Connecticut Rosemaler Receives National Heritage Fellowship Award
Hartford, CT, USA -June 21, 2005 - Eldrid Arntzen of Watertown, Connecticut, a master painter in the Norwegian rosemaling tradition, has been honored by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) with its National Heritage Fellowship Award. The Fellowship recognizes artists who work in folk and traditional art forms. NEA bestows this award to only twelve artists nationwide each year who are chosen for their artistic excellence, cultural authenticity, and contributions to their communities. Previous honorees include bluesman B.B. King, Irish stepdancer Michael Flatley, bluegrass legend Bill Monroe, and Connecticut master musicians Ilias Kementzides and T. Viswanathan (deceased). This year's Fellowship winners will travel to Washington, DC for a series of events, culminating in an awards presentation on Capitol Hill and a public concert at George Washington University.
Eldrid Arntzen is a Norwegian-American artist who has been painting in a variety of rosemaling styles since the 1960's. Her work has received recognition from members of the Norwegian-American community by being chosen as the Gold Medal winner in 1987 and the Peoples Choice Award in 2003 at Vesterheim, the Norwegian-American museum in Decorah, Iowa. In April 2004 Eldrid was an invited panelist and teacher for the first international symposium on rosemaling, organized by Vesterheim. This significant honor situates her among the leaders of this folk art form, artists and symposium participants such as Nils Ellingsgard and Sigmund Aarseth from Norway.
"I have always been interested in preserving and promoting my cultural heritage," said Eldrid. "I grew up in a Norwegian community and learned to paint as a young girl. What I love about rosemaling is all the different styles which represent the richness and variety of this art form," she added.
Eldrid travels all over the country to demonstrate and teach rosemaling. In addition to her classes at Vesterheim's Handverkskole, she is a regular summer teacher at Fletcher Farm School in Vermont and Land of the Vikings in Pennsylvania. She has taught American rosemaling in Norway and recently conducted a rosemaling workshop for the Sons of Norway in Fairbanks, Alaska.
A master traditional artist in The Institute for Community Research's (ICR) Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program, Eldrid has also taught rosemaling design to three apprentices from Massachusetts and one from Connecticut. The program connects artists working in community-based art forms from the same ethnic or occupational group in one state with a teacher or apprentice in one of the other states. Eldrid recently exhibited her work and gave a hands-on demonstration of rosemaling at ICR's Hartford area folk arts festival featuring master artists and students from the program.
Eldrid's other honors include being featured as Convention Artist at the Society of Decorative Painters 2003 Convention in Providence, and the Society selected Eldrid to paint an ornament for the White House Christmas tree in 2004. Four of her rosemaling works were included in The Institute for Community Research exhibit Hidden Treasures: Works by Connecticut Folk and Traditional Artists in 2001.
Her recent awards include First Place and Best of Show at the 2004 Sons of Norway International Competition; the Visitor's Choice award in 2002 for her rosemaling plate painted for Vesterheim's annual benefit auction; and First Place awarded by the Society of Decorative Painters in 1999 for her rosemaling trunk.
Rosemaling, decorative painting on wood furniture, household objects, and even walls, flourished in rural Norway during the mid 17th to the mid 19th centuries. As Norwegians emigrated to America in the mid-1800's, they brought decorated utilitarian objects with them to their new farms and rosemaling continued in America. In the 1940's both Brooklyn in the east and Seattle in the west were venues for increased interest in this art form. Eldrid was born in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, which had a Norwegian immigrant population of around 50,000. She began to paint at age ten, joining the Brooklyn Arts and Craft Club and Norheim's (Norwegian) Art Studio where students learned oil painting. During her visits back to Norway, Eldrid studied the Telemark style of rosemaling with Olaf Fossli at the Akadamiet i Rauland. Olaf had the most influence on her painting. Eldrid later studied with rosemalers Nils Ellingsgard and Ragnvald Froysadal.
There are numerous styles within rosemaling, requiring different designs, colors, and brush techniques. The variety and complexity of
regional rosemaling styles and influences mark this tradition as one with a rich, continually evolving history and character. As well as the Valdres style, Eldrid paints in Hallingdal, Gudbrandsdal, Vest Agder,
Aust Agder, and her favorite, the asymmetrical Telemark style which itself has several variants. A hallmark of Eldrid's skill is that she is one of only a few in the United States who are excellent painters of rosemaling styles from so many districts. She goes beyond technical competence in each style to create a design and execution expressing a degree of individuality within the traditional form, not altering the form but extending it with lively respect.
As President of the New England Rosemalers Society for many years, Eldrid was responsible for the annual exhibit / demonstration. Eldrid and her husband Norman organized the 2002 cultural exhibits at the East Coast Sons of Norway Convention held in Connecticut.
She has been the director of the Sons of Norway, Hartford Lodge "Viking Chorus," and a member of the Hardanger Fiddle Association of America. She and Norman helped organize special events such as Bloomfield, Connecticut's hosting of the Norwegian Special Olympics soccer team during the summer of 1995, and the 1993 and 2003 visits to Newburgh, New York of the replica Gokstad Viking ship which was featured at the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition.
