This spring I gave a talk on Frida Hansen and her transparent tapestry technique for the Damascus Fiber Arts School as part of their Tapestry Talks series. It was greeted enthusiastically. My favorite comment afterwards came from my friend and excellent weaving instructor Donna Hansen. She said she is planning a trip to Norway next summer, and now she is going to change her itinerary to visit the Stavanger Art Museum, which has the best collection of Frida Hansen’s works. That’s a great idea.
This was the first time I gave an online talk focused on Hansen’s transparencies. An earlier webinar for Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum described her life and work more broadly, Frida Hansen: A Norwegian Art Nouveau Artist in Wool.
Vibece Salthe, a curator at the Stavanger Art Museum, gave an online lecture in 2022 as part of a series, Discovering the artistic female contribution to the Art Nouveau, organized by the Réseau Art Nouveau Network [Art Nouveau Network].
Another Vesterheim webinar, The Mystery of the Missing Swans and Maidens: A Frida Hansen Tapestry Tale, told the story of her monumental tapestry from 1903, Sørover [Southward]. It was purchased by an American tapestry teacher, Berthea Aske Bergh, and displayed many times before going missing for almost 90 years!
You can read about Frida Hansen as well as watch these videos. The Stavanger Art Museum published a beautiful book of photos and essays in connection with the retrospective of Frida Hansen’s work at the museum in 2015. There are copies in stock again at the store at Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum. Order here.