In celebration of the Opening Weekend of Nordic Echoes — Tradition in Contemporary Art, the first major traveling exhibition of contemporary Nordic artist traditions from the Upper Midwest, join us for a panel discussion with four artists featured in the show: Kjetil “K.J.” Groven, Beth Kraus, Peter “Pekka” Olson, and Sonja Peterson. Folklorist Victoria Stewart (Assistant Director, Wayne State University Humanities Center) will moderate a conversation about their works in the show and their respective practices, with a particular emphasis on wood.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Kjetil “KJ” Groven was born in Skien, Norway and moved to South Dakota in 1999. He first began working with wood, leather and metals as a child while spending time with his grandparents on the family farm, and made his first knife at age 12, and his first carved spoon at age 13. Today he combines wood work with blacksmithing and tool making, with most work relate to hand tools from old Scandinavia, while also teaching at different institutions in the U.S. He received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, and considers himself as versatile as a potato.
Beth Homa Kraus is a weaver, woodworker and artist in South Minneapolis, MN. They have been sustainably harvesting local materials from the Minnesota boreal forests, including bark, root and wood, for more than a decade. Using hand tools, they process and refine natural materials before turning them into baskets and other art objects. They also teach classes and foster weaving communities, and are passionate about spreading the love of baskets to everyone who catches weaver fever.
Peter “Pekka” Olson uses wood, bark, bone and other natural materials to create works of art that highlight the natural beauty and versatility of the materials local to the forests near his home in Tapiola, MI. Born and raised in this community, Olson’s life on a small subsistence farm with his Finnish ethnic family taught him how to use the trees and the materials they offer for useful things: carved wooden handles, farm tools, sauna materials, and more. His later work as a woodsman sustainably harvesting timber from his land — as well as his ongoing interest in his Finnish heritage — later led to his work as an artist, carving, weaving, assembling, and teaching others how to do the same. Pekka’s deep sense of nature contributes to his understanding of how to use different items to their advantage, mixing textures, grains, colors, and techniques. Always wanting to learn more and to teach his skills to the next generation, Pekka has been both a master and apprentice artist through awards from the Michigan Traditional Arts Program and the American Scandinavian Foundation, also receiving first prize at the Emberlight Festival as well as an Upper Peninsula Folklife Award from Northern Michigan University.
Sonja Peterson explores the human impact on a variety of ecosystems and cultures and how our world has become interconnected. She grew up in Minnesota, where her mother was a folk painter (or “flower painter” in many languages), and began practicing painting, drawing, cutting and weaving paper at an early age. She developed an early interest in imagery based on plants as well as psaligraphy. She has since departed from the precise traditional standards she learned from her mother, while retaining some threads through her use of natural imagery. Sonja creates large hand-cut stories out of paper that are often suspended in space to create multiple vignettes or chapters through a single piece, heightening her objective of drawing the viewer into details after their initial glance. Her works focus on the environment and where humans fit within it, and also explores the impact of invasive species as well as the world’s interconnectivity through agricultural, financial and trade systems. Her use of delicate, hand-cut paper mimics the precariousness of our present day, and she additionally works with books, laser-cut and -routed metal and wood sculptures.
L-R: Kjetil “K.J.” Groven, Beth Kraus, Peter “Pekka” Olson, Sonja Peterson (photos courtesy the artist), Victoria Stewart (photo courtesy Wayne State University)