Charting the Course of Fellows of the American- Scandinavian
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2008/2009 UPDATE FROM THE ASF PRESIDENT Welcome to the first electronic edition of The commented that "for almost a century the Longboat, which we have introduced in our ongoing Foundation has been a focal point for the Nordic effort to develop more efficient, environmentally community in the United States and a window for friendly, and cost effective methods to communicate presenting our culture to the American public. with our constituents. We hope you will find this as Through a great variety of cultural events and schol- informative and enjoyable as the print edition and arships to Scandinavians and Americans alike, the will forward it to interested friends and colleagues. Foundation has helped strengthen the ties across the Atlantic and enhance the intercultural awareness It has been an enormously active year at the ASF between our two continents." Charting and in spite of the very large challenges posed by the worldwide financial crisis and its effect on our Scandinavia House: The Nordic Center in America own endowments, we have been able to maintain continues to present a wide range of cultural and high levels of grant and fellowship funding. educational programs. Of particular interest to our the Course Fellows is the exhibition, Northern (L)attitudes, fea- 2008-09 produced a very strong cohort of ASF turing a collection of photographs, paintings, videos Fellows. Fifty Scandinavian Fellows were awarded and mixed media celebrating the works of nine nearly $515,000 in funding by the ASF to carry out provocative contemporary artists (four American, five of Fellows projects in fields as diverse as electrical engineer- Norwegian) all of whom have been American- ing, journalism, music theory, neuroscience and edu- Scandinavian Foundation Fellowship recipients: Eric cation. Thirty five American scholars were awarded Aho, Marion Belanger, Lene Berg, Sandra more than $286,000 in funding bringing the total of Binion, Kjell Bjørgeengen, Ole Martin Lund Bø, of The 2008-09 fellowships and grants to $801,000. Unn Fahlstrøm, Nina Katchadourian, and Are American fellows carried out projects in fields such Mokkelbost. as fisheries biology in Norway, medieval studies in Iceland, conflict resolution in Sweden and Arctic A transatlantic cross-pollination of concepts and American- landscape painting in Finland. mediums, Northern (L)attitudes explores how each country's geography, environment and culture In addition, for the coming year the ASF has funded informs the work of the artist. The exhibition high- visiting lectureships at Wartburg College and the lights intersections of cultural exchange and how Scandinavian University of Arkansas. Additionally, we have funded they occur. It will be on display September 8th to the grants to 38 institutions in the U.S. and Scandinavia 19th and we encourage all ASF alumni to stop by to support public projects ranging from contempo- Scandinavia House to view the works of art. rary art exhibitions to dance performances. Foundation In March 2009, the ASF held its Annual Gala in the -Edward P. Gallagher presence of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown ASF President Princess Mary of Denmark. ASF Trustee Liv Ullmann served as Master of Ceremonies for the evening. In his remarks, Crown Prince Frederik THE AMERICAN-SCANDINAVIAN FOUNDATION 58 PARK AVENUE The ASF 2009 Spring Gala, left to right: Gala Co-Chairs Susie and Hon. Edward E. Elson, Her Royal NEW YORK NY 10016 Highness Crown Princess Mary, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik, Gala Co-Chair Hon. Robin TEL: 212 879 9779 Chandler Duke, Chairman of the ASF Board of Trustees Bård E. Bunaes, and President of the ASF WWW.AMSCAN.ORG Edward P. Gallagher. (Photo: Tina Buckman) RECENT ACHIEVEMENTS BY ASF FELLOWS Kenneth L. Caneva (1995 Fellow to Stephen Hilyard (2007 Fellow to Iceland) Denmark) published the article “Ørsted’s had a photo exhibit entitled The Beautiful Presentation of Others’ - and his own - Lie at Madison Museum of Contemporary work,” in Robert M. Brain et al. eds., Hans Art, Madision, WI. Christian Ørsted & the Romantic Legacy in Science (Dordrecht: Springer, 2007). William Jacobs (1989 Fellow to Denmark) recently accepted the position of Jay A. Clarke (2007 Fellow to Norway) Director of the Exhibition Program at the Julia Staples’ Luxury Views in Nordlingarhot served as curator for the highly acclaimed Library of Congress. at Lost Horse Gallery in Iceland Becoming Edvard Munch: Influence, Julia Staples (2008 Fellow to Iceland) Anxiety, and Myth exhibition at the Art had her first opening this year at Lost Institute of Chicago earlier this year. Dr. Horse Gallery in Iceland. She showed new Clarke has recently been appointed Manton works from a project about the Icelandic Curator of Prints, Drawings, and suburbs. Photographs at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown MA. Joan Templeton (1987 and 1999 Fellow to Norway) gave a lecture at Scandinavia Gunnhildur Daðadóttir (2007 Fellow from House in