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It's a great great honor to be here. I've grown so fond of this town here. It's like
Being with close family I would say. It's so special the spirit of the town while I've
Been working with these people here working very hard they have been so kind. Well I
Have a grandchild she just started school this year and I asked
"What do you do at school?" and she said, "I'm just having fun!" This is the way I felt here.
It was a lot of work but I can say to all of them "Hey"
It was such a happy atmosphere. Of course these carpenters here had a lot of problems because this is an old house and all the walls
Are very uneven. Now I understand why they were constantly discussing the measurements
Because everything was uneven. For example this ceiling here when you put this-it sounds
Easy you just screw it up. Under there is a lot of beams not wider than this and they
Had to hit these beams. [They uncovered] three of them and they thought they found a pattern.
They start to screw it up but then found out it wasn't a pattern.
They never complained never a cross word it was just a happy event. I will say also that
It is fantastic given something a big panel like this to work in a commission like this. This is a
Commission I would hardly ever get in Norway. This is very special. Then of course
I could not have done this without my dear friend Sallie [Haugen] DeReus.
She has been my collaborator for many jobs for many many years. And strangely enough
I learned to know that family. The very first day that I the very first time I came to
Decorah I walked up to a men's clothing store and the very first man I met there was
Harry Haugen Sallie's Uncle and he spoke Norwegian fluently like he never had been
Out of Norway. We became close friends and later on I think I know well many generations
Of your family. And at the very first restaurant I did [painted] in Chicago I saw - the timing
Is very difficult when you get a commission like this you cannot [overlook the importance of]
Timing. And I saw that I would not get there. So I desperately start to think about
Who to call on to come to help me because there should be a lot of writing on the walls.
And then I called Sally she jumped in the van as she has done [repeatedly] with her
Brushes and paint [to rescue me]. While there are too many to mention the hospitality I've
Enjoyed here it has been a fantastic stay. Well I won't make this too lengthy then. You
Asked me what did you ask me about? Sigmund first before we get into the painting
I want you to tell them what your mother said about your talent.
Yes. Should I tell them about the first few I did then? I'll do that quick then.
I had just got lately into art and started to draw from a model and when I got home from the
Vacation I decided to paint a little mural so to say
Over our stove.
I painted a deer but I also painted a mermaid looking out to the ocean waving to a ship going by and it was halfway from the back so it was [hardly visible]
The neighbor lady came in and my mother proudly showed her into that room to what I'd done
And she looked at it and she said, "Something like that I would never have in my house."
When I grew up on a little piece of land that had a little farm my father, he was a fisherman
And gone most of the time. Well at that time they were producing some kind of a thick
Paper-like material. It came in bundles like this big sheets. Kind of thick porous paper
Which they soaked in water and they spread some flour on and soaked it in water and gave
To the cows and the cows liked it. Well it was after wartime then most of the kids they
Were drawing small pictures on small sheets of paper and I had these sheets there. One
Hundred in one bundle. So I mass produced the mountains and suns and boats in my little
World there. Then the same neighbor lady came in and then she was impressed. It was not
The artwork I'm sure but the amount of it. When I'd throw it all over the floor. Then
She said to my mother, "Aren't you proud of Sigmund what he can do?" My mother she was
A very wise lady and she said well if it's so that Sigmund has gotten a talent
It's nothing to be proud of it's something to be grateful for.
It was very early when they [came to] recycling.
Sigmund take us around the room. Take us show us what you see here and this is gone through when Sigmund comes back in
A year God willing if we support him he will fill it in some more. But Sigmund tell
Us about it. Well the first thing when I get a commission
When I get in the room I ask what's the room going to be used for and here I got much
More information than usual. So I tried to read their minds and I was also asked to describe
Norway as a country and also the immigration. Norway as you see -- if you fly over Norway
You see it is a highland plateau. And ice has carved down deep in that plateau the fjords
And the valleys. Then we start from the upper North Cape with the midnight sun. And you
Can see the plateau which stretches over most of Norway some places are glaciers. And then
You have the coastline to the left there and you see the fjords carved deep into this plateau.
That first mountain with the red peak there that is Slogen a mountain which I can see
Across the fjord from where I'm born. This is almost the view from my cabin. Our Queen
Sonja she's quite the [mountain climber] she has been up to that peak a couple of times.
Then the next mountain there is Bitihorn in Valdres which is another landmark. The third
One there I kind of [snuck] in a little troll. Theodor Kittelsen as you know he was the
One who kind of invented a Norwegian troll. And in the valley where he lived there was
A mountain [that] looked a little like this and he made a picture of it the troll which
Was wondering about how old he was. That's Andersnatten. We move then to the emigration.
Well I have to say that there's strong ties to America and also most of my family emigrated
And I could keep on a long long time telling you about stories. Always when family was
Gathering when I grew up they ended up talking about those people who left. So I got in a
Very special mood when I had to start there. I remember for example my mother telling when
My grandmother with ten brothers and sisters one after the other left and she was the only
One remaining in Norway but when their youngest boy left... "Then my mother cried" she said.
