Rosemaling Classes
Growing the art of Norwegian rosemaling, one class at a time.
Online Classes
Louise Bath, VGM
Rosemaling in the Style of Ole Heimvågsåsen
Thursdays, February 5-26, 2026
Vesterheim Museum Folk School
Decorah, IA
Nord-Trøndelag and Sør-Trøndelag produced a wide variety of rosemaling painters and styles. In this class, Vesterheim Gold Medalist Louise Bath will focus on Ole Olsen Heimvågsåsen, who was a prolific and distinguished rosemaler. He lived in Snåsa, Nord-Trøndelag, around 1800. He became known for reddish-brown painted cupboards with green rosemaling panels. He also painted trunks, usually blue with red bands. Perhaps he also made these pieces of furniture himself – in the census of 1801 he is listed as a carpenter and painter.
Heimvågsåsen had a distinctive style with tulips, roses, fruits, and small flowers in red, orange and white growing from urns, and vases or on swaying stems swinging up from a volute at the bottom left. A rhythmic multitude of black brushstrokes make up the foliage. He used small flower stencils throughout the painting and to surround the green panels. In an exhibition by the Snåsa Historielag in 1979, the majority of the rose-painted chests and cupboards were thought to have been painted by Ole Heimvågsåsen between 1790 and 1820. His style is elegant, flowing, and unique.
Instructor
Louise Bath, VGM
Price
$170/190
Louise Bath, VGM
Rosemaling Artist and Instructor
Lise Lorentzen currently resides in Bel Air, MD, after spending most of her life as a resident of Staten Island, NY. Lise grew up in a household with strong ties to the Norwegian-American community, which included her church, Sons of Norway, and family back in the “old country”. She was a child that always played with paints, so it was natural for her parents to enroll her in a rosemaling course given at her local Sons of Norway lodge.
Lise has been rosemaling since the age of 12 and covers over 30 years of experience, specializing in custom painting of woodenware, furniture and home interiors. Her work can be found throughout the United States and Norway due to the business she had with her father in her teens and early twenties, as well as her commission work that she continues to present day.
Her rosemaling expertise covers the Hallingdal, Rogaland, Vest Agdar and Valdres styles, specializing in Telemark Rosemaling. While living on Staten Island, she was also known as a muralist, decorating many an interior with her other painting skills throughout the five boroughs of NYC.
Lise is also a professional educator with a BA in Art History, and a MS in Special education. She was a GED Special Ed. High School teacher with the NYC Board of Education for many years until the time she and her husband began their family, which now includes three lovely children. They are happy to call Harford County Maryland their home, and Lise enjoys sharing her art form with her community.
