2025 Recap

A Year Worth Remembering (and Why I Write It Down)

When I am in the midst of a challenging project, or feeling invigorated by teaching a class, or handling details for a satisfying exhibit, I think, “I’ll never forget when this happened.” But that’s not true! I use my own posts as a personal timeline, as well as a filing cabinet of sorts, with quick access to research projects and personal accomplishments.

A Strong Start: Vibrant Traditions at Norway House

2025 started with a well-received retrospective exhibit of our Scandinavian Weavers Study Group at Norway House, Vibrant Traditions: Scandinavian Weaving in the Midwest.

My piece, Nest (Golden-Winged Warblers are Happy in their Minnesota Habitat), was not the only wool open-warp tapestry in the show. Mary Ericksen, from Mountain Iron, Minnesota, wove Poppies on a dramatic black background. She learned the technique in my workshop, so I feel extra pleased about her beautiful piece.

A January Turn: Bringing Mom Home

In January, I traveled to Arizona to care for my mother after she had a fall. It soon became clear that it would be best for her to live closer to me, and by the next month she was settled into a lovely senior building just four blocks from our house, the Kenwood. Her apartment—which boasts a million-dollar view of downtown Minneapolis—has ended up functioning as a gallery for many of my weavings.

Teaching Transparency: Boston Weavers Guild

In March I taught the first of four 2025 workshops in Frida Hansen’s transparent tapestry technique, for the Boston Weavers Guild, at a historic church in Westborough. Below is Louise Abbott, who translated a field of tulips to transparency. I still need to ask her how she looped the warp over the rod at the top; it’s very interesting.

From Coast to Coast: CNCH in Monterey

In late April, I taught at CNCH, the Conference of Northern California Handweavers, in Monterey, California. It was a striking shift from an urban East Coast venue to a West Coast oceanside setting, complete with deer grazing outside our classroom building. Below are blossoms by (left to right) Wendy Gilmore, Melissa Adams, and Margaret Emborg Jeppessen.
Note: these are all post-workshop photos.

Majesty Returns: Weaving the Eagle

I started work on a large eagle transparency and finished it for the Past/Present/Future of Folk Art exhibit at Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa, from July 11, 2025-January 11, 2026. (More on Majesty Returns here.) Isn’t it hanging on a marvelous piece of driftwood? My friend Holly Hildebrandt found it for me.

In Print: My Work in Krokbragd

Angie Parker’s book, Krokbragd: Contemporary Weaving with Colour, featured two of my weavings. That was an honor, but I was most pleased that I could suggest other weaver friends whose works she highlighted as well, Jan Mostrom and Wynne Mattila. (Read this review in the Norwegian Textile Letter.)

Blue Ribbon Summer: Minnesota State Fair

Walks around nearby Lake of the Isles led to a couple of water lily weavings in the summer. The one on an ikat-dyed warp won a blue ribbon at the Minnesota State Fair, and a special Weavers Guild award, “Best use of texture in woven non-wearable items.”

Featured in Väv Magazine

This summer I was so honored to have an article about my work featured in Väv magazine, written by Lisa Anne Bauch.

To Washington: A Potato Tapestry at the Smithsonian

My potato transparency, The Farmer’s Daughter’s Yggdrasil (Tree of Life), traveled to Washington, D.C., to be part of State Fairs: Growing American Craft at the Smithsonian Renwick Gallery. An art handler even came to my house to wrap the tapestry for shipment—quite an experience.

I had hoped to attend the opening, but wasn’t able to, and later the Smithsonian closed during the government shutdown that fall. I now look forward to seeing the exhibit in 2026. A particularly good, in-depth review appeared in Art in America: “A Crafty Show About State Fairs Stares Down the White House” by Julia Silverman (Dec. 12, 2025). It includes a wonderful line about my tapestry:

“Fairs also became sites for experimental approaches to ancestral craft traditions… A stunning tapestry of a potato plant, made by Robbie LaFleur for the Minnesota State Fair, adapts Norse mythological iconography and Norwegian textile techniques.”

(More on the potato tapestry here)

Research and Teaching in Norway: A Remarkable September

In September, I spent thirteen days in Norway and Sweden. I could barely stand upright in the gale force winds of information and experience. I reviewed Frida Hansen sketches and saw tapestries that were new to me. I taught a workshop at the Norsk Folkemuseum, where I was treated like a queen.

My public lecture on Frida Hansen’s transparencies became an actual royal event when Crown Princess Mette-Marit chose to attend. As I wrote at the time, the thirteen members of the press—armed with everything from cell phones to giant shoulder-mounted cameras—didn’t care that she was attending a weaving lecture. Still, my photo briefly appeared on the evening TV news: my Norwegian minute in the media. I look star-struck in the screenshot, and I was.

Through her support of and interest in handweaving, the Crown Princess has helped spark a mini-renaissance of weaving interest and classes in Norway.

Ending the Year Teaching: Milwaukee Workshop

My final workshop of 2025 took place in Milwaukee in November. The drive was miserable—squeezed among too many semi-trailers on Wisconsin freeways—but the enthusiastic students, gracious hosts, and beautiful light-filled classroom more than made up for it.

Here are a few photos of Peggy MacArthur and her Japanese-inspired cat tapestry. Her process captured something I see often: students weave for a while, recognize new possibilities in the technique—or see how their own work could be improved—and then the un-weaving begins. Weavers learn by doing; I know I do. Peggy’s cat, vase, and flowers shifted in both design and color as she reflected on her evolving tapestry.

Building a Community: The Norwegian Textile Letter

Publishing the Norwegian Textile Letter continues to be rewarding. The contents are eclectic, a mash of articles about historical and contemporary Scandinavian weaving and other textile techniques, and often translations from Norwegian publications. My goal is to build an international network of people interested in Scandinavian textiles, and to inspire people to learn and build on traditional weaving techniques.

The articles included in 2025 issues are listed in these posts: “Summer Bonus Articles in the Norwegian Textile Letter,” “The First 2025 Issue of the Norwegian Textile Letter,” “The Very Full Fall Issue of the Norwegian Textile Letter.”

Home at Last: Southward Returns to Norway

To cap a Frida Hansen-filled year, her monumental tapestry, Sørover [Southward], was purchased by the Christen Sveaas’ Kunststiftelse (Christen Sveeas’ Art Foundation). According to a Facebook post from the Stavanger Kunstmuseum, the tapestry will be on display at the museum for five years, with a possibility for further cooperation in the future. What a wonderful development. There’s no better spot for the tapestry than among the rich collection of Frida Hansen’s works at that museum.

I had nothing to do with the sale or its return to Norway, of course, but I feel a personal connection to the swans and maidens. I have researched and written about Southward since it was missing, then rediscovered, and finally shared with the world through museum and gallery exhibitions—thanks to the tireless work of Peter Pap. (Read more about the sale here, and read many of my articles about the tapestry here.)

Below are some photos from my favorite event of the past few years, when Southward was displayed at the Winter Show in Manhattan, in April 2022.

What Sustains Me

As government and democracy teeter, I remain grateful for family and friends. Grandchildren are the best. My mom is doing well, despite a rocky start to the year and four hospitalizations. She now lives in my zip code, and we are voting together in the photo below.

Another major event: Mike turned 80(!). I planned a birthday party for 50 people in our house, and it was a smash. In the photo below, he’s relaxing afterward with our immediate family.

Looking Forward: One Clear Goal for 2026

Let’s be brief here. Keep me honest.

Finish. my. book. This is the skylight scene from my desk (but not today, as the window is covered with snow). I will see a lot of these crows this year.