DECORAH — Vesterheim, the National Norwegian-American Museum and Folk Art School, presents an online conversation with the artists of the exhibit, “Leading with Our Hearts: Nordic, Sámi, and Ojibwe Designs From Nature” on January 12 at 1:00 p.m. Register for a Zoom link to this free event at vesterheim.org/program/leading-with-our-hearts-conversation-artists.
Alison Aune, Chi Ma’iingan, Laurel Sanders, Wendy Savage, and Marlene Wisuri will talk about their contributions to the exhibit and the cultural and ancestral roots of their work in textiles, wood, and paint.
Ojibwe, Sámi, and Nordic artisans have always decorated domestic objects and ceremonial clothing with sacred patterns. Artists featured in the exhibition are preserving, reinterpreting, and revitalizing cultural patterns.
Influenced by her experiences as an art professor and interest in and study of ancestral Nordic folk art, Alison Aune, from Duluth, Minnesota, creates contemporary pattern-filled and color-rich paintings depicting individuals, symbolic artifacts, and floral imagery.
A former Chief of Police for the Fond du Lac Reservation from Cloquet, Minnesota, Chi Ma’iingan is a designer and maker of contemporary fabric-appliquéd Ojibwe regalia.
Laurel Sanders, from Duluth, Minnesota, is an art educator and recipient of a 2024 American-Scandinavian Foundation Fellowship to study Sámi band-weaving in Norway. Laurel is a board member of the Sámi Cultural Center of North America in Duluth.
Wendy Savage, from Duluth, Minnesota, is an art educator and contemporary Ojibwe artist, who delights in sharing the stories embedded in her paint and fabric creations.
Marlene Wisuri, from Duluth, Minnesota, with Finnish-Sámi heritage, is an author, photographer, and Director of the Sámi Cultural Center of North America in Duluth.
This exhibit is open at Vesterheim through April 13 and is made possible by a generous gift to the Vesterheim Annual Fund in loving memory of Floy Anderson Sauey by her daughters.
Vesterheim, the National Norwegian-American Museum and Folk Art School, welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds to engage in the conversation of the American immigrant journey through the lens of the Norwegian-American experience. Vesterheim offers innovative and interactive exhibits, classes, and programs, both at the dynamic campus and park in scenic Decorah, Iowa, and online at vesterheim.org and Vesterheim social media. For more information on exhibits, classes, programs, tours, membership opportunities, and ways to donate and volunteer, connect at vesterheim.org, (563) 382-9681, and Vesterheim, 523 W. Water St., P.O. Box 379, Decorah, IA, 52101-0379.