Available Light presents photographs and videos from 2012 – 2017 made on the farm in Värmland, Sweden, that has been in the artist’s family since the early 1600s. A unique sense of place emerges through the slow, careful act of looking through the lens, with resulting images that both document and transform.
On display through November
September 14th at 7pm join us for a companion performance, Composition, as Erika’s father and young cousin play variations on a Swedish folk tune as they move about the farmhouse, a call and response between past and present. A newer companion piece, Lines (2017), explores the fleeting feeling of fall during harvest time. Get tickets here.
ABOUT ERIKA: Erika Råberg (b. 1987, Boston, MA) is a Swedish-American visual artist and writer who uses both still and moving images to explore the subtle relationships built into her surrounding environments, whether on the farm in rural Sweden which has been in her family since the 1600s or in and around Boston, Massachusetts, where mythologies surrounding the founding of the United States provide rich material.
Råberg has shared work widely in Chicago, including at the Elmhurst Art Museum, ACRE, Roman Susan, Chicago Artists Coalition, Sector 2337, High Concept Labs at Mana Contemporary, Filter Photo Festival, Ballroom Projects, and the Swedish American Museum. She has also shared work in New York, Boston, Baltimore, and Tennessee, as well as internationally in Stockholm and London.
She earned her BA in English and Comparative American Studies from Oberlin College in 2009, and lived and worked in Tokyo, Japan for the years following graduation as a Fellow for the Oberlin Shansi Foundation (2009-11). In 2015, she earned her MFA in Photography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she was a recipient of the James Nelson Raymond fellowship.
Råberg was recently a recipient of a grant from the American Scandinavian Foundation as well as a guest artist in Project Studies for Professional Artists at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, Sweden in 2017-18.
Join us for a coffee tasting of the iconic Norwegian coffee brand Evergood.
Join us in the Kaffestugan for a blind taste test of our current coffee and Evergood. YOU help us decide if its time to make Evergood our new coffee brand!
Saturday, November 30th | 12-2pm in the Kaffestugan
ABOUT EVERGOOD:
It all started back in 1866 when Johan Johannson opened his import business, focusing on coffee, sugar and syrup for the first few years. Back then, raw coffee was sold in sacks to merchants who then sold it on to the end users who roasted and ground the beans themselves. In 1926, the company invested in its first roasting machine, which marked the start of a process where Joh. Johannson, as an importer, gradually took over the process of blending the raw coffee before roasting, grinding and packaging it.
By the mid-1950s, the coffee market was distinguished by coffee importers’ tireless hunt for favorable spot purchases of raw coffee, which often led to major variations in the taste and quality of the coffee that was offered to buyers. This gave Joh. Johannson the idea of marketing a high-quality coffee mixed and blended using the finest types of beans so as to produce predictable taste and quality – every time. The name chosen derived directly from this strategy: EVERGOOD.
Today, the company is a significant European importer of the finest quality coffees from Africa, Asia and South America. No-compromise standards of quality guarantee users some of the finest coffee experiences available anywhere.
We at Joh. Johannson Kaffe strive constantly to deliver the best, tastiest coffee experience. That is why we make stringent demands on every link in the production chain. Good ingredients, the right blend and accurate roasting comprise an art it takes years of experience to master.
Every day, we roast between 70 and 80 tons of top quality coffee beans at our production facility in Oslo, Norway. Once the beans have obtained the right core temperature that helps bring out the fine aroma in the coffee, they are cooled quickly with water, which vaporizes on contact with the hot beans.
When the resulting clouds of steam are blown out of the stacks in the coffee tower, this is a sign that a new batch of beans has been perfectly roasted and is now ready for further refinement. And if the wind is blowing from the right direction, you can pick up a hint of the delightful aroma of freshly roasted coffee beans from Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica and Kenya …
An oil worker has a difficult time relating to his adopted son after his wife dies. In desperation, he takes his son on a trip to Colombia to find his biological mother.
102 minutes. In Norwegian, English, and Spanish with English subtitles.
Films start at 1:30pm. Refreshments for attendees are served at 1pm. Lunch (not included) is available in the Kaffestugan, which is open until 3pm every Saturday.
