Sitting small cormonrant with brass colour

Sitting small cormonrant with brass colour

Metal sculpture of a cormorant, a native seabird in Lofoten. The bird is sitting on a naturally rounded stone, looking upwards with its peek towards the sky. The sculpture has a brass shine, by brushing brass ontot the hot surface. The form is an alternative to the well-known king cormorant sculpture, that is a "signiture" product from the Blacksmith in Sund, and is one of the oldest hand crafted memorabilia still in producation from Lofoten. That version is very like the famous cormorant sculpture, King Olav V. recieved in 1963 from the previous blachsmiht of Sund.

689

craftedobjects

2024

iain

Norwegian

Physical Object

434

Sittende liten skarv med messing farge

02/07/2025

https://smedenisund.no/nettbutikk/ https://www.nb.no/items/6d10de6230df63d278e6a9e1fef16ec8?page=11&searchText=%22tor%20vegard%20m%C3%B8rkved%22 Asbjørnsen, P. Chr. (Peter Christen): Skarvene fra Utrøst. Cappelen, 1974 Gansum, Terje: Fra jern til stål : mytologiske og rituelle aspekter i teknologiske prosesser. Borre, Midgard historisk senter, 2002. https://www.nb.no/items/0b1664793a4dc5032499662692b054bc?page=7&searchText=%22kong%20olav%20v.%22%20%20gjertsen https://www.nb.no/items/7c395122e3290def1768522b23f730db?page=19&searchText=%22kong%20olav%20v.%22%20%20gjertsen https://www.nb.no/items/0b1664793a4dc5032499662692b054bc?page=0&searchText=%22kong%20olav%20V%22

7cm x 9cm x 15cm

current,68.004948,13.207371;

TEXT

https://culturality.museum/wiki/index.php/Sitting_small_cormonrant_with_brass_colour

Metal (steel), natural stone

Cultural

metalwork

A coal forge, pliers, hand hammer, machine hammer, anvil, brushes to polish the object, epoxy resin applicator

Sundveien 118, 8384 Sund, Flakstad Municipality, Lofoten Islands, Nordland County, Norway

Tor-Vegard purchases the metal from a distributor in Harstad, the stones are havested by Tor-Vegard himfelf in Finnmark.

The object was hot, and warm forged by Tor-Vegard, then fastened onto a piece of stone. In details: the practitioner cut a piece of the choosen thickness of a steel round bar. He put the piece of metal the middle of the fire in the forge. After a few minutes he took it out with a pair or pliers and formed it with the help of a machine hammer. That gave a rough form of a bird to the metal. He carried on forming the figure with a hand hammer on an anvil. He glues the finished bird figure onto a grinded sone, with epoxy glue.

The object has decorative and estetic functions.

The object was created for sale.

Production scale is small. Each product is formed by Tor-Vegard, one by one. Each piece is individual and unique with the same starting point.

The object itself is a version of the cormorant figure, that became an emblematic artwork form Lofoten, produced by the blacksmith in Sund. The theme is a local sea bird, a cormorant, that is also known from legends from Lofoten (Skarvene fra Utrøst). Cormorants are a part of the landscape in West-Lofoten. The Forge in Sund and it´s cormorant sculpture is one of the earliest touristic attractions in Lofoten.As it became a phenomenon for tourists, local families also discovered the artwork and many families own an example in their homes. The cormorants as emblematic and well known product can add to local identity. The first known designs of the cormorant sculpture were created by the "old blacksmith" in Sund, Hans Gjertsen. In 1963 he gave one of the cormorant sculptures to King Olav V., who was visiting Lofoten to take part in the opening ceremonies of the new road between Å and Svolvær. The opening ceremony took place the first days of august, 1963. Hans Gjertsen surprised the king with a memory from Lofoten: a hand-forged cormorant, standing on a rounded granite stone. New versions were later introduced. Tor-Vegard developed the products, and he creates new and different versions of the original, with different finishes and shines.

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