Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition
St. Helena Island, South Carolina
The Gullah/Geechee Cultural Corridor reaches from Georgia to Florida and centers around the Carolina Lowcountry and the islands. Groups that want to learn about and experience Gullah Geechee culture should visit historic St. Helena Island, South Carolina, where the Sea Island Coalition offers tours and workshops to share their culture with visitors.
Groups that take part in one of the basket-weaving workshops will learn about how sweetgrass is gathered and dried, as well as how the palmetto, native to South Carolina, is prepared and used to sew, rather than weave, the baskets. As beginners, participants are given a starter to create a small basket, or they can sew a wreath using a similar process.
The strip-quilting workshop is particularly fun for groups. The class starts off with learning some of the basic quilt shapes and stitches; then everyone chooses his or her color scheme and a shape to create. What makes the workshop special is that everyone in the group then brings the pieces together to make one strip quilt. Not every piece will be in the same color or style, but the quilt will come together to create a special memento for your group.
Queen Quet, chief of the Gullah/Geechee nation, explained why these two art forms are such an integral part of the culture today: “We teach about the history and how it relates to the African diaspora and how it relates to us as people so that when you leave with it, you feel the warmth and the connection we feel when we make something like this for our families,” she said.
American Swedish Institute
Minneapolis
The American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis started out as the residence of Swan Turnblad, a local editor and Swedish immigrant. The Turnblad family donated their home to become a cultural center to celebrate their Swedish heritage in 1928. The institute and its 2012 addition, the Nelson Cultural Center, offers a schedule of workshops that change twice a year for groups interested in learning slöjd, a method of Swedish handicraft where the artist creates objects entirely by hand or using only simple tools.
Slöjd workshops at the institute include felting and needlework, woodcarving, leatherworking and glass mosaics, among others. Groups that choose to do the leatherworking workshop will learn about how to choose leather, the different tools used, sewing a traditional saddle stitch and how to finish their piece, before going on to create their own card case, wallet or journal cover.
Travelers can also create items like handmade cutting boards from the woodcarving workshop, and trivets or sun catchers from the glass mosaics class. During winter, the mansion is decorated for Sankta Lucia’s Day and the Christmas season, and special classes are offered to created birch bark ornaments.
Groups visiting the institute will enjoy adding one of the many tours to see the mansion’s elegant architecture and Scandinavian details, or taking an intro to Swedish class. The award-winning Fika cafe serves New Nordic cuisine and a seasonal menu that highlights Swedish traditions, making it a great way to round out your visit with a bite to eat.
Nordic Heritage Museum
Seattle
The Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood is located in the old school building of the historically Scandinavian area of the city. The Craft School at the museum offers a schedule of workshops, with spring and fall classes available. Past classes have included knitting, beer-making, baking and Scandinavian table dressing. Rosemaling — Scandinavian-style painting — and Viking/dragon-style or acanthus woodworking class series are offered throughout the year.
Groups visiting during the summer season can learn how to make flag balls, based on Japanese temari balls. Temari were originally adapted from Chinese leather balls used by nobles to play games but grew to be a traditional art form in Japan. Temari are fabric balls tightly wrapped with more strips of fabric, then sewn with intricate designs in brightly colored threads. Today the art has been incorporated into many cultures and transformed to represent more than just the original Japanese heritage. During the temari workshop at the museum, participants will make a flag ball sewn in the temari style; but then they will learn how to decorate it and sew the flag of one of the Scandinavian countries — Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland or Finland — onto its surface.
During Christmastime at the museum, there are also special events and workshops such as traditional Scandinavian baking workshops and workshops where groups can make woven paper hearts or felted hearts, traditional ornaments in many Scandinavian countries.
The new Nordic Museum complex is set to open in 2018 on nearby Market Street in the historic Scandinavian Ballard neighborhood.
