DEBORAH MILLS WOODCARVING
The "AAL PORTAL" PROJECT
43-32 22nd Street, #204-1, Long Island City, NY 11101
Copyright © 1990 - 2012 Deborah A. Mills, all rights reserved.
In 1991 the University of Oslo and the Norwegian Historical Museum commissioned master woodcarver Erik Fridstroem and me to create a museum replica of the elaborately carved doorway from a medieval stave church that once stood in Aal in Hallingdal, Norway. We used essentially the same tools and techniques as the carvers who made the Aal Portal during the 12th century. We had the twelve-foot-tall original next to our copy in order to replicate every detail of the carving.
The two of us completed the project in seven months of intensive carving. Our version of the doorway is pictured above; it is housed in the Aal Stavechurch Museum (click "refresh" after error message) at Aal in Hallingdal, Norway. The original medieval Aal Portal can be seen in the Norwegian Historical Museum in Oslo, Norway.
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WORK-IN-PROGRESS PHOTOS
photo credit: Johnny Syverson
