WINONA — Mary Koehler of Winona, who is 100 percent Norwegian, believes it’s important for her to carry on the traditions of her ancestors.

So Koehler practices the art of rosemaling — a Norwegian decorative folk style of painting that uses stylized flowers and scrollwork designs.

It’s an art form that dates back to the Middle Ages with religious woodcarvings, gaining popularity in the 1700s with farmers who decorated functional items such as cabinets and trunks. Now, though it was introduced to America in the 1900s, the art is on a steady decline.

“It’s becoming more and more a lost art,” Koehler said. “It’s important to carry on because not only do you learn the art form, but you learn the history.

“It’s important to know about our heritage.”

Koehler was first introduced to the art form in 2005 when she attended a Sons of Norway meeting and watched a rosemaling demonstration.

Within a year of taking lessons, Koehler was making her own pieces.

She paints in the Rogaland style, which uses a lot of flowers, leaves and petals, and is based off of the Rogaland region of her ancestors.

Since 2008, Koehler has been entering her pieces in shows across the Midwest, and competes in anywhere from three to five shows a year.

She also frequently does demonstrations at community events and sells her work at Norwegian arts and craft fairs in the area.

And, once a month on evening weekdays, she hosts two-hour classes in her home, with participants ranging in age from 13 to 92, she said.

Susan Zeller, former Sons of Norway president, has been taking lessons with Koehler for more than four years.

“She is very inspirational,” Zeller said. “I am a science person and am not artistic at all, but she has been able to help me and my daughter.

“Rosemaling is kind of something of the past, but it’s part of maintaining the heritage, and (Mary) is able to keep the tradition alive,” she said.

Rosemaling is a time-consuming process, Koehler said. It begins with a pattern, which is traced onto transfer paper and then traced onto the piece. The piece itself, usually wooden, must be sanded and base-painted at least three times.

Koehler will create rosemaling on just about anything, she said, and often frequents local thrift stores and antique shops for items.

The actual painting process, which involves oil paints and very fine brushes, can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 12 hours, depending on the piece, Koehler said.

Someday, Koehler hopes to become a gold medalist in competition, which involves free styling your own design on a substantial piece of work.

She also dreams of rosemaling wooden trunks for all seven of her grandchildren — she and her husband, Steve, had three children, Christine, Craig and Brent.

Since no one else in her family has taken up Norwegian arts, Koehler has taken it upon herself to pass on the tradition of rosemaling, and, in turn, pass on important history.

“You don’t see people exercising the old ways, carrying on tradition,” she said. “But to me, that’s part of the beauty of life.”

“(Rosemaling) is a part of me.”