Art Chowder January | February, Issue 25 | Page 28

Art Chowder: And Willa Cather?
L. Bjorneby: “Oh Pioneers!” I
started reading Willa Cather’s
books when I realized I was
going to be living on a prairie. I
was moving to my first pastoral
call which was in Ashley, North
Dakota. And I said, “Okay, I’m
going to be living on a prairie, I
should read a prairie author.” So I
read Sinclair Lewis’ “Our Town.”
It was a good novel but Cather just
got me into the prairie.
Cather’s book prepared me more
for the landscape than the people
though, as I ended up with a
German/Russian congregation
where two thirds of them still spoke
German at home!
Funny story — I had taken German
all the way through my second year
in college, but they were trying to
move away from speaking German
in church. So I was pretty much
forbidden to use it. Their dialect
was not easily understood, but I
gradually got it figured out. Of
course, since I wasn’t allowed
to preach in German everybody
thought, “Oh he doesn’t speak our
language.” Then I would laugh at
their jokes and they were like, “Oh
wait! He understood that!” They
were very funny people and had a
great sense of humor.
Art Chowder: LOL that’s great!
So where do we go to see more of
your art?
L. Bjorneby: Currently the place
to see my work is Avenue West in
Spokane, where I’m pleased to be
a partner in the co-op.  You can
also find me on Instagram, and
Facebook as BearTrackArt, or visit
my website BearTrackArt.com.
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ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE