Jean Honl Lives Her Passion with Rosemal Painting

by Ryan Honl

Minnesota has a lot of Scandinavian heritage and especially so up here in the North. Most of the Norwegians and Swedes that came to Roseau County well over a hundred years now were farmers looking for a place in America similar to the climate and soil of Scandinavia. They found that here.

One thing that came along with those early settlers was the Scandinavian art of rosemaling (pronounced rose-mah-ling). Rosemaling in English literally means "decorative painting." The Norwegian root word "ros" doesn't actually translate to rose, but since it sounds like the English word rose it's...