North House Folk School

Imagine spending months immersed in the joyful, busy, and creative work of our folk school. Your days as an intern are filled with coursework, projects to explore the inner workings of an educational non-profit, campus hosting and logistical wrangling, and countless moments to learn from students and instructors excited about craft. Our internship is a launching point for individuals interested in gaining a broad exposure to traditional Northern craft, learning about non-profit administration, and exploring their own professional pathway in education and craft. Ideal intern candidates are passionate about craft, curious to learn, enthusiastic, and experienced working with people, and happy when pitching in on tasks large and small to help make our folk school run.

Each year, the interns live in community in a beautiful residence overlooking the harbor on our campus. In addition to provided housing, interns receive a modest living stipend and a stipend for course tuition and materials during their internship. We are a dynamic, educational nonprofit committed to teaching traditional northern crafts while fostering lifelong learning. Our curriculum emphasizes hands-on learning and includes courses ranging from timber framing to northern ecology, birch bark weaving to artisan bread baking. Want to know more about the intern experience? Check out our Internship FAQ. 

The application period for the 2025 Craft Education Internship is now closed. Each year, we typically open internship applications in the late summer. If you would like to be notified when the application period opens for the 2026 cohort, please fill out this form. 

North House Folk School’s internship program is dedicated to advancing the future of traditional craft by engaging participants in the world of craft education. The goals of the Craft Education Internship include:

• Nurturing appreciation for the future of traditional craft through focused education and skill development in craft as well as through relationship building with instructors and students.

• Increasing awareness of and exposure to various responsibilities and opportunities involved in non-profit education, administration and program management. 

• Developing and strengthening educational leadership skills by engaging in public outreach, facilitating small-group learning experiences and creating a positive and supportive learning environment for students of all ages.

Two former interns share their perspectives on the internship and talk about what they went on to do afterwards in North House's 20th Anniversary video below. The video is queued up to begin at the intern interviews, but we'd recommend starting from the beginning and watching the whole thing if you have the time — it's worth it!

NORTH HOUSE FOLK SCHOOL-Celebrating 20 Years Of Teaching Traditional Northern Craft from Layne Kennedy on Vimeo.

Marshall Boone

Marshall is coming to North House from the Chicagoland area by way of Duluth. He has always had a fascination for ‘things’ and loves fidgeting with them, making them, and fixing them. This led him to pursue a degree in the world of chemistry and mathematics, which he struggles to apply, although he is always game to discuss the chemical workings of various crafty things. Having formerly guided canoe and dogsled trips out of Ely, Marshall most enjoys spending time on the water in its various chemical phases. This includes canoeing, snowshoeing, and both cross-country and backcountry skiing.

Elena Brotz

Elena loves cold water, tedious yet creative tasks, and stories of all kinds. Growing up in Burlington, Vermont, Elena took leaning stacks of picture books out of the library, was infatuated with cows, and enjoyed cutting scrap paper with scissors. She eventually moved on to snipping fabric, then sewing, and has been experimenting with different ways of scrappy hand-making ever since. Over the last few years, Elena has spent time going on super long walks, working on some islands, writing, studying the elusive human ecology, and facilitating mending workshops. She is delighted to be here.

Mia Ingram

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Mia was raised in Minneapolis and has lived in Montreal and Cleveland, and is glad to be unlearning the city life. Mia is very particular about sensory input, but luckily for her the wind, sky, water, trees, and fauna of this place suit her pretty perfectly so far. She’s excited about a lot of things that have so far felt out of reach, but is hopeful that this program will bring her closer to them. So far she’s enjoying herself holding and looking at beautiful handmade objects and meeting the wonderful craftspeople who make them.

Z Kaplan

Z is a ceramic artist and craft-maker from Chicago, with recent roots in Minneapolis, now building home in Grand Marais. After a transformative experience at a sheep slaughter, Z fell in love with butchery and became excited about exploring hide-tanning, leatherwork, and wool processing. In transitioning away from a career in clay, they’ve been called toward new mediums, communities, and digging deeper into their Jewish craft lineage. At any moment you can expect to find them asking questions, eagerly exploring, belly laughing, and root digging.

