Bio: Edi Thorstensson has been weaving since 1963, when she enrolled in a summer class in beginning weaving at the Chicago Art Institute. The class was taught by Lurene Stone and occasionally visited by Elsa Regensteiner, who was head of the Weaving Department at the Art Institute and a noted author and textile designer. Being a student in the Art Institute School at the time placed Thorstensson in a social context very different from the Chicago suburb, La Grange, in which she had grown up and the college, St.Olaf, where she had just completed her first year. Her classmates were public school art teachers, aspiring textile designers, artist activists, students of all ages, with diverse economic backgrounds, racial identities, and life experiences and goals. The Civil Rights movement was gaining momentum, and it influenced students’ relationships to each other both inside and outside the classroom. For Thorstensson, the summer weeks of 1963 at the Chicago Art Institute, was an introduction to weaving much more than cloth. Thorstensson has continued her textile studies at Mora Folkhögskola and Skånska Hemslöjd in Sweden, in Tromsø and other settings in Norway, and, in the US, Sievers School of Fiber Arts, the Weavers Guild of Minnesota, North House Folk School, and Vesterheim Norwegian American Museum. She has taught weaving classes at Gustavus Adolphus College and the Arts Center of St. Peter. She is a retired librarian and college archivist who lives in St. Peter, Minnesota.

Description: I brought this inkle loom krokbragd as a show-and-tell to the Scandinavian Weavers exhibit in Red Wing Arts in Red Wing, Minnesota. It was a fun chance to try something new. I now see this as a wonderful way to weave very substantial bands that can stand up to wear and tear. I love this technique when used with the right warp and weft.

Regarding the Scandinavian Weavers Group: The study group has been a wonderful enhancement and continuation of the Norwegian Textile focus group and publications. It is always good to connect!

ejthor44@gmail.com