The Nordic nation of Iceland sits on the Mid Atlantic Ridge, midway between Europe and North America. Wild, windswept, beautiful, bleak and filled with fire and ice, the country is a romantic’s dream, an island of Vikings and sagas,… and art.
While the music of Iceland is well-known, and it boasts a fine pedigree in the art world dating back to the Viking adventurers, the textiles of the island are not as familiar. Through the work of the Icelandic Textiles Centre the craft of making textiles is continuing.
The weaver at the Centre is Ragnheiður Þórsdóttir. (Icelandic names are a fascinating subject.) This teacher and researcher has been part of the story of the Centre’s history long before it took up residency in the wooden building in which it resides. Back in her childhood, Þórsdóttir used to play under the looms when this was a school for women.
Weaving has a long history in Iceland, as it does across all the countries that border the Arctic Circle. The old fabrics of the island included designs with the flowers and plants that had medical uses. These offered protection when the cloths were wrapped around those on a long journey. To provide instruction about the myriad processes of weaving, poetry and songs were used. Some have been digitised – this link is to a 1966 newspaper spread with one of those ancient poems reprinted – and these offer a glimpse into the thoughts of people from the centuries when writing was not available as a means of conveying information. For something a little more gory, but still with a weaving theme, try this page where you can read about Valkyries and a poem, Darraðarljóð, with its translation.
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