Stories in Tapestries

Historical Norwegian tapestries told stories. In the 16th and 17th centuries, they came mostly from the Bible— instructional parables meant to illustrate moral lessons. During the resurgence of interest in tapestry during the National Romantic period of the late 1800s and early 1900s, folk tales were popular motifs.

The Valley Grove tapestries tell a story in a set of four symbol-filled tableaus. They pay homage to an enduring art form, one with deep ties to Norway.

Weaving a tapestry is slow work, building the images that come together into whole cloth. My hope was to create a “whole cloth” Valley Grove church story, bringing together the plants, animals, the land, immigrants, and the churches they built.

These tapestries are linked to a sacred place. They hang in a historical church, but it is more than worshipping with a pastor that makes a place sacred. The land, with its particular form and geology, the animals supported in the landscape, the common struggle of people in the surrounding communities to build farms and lives and families—all these create a wider “sacred space” to honor in these tapestries. I hope these pieces will spark a sense of community among those whose families are from the church and from the surrounding region.

In Medieval Norwegian churches, tapestries were valued objects, adding color and warmth to places where community members came together. I have a fantasy that someone who saw a tapestry in a church in Hallingdal or Valdres made the difficult decision to travel across the ocean and found herself in Minnesota. Generations later, her great-great grandchild might see the new tapestries—a thread travels through time.

About the Artist – Robbie LaFleur

Robbie LaFleur, from Minneapolis, Minnesota, has been following a thread of Scandinavian textiles since she studied weaving at Valdres Husflidsskole in Fagernes, Norway in 1977. She has continued her study with Scandinavian instructors at workshops in Norway and the U.S. Recent projects include interpreting Edvard Munch’s “Scream” painting into a variety of textile techniques (see this article in the British Journal for Weavers, Spinners and Dyers) and weaving tapestry portraits of her relatives. She was awarded the Gold Medal in Weaving from the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in 2006. Robbie coordinates the Weavers Guild of Minnesota Scandinavian Weavers Study Group and is the editor and publisher of the quarterly Norwegian Textile Letter.

To learn more about Robbie LaFleur visit her website: www.robbielafleur.com

The Reverend Nils A. Quammen was the longest serving pastor for Valley Grove Church, from 1867-1908. Born near Bergen, Norway, in 1839, he immigrated to Wisconsin with his family when he was eight years old. The tapestry image is from lore related by Valley Grove Preservation Society member Marlene Halvorsen. Her father told her that the pastor who lived in Farmington (where Quammen lived) sometimes skied from his home to Valley Grove for church services and stayed at parishioners’ homes.

The tapestry oak tree spreads its branches wide, a symbol of continuity and history. When a storm swept the Valley Grove grounds on September 20, 2018, it took down a magnificent bur oak that had shaded congregation members since 1862.

The format of this tapestry was based on a historical Norwegian tapestry cushion cover. Birds on the tapestry include an eagle, bluebird, meadowlark, and a shrike. Minnesota’s state flower, the Showy Lady’s Slipper, is in one corner. The Dwarf Trout Lily in the opposite corner is a endangered species found in nearby Nerstrand Big Woods State Park.

The stone church, begun in 1862, hosted church services for the Norwegian pioneers until the growing congregation moved into the larger white clapboard church in 1894. Later it became a guild hall, with the renovation expenses largely paid for by the Ladies Aid Society. It was common for women in the Valley Grove countryside to raise chickens and sell their eggs and meat locally and in the Twin Cities.

The Reverend Nils A. Quammen was the longest serving pastor for Valley Grove Church, from 1867-1908. Born near Bergen, Norway, in 1839, he immigrated to Wisconsin with his family when he was eight years old. The tapestry image is from lore related by Valley Grove Preservation Society member Marlene Halvorsen. Her father told her that the pastor who lived in Farmington (where Quammen lived) sometimes skied from his home to Valley Grove for church services and stayed at parishioners’ homes.

The tapestry oak tree spreads its branches wide, a symbol of continuity and history. When a storm swept the Valley Grove grounds on September 20, 2018, it took down a magnificent bur oak that had shaded congregation members since 1862.

The format of this tapestry was based on a historical Norwegian tapestry cushion cover. Birds on the tapestry include an eagle, bluebird, meadowlark, and a shrike. Minnesota’s state flower, the Showy Lady’s Slipper, is in one corner. The Dwarf Trout Lily in the opposite corner is a endangered species found in nearby Nerstrand Big Woods State Park.

The stone church, begun in 1862, hosted church services for the Norwegian pioneers until the growing congregation moved into the larger white clapboard church in 1894. Later it became a guild hall, with the renovation expenses largely paid for by the Ladies Aid Society. It was common for women in the Valley Grove countryside to raise chickens and sell their eggs and meat locally and in the Twin Cities.