Grayson Enterprises Ltd. First NA Seria! Rights

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ELSE BIGTON -NORWEGIAN-AMERICAN FOLK ARTIST

Written by June Grayson

Photographed by Richard Grayson

You don't need to be Norwegian to appreciate the mu!tip!e ta!ents of E!se Bigton, fo!k artist of Barronett, Wisconsin. Though she earns her !iving as a cabinet maker and wood carver, she is a!so a ski!!ed weaver and knife maker.

E!se Bigton and her husband, Phi!!ip Odden, are co-owners of the Norsk Wood Works of Barronett. They produce one-of-a-kind heir!ooms owned and treasured, so far, by peop!e from forty states and ten countries.

E!se was born in Aa!esund, Norway, where her fami!y sti!! !ives. She is a graduate of a Norwegian trade schoo| in weaving.

But it was at the prestigious Hjer!id Trade Schoo! for woodca#vers at Dovre, Gudbrandsda!en, Norway, that she befriended an American student who cou!d bare!y speak and understand Norwegian. She was so he!pfu!, in fact, that Phil!ip Odden soon presented her

with a "mangle board" which he had carved himse!f. According to Norwegian fo!k custom, if the woman accepts the mang!e board she has accepted a marriage proposa!. They wed in traditiona! Norwegian costume in E!se's home town in December, 1978.

In 1979 they graduated from the Hjer!id Schoo! where E!se specialized in cabinet making and Phi!!ip in carving.

Few countries have a richer tradition of the art of woodcarving than Norway. Arrogant dragons from the powerfu! art of the Vikings decorated the Norwegian "stave" churches pecu!iar to Norway about 1,300 A.D. When Christianity spread into Norway, the carvers added the cross, grapevine, acanthus !eaf, and the symbo!ic !ions and eag!es of the Crusaders. Even when the Industria! Revo!ution transformed the rest of Europe, it a!most bypassed Norway. So the o!d Norsemen continued to carve in wood. It was not unusua! for severa! generations to use the same house and furnishings.

It is this cu!ture that E!se and Phi!!ip perpetuate in their !ife in Wisconsin.

Though they work together, E!se and Phi!!ip work independent!y according to the!r special skills and strenqths.

"We don't take #uidance very well from each other so we have # found we work best by not interfering," E!se says.

Though E!se may appear de!icate, she is ski!!ed in the use of the huge e!ectrica! woodworking too!s. "Since I was trained as a cabinet maker," exp!ains E!se, "I wi!! do the technica! drawing. I will figure out the dimensions and how things shou!d be put together."

They buy !umber from !oca! Wisconsin sawmi!!s, air dry #t, and se!ect it for the proper grain direction, uniformity, density,

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and moisture content. E!se wi!! use any wood that a c!ient may request but she prefers to carve in butternut. Birch, pine, and baswood are also popular.

She transfers her origina! designs to the wood and carves then entire!y by hand sometimes using as many as 60 different too!s for one design. Just to keep her too!s sharp is a demanding task. It takes time and concentration to achieve the comp!icated patterns. European joining te##niques a!!ow the wood to expand or contract as the weather changes. She mixes her own water base stains and uses a penetrating oil finish.

Sma!! pieces such as boxes, mirrors, she!ves, and frames can be made in a few weeks. Larger pieces such as a dining room tab!es and chairs may take severa! months of work. Baby crad!es are popu!ar items ordered by doting grandparents. Prices vary depending on the wood used, the size of the item, and the intricacy of the carving.

Usua!!y E!se and Phi!lip wi!! work on orders according to._ their sch#du!es. However, some women, especia!!y, wi!! request that E!se make and sign their order, appreciating the fact that there are not many wor!d-famous women woodcarvers.

In fact, this summer E!se goes for the "go!d" - an honor bestowed to the winners of eight points in a year!y juried competition sponsored by the Vesterheim, the Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa.

Carvers may enter three carvings in each year!y contest and are awarded three points for a b!ue ribbon, two points for a red, and one point for a white. Entrants do not need to be Norwegian

but they must carve in the Norwegian sty!e.

