Finnish rug weaving lecture to be held September 12

Yvonne Lockwood, Finlandia Foundation National’s Lecturer of the Year for 2013, will make a presentation on Thursday, September 12, at 6:30 p.m., at Suomi Hall, 244 W. Marine Drive, in Astoria. She will do a power point presentation on Finnish rag rug weaving which will include the history as well as current rug weaving in Finland.

Ms. Lockwood is a student of Finnish American culture. Although born and raised in the densely, Finnish-populated Upper Peninsula of Michigan, she went to high school and college in California. When she returned to Michigan and began research in Finnish America, everything was both familiar and new; it was as though she was both an outsider looking in and an insider recalling a life to which she now returned. She received her PhD from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Her book, Finnish American Rag Rugs: Art, Tradition, and Ethnic Continuity is the result of 20 years of research, interviews with weavers and loommakers, and writing. Currently, she is comparing traditional material culture in Finnish America and in Finland.

From 1981-2009 she was curator of folk life at the Michigan State University Museum which provided a format to investigate different cultures in Michigan and the Great Lakes region. Since her retirement, she frequently goes to Finland to learn more about Finland’s traditional crafts and to study Finnish.

This presentation is open to the public. There is no admission charge, but donations will be accepted. Refreshments will be served.

Sponsors of this event are the UFKB&S No. 2 of Astoria, the Finnish American Folk Festival and Appelo Archives Center of Naselle.