Presenting Anne Grimdalens

When we lived in Norway, Knut and I lived on Anne Grimdalens gata. “Gata” just means “street.” Streets are frequently named after people using both their first and last names. “Edvard Munch gata” isn’t too hard to remember but try being a tipsy foreigner and asking a cabbie to go to “Bjørnstjerne Bjørnsons gata.” Some are even longer than that! Makes you appreciate “Lake St.” and “5^th Avenue.”

Anyway, I asked Knut who Anne Grimdalens was since she was worthy of a small street of apartments buildings. He told me she was a sculptor, but he didn’t know more than that. I immediately assumed she did that kind of big meaty socialist sculpture of rough hewn bicep-ridden fishermen that seems to be all over the place in Norway and didn’t pursue it further.

Then Knut and I on a beautiful summer whim decided to drive across the country to Lillehammer to visit Hunderfossen, the Ivo Caprino theme park (in a blog soon to come!).This caused us to drive through the very heart of Norway, through the mountains of Sirdal where the snow never completely melts and the sheep walk casually in from of semis and through the deep forests and treacherous switchbacks of middle Norway. At the tops of one of these forested mountain areas we saw a sign saying “Grimdalen.” We joked a little but further on we saw as “Anne Grimdalens Museum” sign. Woah! Clearly, we had to stop.

I was still expecting the bicep-y fishermen and couldn’t quite believe it when we rounded the path and saw these darling animal sculptures. She had, in fact, lived in the very area we were in and sculpture the animals that she came in contact with. This included wildcats, foxes, wolves, hares, and deer; but her specialty was bears. As you can see from the photos, she sculpted them with great affection in the sort of unknowingly charming positions animals put themselves in.

I still don’t know much about her. Unfortunately we arrived after the museum buildings closed, but I would love to go back. I also haven’t been able to find so much as a postcard of her work, so I’m glad to have these photos. Now I’m quite proud to have lived on her street.