From Icons to Epcot: a Folk Art Journey || Art Exhibition

My rosemaling journey has taken me to Norway 11 times. I have taken many classes in Norway and the US. My teachers have been in the US and Norway who represent every regional and artistic style of rosemaling. As a rosemaler, I have been to the West Coast to the East Coast of the US teaching. I spent three different times in 2015 and 2016 at EPCOT teaching, designing, and painting at the revamped Norwegian Pavillion. I enjoy the designing and the painting, but I find it easy to go down rabbit holes of history and historical painters. I am enriched by the research. I use the research when I teach, when I write articles for Vesterheim Rosemaling Newsletter, and give talks. As a life-long learner the quest for more understanding of this folk art, that dates to the late 1600s, is unsatiable. This has made me uniquely qualified with knowledge of historical rosemaling and rosemalers. I receive inquiries from individuals and institutions who seek historical information about pieces of rosemaling. COVID stopped in person classes, but I was not to be stopped from doing what I like. My rosemaling friend, Kim Garrett (Ely, Minnesota) and I started an online teaching school called Nordic Canvas Folk Art Studio. We now bring rosemaling to people who can’t travel for classes, or at least not very often, but want to continue learning throughout the year. A highpoint on my rosemaling journey was earning my Vesterheim Gold Medal in 2005. The day that my niece, Allison Scheerer, asked me to teach her rosemaling brought me the greatest joy. My heart sings each time we get together and paint.

For many rosemalers their journey leads them to the painted folk arts of Sweden; it was the same for me. I have taken many classes from teachers/artists in the US and Sweden. Many people know of the painted kurbits from Dalarna, but there are two other painted folk arts I enjoy. These are from the southern part of the country and are called bonadsmålning. One of the styles are stories painted on paper or cloth and hung from ceilings and walls. The other style, which was a folk art done by women, is a called tuppemålning. Tuppemålning means rooster painting. This primitive style is made up of stacked flowers with a rooster on top!

My folk-art journey has taken me to explore, design, and paint Russian Mezen. This is also known as Palashshelskaya Painting. This all started when I saw my cousin’s nesting doll she bought in Arkhangelsk, Russia many years ago. The element used in this style of painting are full of symbolism and meaning, the colors used come from the earth, and the motifs used are like the rock paintings in Northern Norway. One matryoshka (nesting doll) has fueled my desired to create more. I used acrylic paints when I am doing Mezen style painting. A highlight for me was demonstrating at The Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis and speaking with a man from Mezen. He was able to share with me more history and meaning of motifs used, especially the red horse. It was affirming that he recognized what I had painted as the painting style from his home.

There is a part of me that seeks a deep resonance to what I am working with and on. I sometimes experience it when I paint rosemaling, for instance, but it happens the most when I am painting icons. I have had a long-time desire to learn iconography. Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum brought Randi (Maria) Sider-Rose to Decorah, Iowa to teach. I continue to study with Maria. In May 0f 2026 I will finish a six-year apprenticeship program with her. These classes are online and I am privileged to study with people across the United States in learning this art form that goes back to the catacomb painting of the 2nd and 3rd centuries at the house church of Dura-Europas. Through the years of study, I find motifs, symbolism, and techniques that are shared among the folk arts.

I continue to experiment and explore folk arts from many regions of the world. Sometimes their names are as fun as the objects created. Skinnfjellet, Himmili, Pysanky, Bandevev, Zhostovo, Petrikikva, chip carving, Sami inspired bracelets….so many folk arts are left for me to discover and try, but my heart is with the styles seen in this exhibit.