Graham Webb

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Graham grew up in Asheville, North Carolina, and he often misses the woods back home. His interest in craft probably began with making creations from things discarded in the recycling bin. In Asheville, he worked as a furniture maker in a communal woodshop. More recently, he lived in Spain, where he taught English, became curious about weaving, and helped with a Basque shipwrighting project. He loves rock climbing road trips, making Japanese woodblock prints, and cooking for dinner parties.

Lauren Dahl

Lauren has always been drawn to the boreal forests of the north. Wheedled by their whimsy, she’s spent countless hours walking, skiing, running, and biking within them. The forests have left Lauren with a deep curiosity, and a strong sense of reverence for the Earth. With undergraduate degrees in English, Norwegian, and environmental studies from St. Olaf College, Lauren has been exploring the way that Nordic folktales and craft traditions have influenced the nature-culture divide in Scandinavia. As a steward of the environment, she strongly believes in the power of storytelling through writing, illustrating, making, and moving. A few years of teaching Kindergarten at a Waldorf school in Minneapolis introduced Lauren to even more craft and handwork. This fall, she realized it was time to return to the boreal forests. She left the Kindergarten for a few months of farming in Sweden, where she weeded, woodworked, baked bread, and bottled apple cider. She is eager to continue crafting with her hands at North House Folk School, and is certainly delighted to be back in the northern forests of her home state.

Gracee Hurley-Brown

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Gracee accepted the position as a 2024 North House Intern on her 23rd birthday. She was on a walk around a neighborhood in Minneapolis that she had grown to know well. Having graduated college a few months prior, she was patiently awaiting direction. She figured it would come when the time was right. In many facets, Gracee does not know what she is looking for but is certain she will know when she sees it. Moving to Grand Marais was one of these instances. Entering a community of artists and makers (a distinction worthy of conversation) brings about a sense of abundance in warmth and potential. Much of her experience lies within the digital realms of design and video production, though pen and paper are Gracee’s most frequently utilized mediums. Drawn towards color, form, and texture, she anticipates feeling a fondness towards fiber. Perhaps the most exciting part of this program to Gracee is all the humans to be met and connections to be made. She intends to keep an open mind and heart to all that will come her way throughout her time at North House.

Julia Nellessen

Julia grew up in Illinois, and has consistently felt drawn up north. She loves to romp around in the woods and spend quality time with the many rivers and lakes of Minnesota.

Julia loves to work with her hands. She fell in love with craft as a kid playing in the dirt and sleeping under her grandma’s knit blankets, and again as an adult eating out of a wooden bowl for the first time or serving a friend coffee from a wheel thrown mug. Julia believes that care and beauty are essential to utility. The practice of making, with the intention of routine use and shared beauty, felt deeply meaningful to them growing up and it continues to today.

Julia recently moved back to the Midwest from Washington, where she spent a year and a half managing a ceramics studio in the North Cascades. As a potter, she values her relationship with clay and fire, and she is excited to deepen her creative relationship with the natural world here in Northern Minnesota. She’s looking forward to learning new skills and stories from the many incredible craftspeople at North House.

Phil Stephens

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Phil has been chilling since day 1.

Gracee says: Phil's computer is so large, but they guess it is proportionate to his large size. Phil thinks he is a metalworker. He has the most experience in this after all. He also built saunas for a minute. Maybe more wood is in the cards. He likes to share his knowledge (which appears to be vast). He spends time hunched over his gigantic computer looking up model airplanes and ancient religions.

Phil likes to make noises and also likes to be seen. Even so, he prefers to live unperceived beyond the physical realm. He drinks the liquid from the top of yogurt and makes himself a french press in the morning. He sits in gratitude for the food in front of him. Phil is 27, which is basically 30. He thinks about the future all the time and still claims to be present. I don’t doubt that he is, but the conversation is ongoing. Phil has bounced between craft schools for the months prior to now; North House serves as a resting place for the next 10 months. He has finished yogurt slurping, deep exhale, and computer returns to its owner.

And oh yes, Phil grew up in upstate New York. Was a teaching assistant with ten year olds for a bit. And worked on a trailcrew for about a year. He has an Aussie that he misses very much, and is #sososososo excited to be here.