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Ambassadors of Folk Exhibit - Norwegian Rosemaling

Date2010-2011

Mediumborn digital video - MTS file

DimensionsDuration: 2 Minutes, 52 Seconds

ClassificationsGraphics

Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections

CopyrightIn Copyright

Object number2015.196.274.5

DescriptionVideo showing objects made by Eldrid Arntzen displayed in the exhibition, "Ambassadors of Folk: Connecticut Master Traditional Artists."

NotesSubject Note: "Ambassadors of Folk: Connecticut Master Traditional Artists" was an exhibit presented at the Institute for Community Research in Hartford, Connecticut, from June 10 through October 2010.

Curated by the Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program, the exhibit showcased the artistry of Connecticut folk and traditional artists who have achieved recognition on a national or international scale. The exhibit brought to wider attention the mastery of local artists who are highly respected exemplars of ethnic traditions within their communities. The eight visual artists and two performers featured represent a wide variety of artistic genres and ethnicities and share a high degree of technical skill and sophistication. The artists’ accomplishments represent entire lives spent serving their communities through cultural production.

Artists included Aldona Saimininkas, East Hartford; Romulo Chanduvi, East Hartford; Jampa Tsondue, Old Saybrook; Eldrid Arntzen, Watertown; Paul Luniw, Terryville; Valentine and Aili Galasyn, Canterbury; Shengzhu Chen Bernardin, Torrington; Marek Czarnecki, Meriden; performers Negrura Peruana, East Hartford and Daniel Boucher, Bristol.

Art forms exhibited drew from roots in Lithuania, Peru, Tibet, Norway, Ukraine, Finland, China, and Eastern Europe, but were all made and used here in Connecticut and beyond. One unifying characteristic is that these pieces have been created for use in a community’s traditional practices. For example, the Buddhist thangka paintings and the Byzantine Christian icons encourage active veneration, they serve a purpose beyond being paintings to be viewed. Other forms on display include decorative containers, cloth, commemorative pictures and rugs, wood carvings, and important seasonal decorations such as two types of dyed and etched Easter eggs. Performance traditions originate from African Peru and Québec. All of the art forms are beloved in the artists’ communities in Connecticut, where they serve as important expressions of cultural identity and heritage.

This exhibit celebrated the twenty years that the Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program has worked with these and other remarkable traditional artists and their communities across the state.

Biographical Note: Eldrid Arntzen was born in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn in 1935, which had a Norwegian immigrant population of around 50,000. She has been painting various styles of rosemaling, decorative painting on wood, since the age of ten, studying with rosemaling masters in Norway and the United States. Her work has received recognition from members of the Norwegian-American community by being chosen as the Gold Medal winner in 1987 and the People’s Choice Award in 2003 at Vesterheim, the Norwegian-American museum in Decorah, Iowa. In April 2004, Eldrid was an invited panelist and teacher for the first international symposium on rosemaling, organized by Vesterheim. This significant honor situates her among the leaders of this folk art form such as Nils Ellingsgard and Sigmund Aarseth from Norway.

Eldrid has traveled all over the country to demonstrate and teach rosemaling. In addition to her classes at Vesterheim's Handverkskole, she was a regular summer teacher at Fletcher Farm School in Vermont and Land of the Vikings in Pennsylvania. She has taught American rosemaling in Norway and conducted workshops for the Sons of Norway in Fairbanks, Alaska. As a master traditional artist in the Institute for Community Research's Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, Eldrid taught rosemaling design to three apprentices from Massachusetts and one from Connecticut. Eldrid’s house is full of boxes, chairs, bowls, cabinets, trays, and containers that she has painted for her family to use.

Rosemaling on wood furniture, household objects, and even walls flourished in rural Norway during the mid-17th to the mid-19th centuries and was transplanted to America by immigrants. There are numerous styles within rosemaling, requiring different designs, colors, and brush techniques. As well as the Valdres style, Eldrid paints styles including Hallingdal, Gudbrandsdal, Vest Agder, Aust Agder, and her favorite, the asymmetrical Telemark style which itself has several variants. A hallmark of Eldrid's skill is that she is one of only a few in the United States who are excellent painters of rosemaling styles from so many districts.

In 1996, her paintings were selected for an exhibition "Norwegian Folk Art: Migration of a Tradition" that traveled throughout the U.S. and Norway. She was one of three American painters to participate in the 2004 international symposium, The Art of Rosemaling: Tradition Meets the Creative Mind. In 2005, Eldrid was honored by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) with its National Heritage Fellowship Award, the nation's highest honor in traditional arts. NEA bestows this award to only twelve artists nationwide each year, chosen for their artistic excellence, cultural authenticity, and contributions to their communities.

Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.

Status

Not on view