December 2008 in conjunction Iceland) accepted a one-year position with Rika Lesser’s Questions of Love with the publication of her new book, the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. Munch's Ibsen: A Painter's Visions of a Rika Lesser (2006 Fellow to Sweden) had Playwright. a new book of poems Questions of Love: New & Selected Poems published by Stephen Thomas (1996 Fellow to Sheep Meadow Press in November 2008. Denmark) performed Edvard Grieg’s Piano Her translation of Göran Sonnevi’s Mozart's Concerto in A Minor with the Nordsjælland Third Brain will be published by Yale Symfoniorkester (Denmark) in a series of University Press in fall 2009. concerts in Denmark and Romania, in October 2007, under the direction of Klaus John Logue (1970 Fellow to Denmark) Munk-Nielsen. and Eric Einhorn (1977 Fellow to Heidi Durrow’s Denmark) co-authored Modern Welfare The Girl Who Fell From the Sky States: Scandinavian Politics & Policy in the Global Age, (Praeger, 2003). Heidi Durrow (2007 Fellow to Denmark) will have her novel, The Girl Who Fell From Melissa Gjellstad (2006 Fellow to the Sky, a coming-of-age story about the Norway) accepted the position of Assistant daughter of a Dane, published by Algonquin Professor of Norwegian at the University of Books in February 2010. The book was North Dakota. awarded writer Barbara Kingsolver’s Bellwether Prize for Literature of Social Lansing McLoskey (1993 Fellow to Change. Denmark) released a CD on Albany Joan Truckenbrod’s Portfolio Collection Records entitled Sixth Sense, which Evelyn Scherabon Firchow (1993 Fellow includes a recording of “Solsange,” a set- Joan Truckenbord (1994 Fellow to to Iceland) published her book Wege und ting of poems in Danish, written while living Denmark) appeared in the September Irrwege der mittelalterlichen Textausgaben. in Denmark as an ASF Fellow. 2007 issue of Sculpture Magazine. In 2005, ausgewählte Aufsätze (Stuttgart: Hirzel her Portfolio Collection was published by Verlag, 2007) Emily Oken (2005 Fellow to Denmark) Telos Art Publishing. She is currently a published an article in the American Journal Board Member of The Chicago Sculpture Peter Haarmark (2007 Fellow from of Clinical Nutrition based on the study of International. Denmark) recently accepted the position of associations of maternal prenatal fish intake Vice-President of International Marketing at and breastfeeding duration with child devel- Jo Yarrington (2007 Fellow to Iceland) Campfire A/S. opmental milestones. had her work in the Cryptoreal: Art & Myth exhibition at the Francis Lewis Gallery in Queens, NYC. 2 poses together would make as much sense as American, repeated my An ASF Fellow Reports... forming a union of Volcanologists, Artists, question back, as Originally published in Grapevine (August 2008) alongside Smelter Engineers & Baristas. though I'd asked how to photos by ASF Fellow to Iceland Julia Staples. Rather than shove Americans under a the- yawn or chew. She'd matic umbrella, I'll define them as they define moved from The Book of Non-Icelanders: Iceland: by contrasts. Around the globe, my fel- Pennsylvania to Iceland What defines an American expat low citizens are infamous for sticking out, and on a freighter ship in living in Iceland doing little to change that. Reykjavik, thank 1946 and narrated her by Colleen Kinder heavens, is not a depot of "ugly Americans." tale as "the second 2008 US Fellow to Iceland People tell me an outsider will never truly fit in American woman to "I've never heard thunder here," Jonas, an on this island, but could one ever last here with- come here," with the American living in Reykjavik, blurted out during out trying? pride of a pioneer. our hike, as raindrops flecked our bare arms. I understand now why my interviewees resis- "What color are your blinds?" Stasia asked. "Really?" I checked. I'd been interviewing ted the term "expat," hinting that they identified Immediately, I knew my error. "White." Americans living in Iceland for a month, for a more as non-Icelanders: defined not by where I realized also why I was touching base so book project about expatriates. Just over a thou- they came from, but where they did not. At this compulsively about June light. Foreigners have sand Americans live in Iceland, and the few latitude, the challenge of expatriation is to claim no choice but to submit to the terms that govern dozen I contacted were willing to talk over tea or whatever space remains in a society that might Iceland, but it helps to first get a nod from one of shark. I wanted know, first: what brought them to as well be called a your own that these terms are not normal. Iceland; next: how they felt about this second family. And just as in- "Oh no," the pioneering American in Iceland home. laws at a family clucked at me, thereby revealing that once upon My sources could handle the first question in reunion know to go a time, some three or four decades ago, she had a word: "WWII" for instance, or "Einar." But part along with the cus- taken some measure to acclimate to this new two required another cup of tea, a tangent, a toms, the lingo, and world.