LOGAN SQUARE — A history of Norwegian culture in Chicago will be presented with art, photos and historic objects throughout August in Logan Square.
The Norwegian National League of Chicago will open the historic Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church, 2614 N. Kedzie Ave. where the church’s Norwegian art will be on display alongside items on loan from the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Iowa. Those artifacts stretch back to the 1930s and '40s when artists exhibited at the Norske Klub, a social and cultural organization in Chicago.
Logan Square has been a hub of Norwegian culture since the earlier 1900s — evident in the number of Norwegian churches, clubs and choruses in the area, according to exhibit organizers.
The Norske Klub, 2350 N. Kedzie Ave., was founded in 1905 and opened on July 4, 1917, to host orchestral evening events and, eventually, annual arts exhibits.
The Logan Square exhibit will display host demonstrations of Norwegian rosemaling and knitting, alongside featured art. The recently-designed original Illinois bunad, a traditional folk dress, will be shown on Saturday with other bunads. A exhibition on Norwegian handmade knives will take place Aug. 30 and 31.
Explorer Roald Amundsen’s skis will also be on display alongside a Sons of Norway flag, which was flown over Amundsen’s camp in Antarctica.
The exhibit will be open every weekend in August — 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and 1-3 p.m. Sunday — in conjunction with Logan Square Preservation’s historic photo exhibition at Comfort Station, where a dragon chandelier is displayed on loan from Vesterheim and the Norske Klub.
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