In this series of infant and mother classes you will be provided with guidance on a variety of topics to make your transition at home with your baby as easy and cozy as possible.
Learn about important infant topics in an atmosphere of hygge (coziness) while we fika with Swedish coffee and pastries. Cozy sweaters and socks are encouraged! The end of each class will be open to discussion and a Q&A session for moms.
Fridays, September 13th – October 18th | 10:30-11:30am | $25 per class (discount for 6 week registration available) **must register in advance**
09/13 – How to have a hygge home and baby
09/20 – Formula/Breastfeeding/Introducing Bottles/Weaning
09/27 – Infant Play and Top Sensory Development Toys
10/04 – Sleep Training Essentials
10/11 – Introducing Solids and Sippy Cups
10/18 – Scandinavian Parenting in a Nutshell–What we can learn from this region as our babies grow
ABOUT KATE: Kathryn “Kate” Leaf Wallace is a Boston nurse with nearly 24 years of infant and childcare experience and owner of Mamma & Bebis, sleep training and infant care consulting agency. She holds a masters degree in healthcare leadership from Brown University, and holds certificates in breastfeeding counseling and childbirth education as well. Kate founded her business to support other mothers around the Scandinavian model of mothers supporting mothers. She enjoys sharing her Swedish heritage any baby knowledge with others over “fika” or coffee and pastry breaks. Kate lives with her husband and daughter Karoline Astrid outside of Boston.
We welcome back master artist Linda Miller for a two-day fall 2019 workshop dedicated to rosemaling a Norwegian style home sign.
Background paint will be supplied. Brushes and palette knives will be offered for sale. The project will be an 8” Nordic basswood bowl to be bought from teacher. A list of student’s supplies will be sent upon registration.
Beginners are welcome. We will be painting welcome signs big and small.
Saturday, October 12th & Sunday, October 13th – 14th | 9am – 5pm | $240 tuition
To register a $50.00 deposit is required to hold a place for you.
Send the deposit to:
Linda Miller
59 Nick Road
Middlebury, CT 06762
The Kaffestugan (Scandinavian Cafe) will be open Saturday, from 11-3, for open faced sandwiches and pastries, but please bring a lunch and water for other days.
ABOUT LINDA: Linda Miller has taught rosemaling at Fletcher Farm in Vermont, John Campbell School in North Carolina, Vesterheim Museum in Iowa and several different Sons of Norway lodges on the east coast, and adult education classes in her area.
Al Miller will teach first time beginner students how to carve and decorate wooden spoons that can be used as an eating or cooking utensil. The class instruction will focus on the safe way to use hand and machine tools. The decorating and finishing of the spoons will be included.
Teaching methods include; showing samples of different types of spoons and butter/jam spreaders (wood knives), group instruction, individual help and how to sharpen tools.
All tools and equipment are provided for student use by the teacher. 2 spoon blanks and 1 butter/jam spreader are also included, as is a pack of 1/4 sheets of sandpaper. Extra wood blanks and power carving sand paper can be purchased from the teacher.
Saturday, October 12th – Sunday, October 13th | 9-5pm | $200
Class size is limited to 6. This workshop will sell out.
Class cost is $200 for the 2 day class. A $50.00 deposit is required to hold a place for you.
Send the deposit to:
Al Miller
59 Nick Road
Middlebury, Ct.
06762
The Kaffestugan (Scandinavian Cafe) will be open Saturday, from 11-3, for open faced sandwiches and pastries, but please bring a lunch and water for other days.
Biography
Al Miller is a retired Industrial Arts teacher who specialized in woodworking and furniture construction. He received Connecticut’s Celebration of Excellence award for his innovative teaching style and has been teaching carving to adults for the past 14 years at the Woodworkers Club, Norwalk, CT. Al started carving in 1989 and has studied in Norway and in the United States at Fletcher Farms and at “Vesterheim” (the Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa) under numerous old world masters (Hans Sandom, Rolf Sogge, Knut Arnensen, Arve Mosand, kuut Arnesen, Alf Stronen, Otar Flaton, Rolf Taraldset and others). Al has won competition ribbons with his carvings in local and national competitions. He received his BS teaching degree from Oswego (NYSUCO), his MS from Central Connecticut State University and has taken 33 credits on the post gradate level.
