(gentle music) - The exhibit is called "Nordic Echoes: Tradition in Contemporary Art," and it features 24 artists from the upper Midwest who work with traditional Nordic skills, but change the traditions in some way.

Some of them, in some cases, the traditions are changed because the artist is using local materials like a buffalo hide instead of a sheep skin.

And in other cases, the traditions are changed because the artist has ideas that are innovative, but still bases their work in the traditions.

(inspiring music) - Well, the American Scandinavian Foundation is an organization which was founded here in New York City in 1911, to foster understanding between the Nordic countries, which is Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, and the United States.

(visitors chatting) From 1911 on, we have been presenting a large array of programs, including fellowships, cultural programs, publications, and membership offerings.

The foundation in 2000 open Scandinavia House, the Nordic Center in America, which is the building in which we sit and where we're presenting this exhibition.

(birds chirping) (gentle music) - In selecting artists for the exhibition, I looked at artists who had been trained in skills that related to Nordic traditions, but who were taking those skills in new directions.

In some cases, that was because they were using local materials or inspired by the local environment, and in other cases it was, it was just applying their own creative ideas to the traditions.

But everyone in the show is pretty much trained in skills that come from Nordic traditions.

(gentle music) - [Edward] Each artist seems to have a very distinctive point of view.

Many of them incorporate some of their own personal history, which is very interesting.

And they're also relating back to Nordic traditions, which sometimes come down through their family, which is a very nice sort of continuity going back over decades and generations.

(upbeat music) (visitors chatting) - At this exhibit, I made two ale bowls, and I made a wall hanging alter piece, which features a take on the sleeve skull, which is a traditional Swedish, also kind of a ale bowl that was traditionally used for drinking out of.

(upbeat music) (visitors chatting) - I feel like this show is, it feels sweet and it feels cozy, and it feels like all the things that like I want to be surrounded in my whole life.

So it feels soft and hard and warm and cozy and like how I would imagine it is, would be like in Scandinavia.

I make art because it is a way for me to express myself in a language that is uniquely mine.

It's a way for me to connect to my community and to other cultures as well as my own.

(upbeat music) (visitors chatting) - I created a birch bark carrier for my guinea pig for this exhibit.

I keep thinking about Baby Beth or Childhood Beth, always wanting to be an artist and being so pleased that I'm here in New York City showing up a birch bark woven guinea pig carrier because that's just so fun.

I am just thrilled to be here.

(calm music) (visitors chatting) - When I'm doing something like this, I get in the zone, like, and oh, it's just wonderful, because time goes by, and wow.

And then to people, they enjoy watching me carve, and they enjoy these things, so I'm happy to do it.

(calm music) (visitors chatting) - I think it's really important to get this full card out to people, that I think people are craving it to learn to work with their hands.

I think a lot of people can relate more to some of this stuff than maybe to some other artwork.

It's like I can't draw for the life of it, but I can model with my hands or with clay or metal or something like that.

But I can't draw.

I couldn't draw anything I made, no way.

And that shouldn't really stop anybody either from doing it, but I really hope that, yeah, that people will feel like this is something they can do.

(inspiring music) (visitors chatting) - The idea behind the show was to encourage people to get engaged in learning about these traditions and perhaps even taking them up.

One of the things that we talk about in the US, but people in the Nordic countries also talk about, is how we can keep the traditions alive.

And in both cases, the answer to that question is usually through innovation.

And so part of the message of the exhibition is that these are works that are traditional in nature, but innovative in spirit, and they're meant to sort of capture people's imagination and engage them in thinking about the traditions.

(calm music) (visitors chatting) The exhibition opens tonight at Scandinavia House in New York City, and it will be here until August of this year.

Then it goes to South Dakota, to Minneapolis, to Vesterheim, to Decorah, Iowa, then to the Plains Art Museum in Fargo, North Dakota, to the Woodson Art Museum in Wasaw, Wisconsin.

And then finally to the Devoes Art Museum in Marquette, Michigan.

So it's traveling to all six of the upper Midwestern states.

(uplifting music) - I'd like to say we are very happy that this exhibition's happening here, and I know that Sally Yerkovich has put in a great deal of time with it.

And we are grateful to all of the artists who have participated, and a number of them are here for the opening, and we're looking forward to seeing them and toasting them.

(uplifting music) (group applauding) - The crafts really are an expression of the Nordic spirit and of the different Nordic cultures.

So they're part of our humanity, and it's really important to keep that expression alive.

It's not just for people of Nordic heritage, it's for people who appreciate the skills and the design of the art and who can help carry on those traditions.

(uplifting music)