Celebration of Danish Folk Art planned in Withee, Wisconsin on Saturday, August 8, 2015

A Picture of Denmark at Nazareth Lutheran Church –

By Kristi Potocnik Williams –

A fifth large oil painting depicting Denmark’s scenery recently joined others at Nazareth Lutheran Church in rural Withee, Wisconsin. The congregation’s attached church hall features four large paintings that illustrate the coastal landscape and culture of Denmark—homeland of 1893 church founders. Katherine Hansen, who died in 1979, was the artist responsible for the paintings.

Nazareth Lutheran pastor Bonnie Cain announced the church and Friends of the Old School will host a Celebration of Danish Folk Art Saturday, August 8, 2015 at 1 pm. All community members and friends of Danish Art are invited to enjoy all of Kathrine Hansen’s paintings.

W. Clayton Nielsen, 92, a retired ELCA pastor, served the congregation from 1950 to 1959. He recalls Hansen painting and donating the work during that time. “She was a talented painter, producing landscapes and traditional Danish rosemaling (Bondekinst) on wooden plates,” he said. “A conservationist and avid gardener, Katherine was also a generous church volunteer; her garden flowers frequently graced worship services.”

“The church was an important part of Katherine’s family life,” Nielsen continued. “Her brother, P.C. Stockholm, was an ordained Danish Lutheran pastor. Katherine was friendly and active in church life; in addition to the paintings and flowers she sang in the church choir, including solos on special occasions. I think she was not appreciated as much as she should have been,” Nielsen added.
Current community members are unsure whether Hansen painted the images of Denmark from memory after travelling there, or if she painted them from photos. Her husband, V.A. “Viggo” Hansen, was a very successful office supply store owner, and the two traveled extensively.

Along with the paintings Hansen created for Nazareth Lutheran, she painted a four-by-eight foot Scandinavian landscape for Eau Claire’s Midwest Institute for the Preservation of Scandinavian Culture. The Scandinavian Import Shop building was torn down recently to create space for the proposed Confluence Project.

Dawn Bergstrom of Eau Claire, Scandinavian Import Shop owner, set in motion the painting’s move to Nazareth. “I wanted the painting returned to the community as a tribute to the founders of the Scandinavian Institute and Janice Wnukowski, an O-W graduate,” Bergstrom stated. She donated the work to the Friends of the Old School, Inc.; it is on indefinite loan to Nazareth Lutheran Church.
The four paintings original to the church, each four-by-four feet square, were custom-framed in dark pine wood before they were donated and hung in the then newly remodeled church hall. When the original Danish hall was demolished and a new attached church hall was built, the paintings were installed in the new building. Themes of the four paintings are:

* The Little Mermaid, hero of Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 tale. The bronze work by Danish sculptor Edvard Ericksen has rested on a stone in Copenhagen harbor since 1913. Hansen’s folk art painting takes artistic license and has the Little Mermaid surrounded by ocean and open coastline rather than development in the busy harbor.

* Storks, a symbol of good fortune, rest on the straw roof of a traditional home. Storks were common in Danish countryside decades ago; sadly few are found today. The old straw roofs are still visible on some traditional homes in rural areas; however red tile roofs are more common.

* Ships, nine fishing boats leave a rocky harbor heading out on a rough sea with their tall sails catching the ever-present strong wind in Denmark. Fishing remains important in Denmark, however the lovely traditional wooden boats captured here are no longer in the water.

* Stevns Klint, a church on the east coast of Zealand-south of Copenhagen, was built of chalk ashlar (c. 1200-1300). At that time it stood a safe distance from the steep cliff. Labeled Højerup Kirke, with the ravages of time on the cliff, part of the church and cemetery have plunged into the sea. In June, 2014 Stevns Klint was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

All of Hansen’s paintings feature puffy cumulus clouds, strong greens and yellows, and a very blue ocean with distant sail boats. The late Thorvald Frost remembered, “A former synod president came to the church and was upset when he saw the Little Mermaid painting hanging in the hall. He thought it was not appropriate for a church until he was informed they were part of the legacy or history of the Danish church.”

In addition to the paintings at the church, Hansen’s artistry can be found in her former home, owned by Everett and Millie Lindgren. “We have maintained the beautiful rosemaling on wood surrounding the French doors and above the windows along the south wall of our living room,” they reported. Additional cabinet doors were given to family members. Cindy Lindgren and Ken Parnewicz’s home has six custom-made cabinets with Hansen’s original art on the doors and four drawer fronts. “The flour bin was also beautiful, so we wanted to use it,” Lindgren stated.

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