Denmark has proud traditions, when it comes to playing jazz violin. Svend Asmussen was very loved all over Scandinavia, and even in the US many know of “The Fiddling Viking.” Residing in San Francisco – Danish-born violinist Mads Tolling is making a career in music. Mads has lived in the US since 2000, where he began his studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Soon after graduating he was discovered by French Jazz violinist, Jean-Luc Ponty, who recommended him to join bassist Stanley Clarke’s band. This encounter led to eight years of international touring and recording with Clarke. Mads has performed with some of the biggest names in jazz including Ramsey Lewis, Kenny Barron, Chick Corea, Paquito D’Rivera, and he has won two Grammy Awards as part of the string group, Turtle Island Quartet.
Ever since Mads as a 15-year-old called up Svend Asmussen, the two of them have stayed in contact till Svend’s passing last year. Back then Svend told Mads to listen to violinist Stuff Smith, and he soon after donated a large chunk of his music collection to Mads – including many handwritten charts.
Joining Mads Tolling this evening is Danish guitarist Jacob Fischer. Jacob is one of the premiere jazz guitarists in Europe, and many compare him to the great Django Reinhardt. Jacob was a member of Svend Asmussen’s quartet for the last 20 years of Svend’s life, and he is featured on several albums with the quartet. Mads and Jacob connected in 2014, when Mads put a new group together to tour Scandinavia. The two of them have performed over one hundred concerts in Northern Europe and the US.
The program will feature a mix of tunes all the way from Svend’s s collaboration with guitarist Ulrik Neumann back in the 40s and 50s up to his more recent quartet works. Svend’s signature tune “June Night” and the Swe-Danes hit “Scandinavian Shuffle” are on the set list, along with Danish folk tune, “I Skovens Dybe Stille Ro” as well as songs from the Great American Songbook.
Mads Tolling and Jacob Fischer have released an album that will be available on this tour of the US and Canada: Celebrating Svend Asmussen.
Thursday, September 19th | 7pm | $25; $15 for SCC Members
Polarn O. Pyret, the leading brand in Sweden for kids, is holding a Sample Sale at the SCC on Sunday October 6th from 10am to 5pm.
Come scoop up bargains in sizes newborn to age 12 years. All season and styles will be represented.
The brand’s famous and functional Nordic outerwear will also be available in all sizes. Savings up to 75% off original retail and a bunch of Grab ‘em Now Deals! Cash or credit and pls. bring you own bag!
In Composition for a space in between (2015), Bruno Råberg will play accompanying pieces for his daughter, Erika Råberg’s exhibit, Available Light. They will play variations on a Swedish folk tune as they move about the farmhouse, a call and response between past and present. A newer companion piece, Lines (2017), explores the fleeting feeling of fall during harvest time.
Saturday, September 14th | 7pm | $15; $7 for SCC Members
The SCC welcomes you to join us for a screening of The Human Shelter as part of Boston Design Week 2019. How do we construct homes in today’s worldwide hotspots which are facing the challenges of climate change, globalization and migration? How do people create shelters and feel at home with others and in their bodies?
Boris Benjamin Bertram’s film The Human Shelter, explores different people’s ways of creating their homes around the globe. In a refugee camp outside Mosul, in a shanty town on the lagoon in Lagos, or in six square meters in the mega-city of Tokyo… The exploring director also visits the Sami reindeer herders in the arctic circle, and NASA’s futuristic Mars habitat in Hawaii, USA. It’s a poetic expedition around four continents. An existential film about how we construct and articulate stories about our homes.
The Human Shelter comprises seven chapters. Every chapter has a shelter with a human story and a poetic performance. Every one of these representations pushes the audience to think about what ‘home ’means to them. To you…
Saturday, September 7th | 1pm | Tickets $5; FREE for SCC members
ABOUT KATE: Kathryn “Kate” Leaf Wallace is a Boston nurse with nearly 24 years of infant and childcare experience and owner of 
ABOUT LINDA: Linda Miller has taught rosemaling at Fletcher Farm in Vermont, John Campbell School in North Carolina, Vesterheim Museum in Iowa and several different Sons of Norway lodges on the east coast, and adult education classes in her area.
