webinar recording by Robbie.

From Robbie:
Students canceled at the last minute for health reasons for my Frida Hansen transparent tapestry workshop in September. I was sad about that, but very happy with my super tight-knit group of five enthusiastic weavers at Vesterheim Folk Art School in Decorah, Iowa. They all came with ideas for images. We spent our first day immersed in technique, tons of slides, and close examination of my transparent tapestries before they determined how their patterns might work with open warp.

Jan Russell (who drove with her husband from Virginia!) started with a bird image from a napkin. Of the designs in this class, her tapestry will end up with the highest ratio of open warp to pattern.

Jan purchased a number of small bobbins of plied yarn (here’s one vendor) a while back because she loved the blended colors. Look how beautifully the variegated yarn worked to give life to a tree branch in her weaving.

Mette Hammer from Decorah wanted to weave a hummingbird. She sketched her design and worked through the first day to adapt it for weaving and add beautiful color. She brought it home and showed her husband, who said, “That’s an angry bunny.” Do you see it? Look at the two leaves as bunny ears. Mette decided to take out the stamens from her flowers, both to simplify the pattern for weaving and take away the possibility of an angry bunny!

Mette was making beautiful progress by the end of class, as a whole white flower appeared.

Kristen Rummelhart knew from the start that she wanted to use a dramatic dark warp. Her owl was inspired inspired by a wallpaper design. She chose a lighter green to begin, but after we saw an image of a dark weft on a dark warp, with a highly contrasting center image, she knew her owl would glow in the midst of dark leaves.

Gail Godwin came from New York(!). Her Frida flowers will be delicate. Look at the lovely geometric yellow borders. She warped her loom in varying colors that are close in value. It will be so interesting to see how the warp colors affect the overall look.

Sally Orgren from New Jersey (again, !!) modified flowers and leaves from Frida Hansen’s transparent tapestry, Vilde Roser (Wild Roses). She also added some variation in her warp. Her colors are bold, taken from a stash of embroidery and softer tapestry yarn.

If any one of the students had woven alone for the duration of the workshop, they would have been much higher up on their patterns. But they spent a great deal of time in conversation with one another, and came to understand much more about the technique through the weavings of their friends than they would have on their own.

On the last day Ivy Riggs, who was in my class last fall and lives in Decorah, brought her unfinished “Frida Bird” tapestry and wove along with the class.

I joked that Ivy could not come next year, because I want to see this beautiful bird DONE long before then.

And they weren’t even content with weaving together for four days! On Thursday evening we gathered at Impact Coffee down the street for evening weaving with cocktails. Here is a photo of East Coast attendees expressing astonishment at $8 for a drink.

There is even a scheduled zoom weave-along in October. It will be so fun to see everyone’s progress, and it is impetus for me to get my next piece on the loom too!

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