My forefathers have been here my great-grandmother my grandfather most of my uncles and so I'd
Like to continue that. They are now leaving the old country with the history there.
There is the eastern part the wooden area there. So they left from the eastern part from the
Fjords and from all over. There they left behind their history. The old church there
The barns you can see single barns here. And the stabur (granary). They left behind
Their own parents. If you see in the corner it's a doll and there are some toys there.
They left behind their childhood. There are some flowers there and it is like the flowers
Are kind of following them on their way. And the grass is light green and the red is almost
Like blood. There they have got all their trunks together. My grandfather he spent
Three years away from his family in America. Went back to pick them up had everything
Packed and ready to go. We had big trunks in our in our barn but almost in the last
Moment my grandmother changed her mind. But here they had everything for the big the
Long long journey to America. I think that's about it isn't it?
And here they arrive in Spring Grove. It's a nest there. They're nesting here.
He lifted his hat he has decided this is the place that I'm going to settle. The kids
Are testing the water. They have the wagon with their belongings there. They probably didn't have
A horse. The indian was back there. They didn't have a horse they probably had oxen to pull--they
Had the plow they started to till the land. They cut down the trees. Understand that it
Was wooded here so they had to cut down the trees split the trees make timber for their
Houses. But some I heard and that must be unique here I heard there were families when
They came here that dug into a cliff for their first dwelling where they lived the
First year. And also it was told that when they first built the barn and then when the
Barn was built then they built their first cabins. And in Norway when they got the roof
On still when we are building a house then they have a party. They get a tree up almost
Like a Christmas tree. Do they have that here? And there you see
He is seeding. With his hat off. With the hat off because there is a kind
Of sacred work when seeding. They always took their hat off and prayed.
And then you see the younger guys are learning the craft from the older -- they are making the furniture.
Then they start to cut the grass with a scythe like I also did when I was young and hay is
Piled up but you see they got some new -- they got horses and some new machinery. But the
Time when they left it was not only for economic reasons but it was also to give their children
A better future. It was a time when they believed strongly in education. They were building
High schools and universities out in the countryside in the smaller places. So there the table
Is set for learning. They built schools and churches here. I understand while they still
Lived in small cabins. And that's impressive. I don't know how unique this is for Norway
But I think it is somewhat unique for Norway and Scandinavia. And I cannot still not get
Over the age of some of these big churches here. They built impressive churches which
Still is monumental. While they still were living in these small cabins. And as one said
"Our parents didn't have much to give to Luther College when they were building the Main there
But they gave a cow." And as another said, "My father was always out there getting stone
For the building in the morning before he could start work on the farm." They really
Went into it. But there now to have come that far the survival period was over. They got
The big machinery in here. I remember at home we had these albums thick albums which showed
Families proudly in front of their new bigger homes. And also the big machinery when they
Did the harvesting. And I've heard from immigrants in my family what a joyful time it was up
In the Ă…rseth farm north of [his birth place]. Well this crew came in with this big machinery...
Steven Guberud told me about [thrashing time in Spring Grove] it was a really festive occasion.
It was hard work but boy how much good food it was. I would say thank you for that good food today.
And that dessert topped it because my mother used to make that rice pudding.
When I was in Oslo and was rather poor so to say. I had not dinner every day
I always had dinner on Saturday and always had rice pudding. Then you see there are some
Spring Grove scene. That is the grain storage you call it. And it's some from the Guberud farm
The windmill. That's the Ellingson elevator. There is
A couple of Ellingson's here that just want to commission that elevator up there.
There was time for more than survival. Amazingly they built the ski jump here. And there you
See the train is coming in lots of people there. Like at home when the boat came in.
Lots of people meeting those for the homecoming. Then the old theater there they [were] known
For baseball. Then [there are] three generations proudly in front of that new building the
Old [generation] then father and mother and the young generation with the American and
Norwegian flags. The toys have been brought back again. And you can see Ola and Per walking
Down the street. When I grew up we had still very strong ties with America and there were
Some had Decorah Posten. My nearest neighbor had Decorah Posten and I loved to over there
And read Ola and Per stories. And never would that dawn on me then that someday I would
Be in an Ola and Per town. Thank you! Thank you!
This is not copying any Norwegian interior. But in my opinion when traditions are just
Copied they are dead. I think a living tradition has to evolve and if we should keep the tradition
Here in America then I think the tradition of a painted interior is a unique tradition
For Norway and Sweden where you have the wooden houses. In Denmark it was more the continental
Style with the wide walls and brown dark beams. The continent down in the continent had
Fine art to hang on the walls; we didn't have very much. But when we got the chimney in
The houses we got the soot cleaned out then almost like an explosion they started to paint
Their homes. And they decorated their walls and the ceilings and the artifacts we had
We painted with colors. Maybe due to the cold long white winters we needed the warmth of
The colors. Earlier they [were] just able to hang up tapestries for presentations and
They took them down again. Now they could do something more permanent. And then we have
The tradition then of going into different kind of ambiance. You have the green room
Then you walk into red room then you walk into the yellow room. And instead of hanging
Paintings on the wall we decorated the whole room into a piece of art so you walk into
A piece of art.