E!se has won six points in previous competitions. This year she p!ans to enter three pieces, one of which is a Kub#esto!. A Kubbestol was the only chair found in the Norwegian peasant home and was reserved for the head of the househo!d. It is carved from a single !og, ho!lowed out so that the base concea!s storage and the back continues upward to form a !ong and comfortab!e curve.

When E!se wins the go!d meda!, she wi!! be the first woman to do so. The Vesterheim has previous!y honored six ma!e woodcarvers, one of whom is Phi!!ip Odden.

The three day Nordic Fest wi!! be he!d this year on Ju!y 26, 27, and 28th. E!se and Phi! wi!! a!so exhibit the!r work this summer at Door County, Wisconsin, and the Host Fest at Minot, South Dakota.

The Koh!er Museum, of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, has picked samp!es of E!se and Phi!'s work as part of a two year trave!ing exhibit of Wisconsin folk art.

If you go through Decorah, Iowa, on a vacation, stop and eat at McDona!d's. It is decorated in the Norwegian Viking

sty!e and disp!ays 30 of their carvings.

Or p!an to visit the Norwegian Pavi!ion at Epcot Center, Disneywor!d, F!orida, when it is finished in 1988. Their names are a!ready on disp!ay there, as two of the three American woodcarver# and two Norwegian woodcarvers to be asked to contribute their work for this permanent exhibition.

Or if you drive through northwest Wisconsin, visit the showrooms of the Scandinavian Import shop owned by Phi!'s mother

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in Barronett. Or visit the workrooms themseives when they hold Open House on Friday and Saturday of every Thanksgiving weekend.

It is only in the evenings that Else has time to weave and make knives. "I earn my !iving as a cabinet maker and carver, but I !ove to weave."

She accepts orders for weaving and knives just so she can keep up her skills.

It is in the "junk" room of their home in a converted country schoo!house near Barronett surrounded by the woods and !akes that she !oves that Else keeps her Swedish !oom. "I pick out my woo! in Norway when I visit there every other year and have it shipped over because that is what I am used to working with. The hardest part of weaving is to set up the !oom itse!f - to set up the right tensions of the thread and tie the pattern into it. After that is done, it's just fun to sit and p!ay with the peda!s," according to E!se.

E!se !earned knife-making by taking a week !ong course one year at the Vesterheim. "Of course, it he!ped that I was ab!e to understand the visiting Norwegian instructor," E!se smi!es. She made a be!t knife and sheath for a present for Phi! which he wears a!! of the time. Now she p!ans to make him a "twin" knife set for his be!t. "Twin knives are common for men in Norway," Else explains.

"I start out with a f!at sheet of !eather for the sheath and three pieces of stee!, one hard piece and two soft pieces. I

!ike to use birch bur! for the hand!e, and then I use si!ver or

brass for the cap."

A twin knife set may take E!se one hundred hours of "evening" work and cost more than $125.00. However, such knives are meant to last a lifetime and in Norway are passed down as treasured fami!y heirlooms.

Else has never a!!owed her left-handedness to be a handicap although may too!s are designed for the right handed. "You just !earn to work around it," E!se exp!ains. "Right handed p!astic scissors can rea!!y hurt. With hand too!s it doesn't make any difference. In fact, carvers are supposed to be ambidextrous. That way you can just switch hands as needed, rather tham move around the piece on which you are carving."

"I did have to get a jigsaw made to a new design, however. The old one blew air into my eyes every time I used it," Else says.

"#rOwin# up as a left-handed chi!d in Norway, I heard many horror stories," continues E!se. "Parents wou!d tie the !eft hands behind their chid!ren's backs to force them to use the right hands."

"I was more fortunate. Thirteen students out of my c!ass of 26 .in schoo! were !eft-handed. So no one tried to change any of us!"

Am#rican co!!ectors have made fo!k art a hot item. In addition to_ its beauty and emotiona! appea!, ethnic art is practica! for every day use.

Interesting!y enough, E!se and Phi! have many customers from Norway itse!f because woodcarvers in Norway can no !onger afford to work fu!!time at carving. Indeed, E!se and Phi! may be the on!y Norwegian-American woodcarvers who are ab!e to support themse!ves by working in their chosen field.

Through her mu!tip!e ta!ents, this Norwegian immigrant contributes her own bright strands to the co!orfu! fabric of contemporary American !ife.

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