#olonets

Marppa Martiskainen embroidering a ritual towel, "käspaikka", in Ilomantsi, Karelia

Posting this to honor the ones who came before after spending hours yesterday graphing a Karelian piece.

Karelia spans both Finland and Russia and many historical textile pieces are automatically identified as Russian when they are in fact Finnish. Mary B. Kelly’s Goddesses of the Northlands first brought this to my attention.

While the folk artist pictured above is Finnish, the piece I was working on yesterday was found in Olonets in the Russian portion of Karelia.

Photos 1 & 2:

Photo 3:

My replication of the original piece

Photos (with text) 4-7:

Goddess embroideries of Eastern Europe by Mary B. Kelly 1996 (personal library)

Photos 8 & 9:

New video posted on: https://dailyvideovault.com/bear-attacks-trainer-at-russian-circus-show/

Bear attacks trainer at Russian circus show