DECORAH, Iowa —Visit Vesterheim, the National Norwegian-American Museum and Folk Art School, to see designer and educator Tammie Pontsler’s newest work in the exhibit, “Threads of Migration: A Fashion Collection.” This visual representation of her family’s emigration story is open November 8, 2026-January 17, 2027, in the second-floor gallery of Hanson Vesterheim Commons.
Pontsler will be at Vesterheim to give a free presentation on Saturday, November 7, at 1:00 p.m. in Hanson Vesterheim Commons. She will also give an online presentation on Saturday, November 21, at 3:00 p.m. Register for the Zoom link at vesterheim.org.
The silhouettes of the garments in this exhibit lean heavily into fashion from the 1910s, the decade when Pontsler’s great-grandmother emigrated. The collection displays themes of preservation, adaptation, assimilation, and innovation while exploring the tension between the tailored structure and bohemian ease of fashions during this decade.
Pontsler, who is from Grand Rapids, Michigan, created this show for an MFA degree from Savannah College of Art and Design. For her, fashion is a means of conveying culture, values, historical periods, and identity. She has collaborated with many Norwegian-American artists who practice traditional textile folk arts, demonstrating the preservation of the culture’s past. Her use of technology, including AI, digital printing, laser cutting, flat-bed printing, and machine embroidery, reimagines these crafts as a gateway to the future.
This exhibition is made possible thanks to gifts to the Vesterheim Annual Fund from the Red List Textile Study Tour Participants.
Vesterheim, the National Norwegian-American Museum and Folk Art School, welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds to engage in the conversation of the American immigrant journey through the lens of the Norwegian-American experience. Vesterheim offers innovative and interactive exhibits, classes, and programs, both at the dynamic campus and park in scenic Decorah, Iowa, and online at vesterheim.org and Vesterheim social media. For more information on exhibits, classes, programs, tours, membership opportunities, and ways to donate and volunteer, connect at vesterheim.org, (563) 382-9681, and Vesterheim, 520 W. Water St., P.O. Box 379, Decorah, IA, 52101-0379.
