Anna Rue will be giving a talk entitled “Rosemaling in Place: What Stoughton, WI Can Teach Students About Traditional Arts and Placemaking in Community” as part of the 2026 7+ Lag Stevne.
In Spring 2026, 23 UW undergraduate students in Dr. Anna Rue’s class Folklore of Wisconsin were tasked with documenting the semester-long artist residency of Tara Austin, a rosemaler from Duluth, MN. Students took part in a collaborative class project, examining Austin’s residency activities from the perspectives of “People,” “Product,” “Process,” and “Place.” This presentation will share how students learned from Austin, local rosemalers, and local communities like Stoughton to understand a traditional art form and stories of Norwegian American communities that continue to honor their ethnic roots 200 hundred years after migration.