Norwegian Wood 2006

As much as I loved Norheimsund, I had to continue my journey. I traveled by bus and by ferry to a point on the Hardangerfjord called Utne. At the Hardanger Folkemuseum in Utne, they have many wooden objects from daily life/ material culture of the 1800's. Of particular interest were the arved and painted furniture pieces by Lars Kinsarvik (1846-1925). Lars Kinsarvik is considered the father of the new Norwegian woodcarving style. He developed "den norske stilen", the Norwegian style, by going back to the Norwegian folk art from the middle ages in search of designs and inspiration. He took what he found, and then went further to develop the new style.
The other objects I saw at the museum were kept in the storage rooms and in the timber buildings of the open air museum. Elizabeth Gjessing, one of the curators there, allowed me to see the museum storage. One of her colleages showed me around the open air museum buildings and then gave me the keys so I could go into each of the buildings and get a closer look at the objects. The keys to the city! I love Norway.
The buildings and the objects in them generally would have been from 1820-1850. There are many carved boxes. The patterns on them are often a geometric star-like form called the rose carving, and was very typical of the time. One interesting box was carved on the inside instead of on the outside in order to make decorations on the blocks of butter.
One of my favorite objects is the øl kjenge, the double handled beer bowl. This would have been carved from an appropriate bend or burl in a tree. This big beer bowl would be filled up and everyone would drink from the one bowl at a wedding. Sort of like communion. Skal!
And here are some pictures to make you feel better if you are having a hard day at work. Think of how it is to be sawing logs by hand, especially to be the bottom guy getting the sawdust shower.