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Michigan Heritage Awards
Arts
Nomination Form (PDF)
Arts Nomination
Form (word)
Community
Leadership Nomination Form (PDF)
Community Leadership
Nomination Form (word)
^ MHA Awardees List ^
Irene Vuorenmaa
2000 awardee, Ironwood (Gogebic County), Finnish American rag-rug
weaver
Ask about rag-rug weaving in Ironwood and chances are you will be directed to Irene
Vuorenmaa, a master of this tradition. Born in 1935 in Kortesjarvi, Finland, Irene came
to the United States in 1959 on a visit. She met her husband and has lived in Ironwood
ever since.
Like many Finnish girls, Irene learned to weave at a young age
from her mother. She wove rugs, curtains, bedspreads, and tablecloths.
At 15 she was selling her rugs. When she settled in the United
States, she resumed weaving on a four-harness loom. In the early
years of settlement, Finnish immigrants also wove a variety
of textiles on four-harness looms. In a short period of time,
however, they were weaving only rag rugs. Their four-harness
looms were altered to two, because of the ease and speed this
afforded. Today, Irene weaves with both four- and two-harnesses
on a loom made by a Finnish immigrant almost 100 years ago.
Her favorite pattern is "over the waves" which she learned in
Finland.
For 27 years, Irene worked at a local nursing home. After work, she went home to her
loom. "It was peaceful," she said, "to come home and do something else." She gets great
pleasure from weaving, and she has helped many weavers get started. Irene's fame spread
beyond the western Upper Peninsula when her family was featured in the documentary film
Finnish American Lives by Michael Loukinen (1) and when she participated in the 1998
Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
Honored for her masterful weaving of rags, Irene also has a widely known reputation as a
keeper of many Finnish traditions. She teaches Finnish folk dances, excels in making
traditional Finnish foods, actively participates at the local Finnish cultural center,
sings in the Finnish chorus, and volunteers with 4-H youth. Ruth Olson of the Center for
the Study of Upper Midwest Culture describes her as an articulate spokesperson for her
culture. "Irene deserves . . .recognition not only because of her skill as a rag rug weaver
but also because of her many other contributions to the preservation and continuing health
of Finnish-American culture in the Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin." (2)
(1) Loukinen, Michael. Finnish American Lives. Up North Films. 1982.
(2) Olson, Ruth. Letter of recommendation to panelists. 8 December
1999.
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