Drammen AiR Update #6

What a week – thank goodness for Sunday being a quiet day – time to catch up with a blog.

This week has been about connection, learning and sharing knowledge and having fun with friends. On Monday and Tuesday I did a fair amount of just wandering around, mixed in with walking to two of the shopping centres in Drammen – Gulskogen Centre and CC Drammen. The shopping centres are much like any mall you would come across in Australia, just with Norwegian chain stores like Norli (books and stationery), Nille (like Reject Shop) and HM – which was in Norway long before Oz.

On Tuesday I had a great conversation with Hilde Deisen who is my neighbour at the studios. We talked about different plant inks and dyes and she showed me some ink she had made from Mushrooms. It was so interesting to learn about the different berries in Norway and Australia which are used for dye – also discussing the downside of foraging – not correctly identifying plants – which as we all know in Oz can be fatal…

Wednesday was a catch up day on computer work. This ended up being a good option as it rained most of the day so a good to not go far… It was also a lovely connection day with voice messages and phone calls with loved ones, which really lifted my spirit ❤ I also had a wee nana nap which was luxurious…

Then the week completely changed gear! Thursday was a wonderful day with my friend Ingrid, who took me to Lier Bygdetun. This is a beautiful historic site with old buildings, some of which have come from other places to be preserved here. There is also a big garden and an apple orchard on the site and many different community groups meet there. Ingrid meets with a Viking group who work on a tapestry every week. This beautiful work is based on the style of the Bayeux Tapestry, except telling the story of St Hallvard who I mentioned in the previous post about my adventure with Ann Britt. He is the patron of Lier and the embroidery will be 14 metres long when it is completed. Ingrid very kindly brought along a viking dress for me to borrow if I wanted to. HAHA – don’t have to ask me more than once to get on my Viking – it makes my ancestors sing ❤ The dress was hand sewn by Ingrid and made from nettle fabric. Such a beautiful garment to wear – the fabric is so comfortable and the cut is made for womanly curves. I also loved the belt – took a few selfies that day 🙂

We then went back to Ingrid’s house and she repaired my jumper from the Faroes which I had stupidly damaged by washing it in the washing machine… Marty and I are meant to share it – he has no chance now!

On Friday I braved with rainy weather to get on the bus to Klokkarstua, this time to connect with a good friend Marianne Bakkerud, who I met also met in 2017. At the time she was managing the Kulturehuset Hovtun (culture house) situated opposite the ancestral church at Klokkarstua. Marianne invited me to present Journey of the Ancients as part of an art, science and spirituality night of talks. You can read more about the evening with this post Philosophical evening with Haaken Sund @ Kulturhuset Hovtun.

Marianne took me on a big adventure, exploring all around the Hurum (Asker ) region, which is the peninsula between the Drammensfjord and Oslofjord. Marianne also had some interesting information which may open up a connection to distant relatives who may still live in the area – now wouldn’t that be incredible!!

Next stop we went to the Hurum Art Group in Tofte where Marianne has her studio and leads the art group as well as working with many other groups in the region. From there we went to Holmsbu Støa and met an ancient tree friend of Marianne’s before wandering around the lovely old site of the Hurum Kunstlag , which was established as an artist community in 1977, led by Hurum ceramist Dan Anvik. One of the buildings is from the 1600s which is incredible considering it was a fishing cottage back in the day. Marianne and her group cleaned and painted the building so it could be used as a gallery and store for visitors.

One of the other things which really stands out to me in Norway is that regional artists can have access to historical buildings as studios and galleries. Both Marianne and Ann Britt Rage have access to historical buildings where they work and exhibit, and the Strømsø studios where I am based is also in an old school building.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if we had studios and possibilities like this at home? Just imagine – saving old Queenslander houses to be studios and galleries. What a way to bring heritage, architecture together with contemporary art…

OMG I FEEL A SIDE QUEST COMING ON 🙂

Our last stop was at the lovely coastal village of Holmsbu, where I am beginning to suspect is closer to where Anton was from…

Time passed very quickly and then it was time to head back to the bus station, thought we were too late. After the realisation that the bus had finished from Klokkarstua, we went back to Sætre so I could catch the last bus home. A very different journey to the beautiful route along Drammensfjord but interesting to see the different houses and very rich farmland.

Well, that was just Thursday and Friday! Late Thursday night I had a call with another friend Andrea, who incidentally came along to the talk in Klokkarstua in 2017 and very kindly took me home that evening. Andrea has been volunteering her time with a Norse group near Hønefoss and had a free ticket to the launch of a Viking ship which she thought I might like 🙂 OMG!! Talk about wonderful!! Ingrid picked me up and we went to her place and she lent me the nettle dress again, this time with an apron and brooches. OMFG!! It felt so beautiful to wear and I felt so good in it. Clothing made for a female form – hips, butt and all. Anyway, an amazing day was had by all.

The ship received her name Dronning Åsta (Queen Åsta) as she was launched with a Viking horn filled with sacred water being sprayed on the bow. Over 1,000 people came for the event. There were many VIP speakers, songs from famous opera singers and the group of rowers also sang. There was much emotion seeing this beautiful ship launched into the fjord. Andrea was one of the people who carried the sail as part of the proceedings. After the ship was launched, it was rowed around a nearby island with many cheers from the people on land and other well wishers in boats everywhere around the launch site. One of the speakers mentioned that over 100,000 volunteer hours had gone into the building of the ship.