RESIDENCY AT ICELANDIC TEXTILE CENTER
Contemporary accounts of travels around Iceland in the mid to late 18th century describe and illustrate Icelanders wearing traditional shoes made of wolfish skin, suggesting that they were worn on a daily basis. Also there is evidence on a passage in one of the Icelandic Sagas in which it is described how two men, who had taken off their shoes while haymaking, were surprised by their enemies and slain, because their fish skin shoes had dried in the sun, and they could not get them on again.
Wolfish skins shoes were made by women in the domestic sphere where they had considerable responsibilities, running large households. There was a division of labour based upon gender at this time. Women did not only the domestic work, but also took part in the production of subsistence and exchange goods. During the winter the women's main task was to clean, card, spin, knit and weave wool, to make clothing and making shoes for the household and produce cloth and knitted goods which were traded.
During my residency in Blondous at the Icelandic Textile Center I visited many national museums. I would like to thank all the Icelandic museum curators for their support. They have shared their knowledge, information, material culture literature, access to collections and photographs. We particularly would like to acknowledge National Museum of Iceland Reykjavik City Museum , Blönduós Textiles Museum and Skagafjörður Heritage Museum.
https://www.blurb.com/books/11124126-icelandic-textile-center-s-residency-catalog-2021