North House Folk School

Steen Madsen

he/him
BASKETRY

Steen discovered basketmaking through his early love of old handcrafts such as Stone Age flintknapping, rope making, hidetanning, and woodcarving. In 1979, he was introduced to basketmaking while working with 7500-year-old Danish Stone Age eel traps made of willow. Soon he was growing his own willow and teaching workshops in basket making.

For the last 25+ years, he has been a full-time basketmaker, growing willow, teaching basketmaking, educating three apprentices, and weaving baskets. Much of his weaving work is for museums, film and theatre productions, and for artists. Steen has written two books about basketmaking: Flet med Pil, a beginner book and Basket with Corners about square basket work.

@steenhedegaard
steen-madsen.dk

Kerstin Neumüller

she/her
Textiles

Kerstin is a Swedish author and craftswoman operating out of her workshop in the Södermanland countryside. Craft has always been a big part of her life and she has explored many aspects of textile craft while studying, working in costume departments of different theater houses, and later running a denim store. In 2020, Kerstin decided to make craft her main job and started carving wooden weaving heddles which led to her writing her third book: Simple Weave - Väv utan vävstol which will be published in English in 2023. Her previous books Indigo - Cultivate Dye Create and Mend and Patch are available in US bookstores. Kerstin has studied sewing at Sätergläntan and Stenebyskolan, textile history at Uppsala University, and she has a degree in menswear tailoring. She has taught classes at Sätergläntan, Nordiska Museet, HV Skola and many other places.

@kerstin.neumuller
kerstinneumuller.com

Elizabeth Belz

she/her
Black Widow Forge
BLACKSMITH

Elizabeth is a blacksmith, educator, and the owner of Black Widow Forge. She was the blacksmithing apprentice at the Metal Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, for two years where she trained under master metal smith Jim Masterson. Elizabeth was a Craft Education Intern at North House in 2016, a resident artist with the Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2017, and from 2021-2022 was an Arrowmont school of arts and crafts (Gatlinburg, Tennessee) Artist in Residence. Elizabeth has shown her work, competed and taught blacksmithing throughout the United States and internationally, and is currently the Blacksmithing and Metals Coordinator at John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina, where she also sits on the board of the Society of Inclusive Blacksmiths as the OutReach, Scholarship and Development Committee Chair.

@volomortus @blackwidowforge
elizabethbelz.com

Laura Brown

she/her
QUILTS AND PLANT-DYED TEXTILES

Laura is an artist interested in color, process, imagination, and repetitive, labor-intensive tasks. She grew up in the rural high desert of southwestern Colorado and the northwoods of Wisconsin, and hails from a maternal lineage of professional and home sewists. Her work includes printmaking, installation, book arts, and textiles. As part of the Artisan Development Program, she continues to expand her quilting knowledge and practice, including the use of natural dyes from local foraged plants.

@laurabrownart laurabrownart.com

Wesley Hathaway

he/him
W.D. Hathaway Woodworking
WOODWORKING AND WOODCARVING

Wesley grew up in Indiana where being creative was always encouraged, whether it was playing an instrument, drawing, or just cutting up popsicle sticks. Wesley spent 6 years in the Air Force which is how he stumbled upon a folk school in Fairbanks, Alaska and got exposed to craft. Wesley was apart of the 2021 internship program and is also participating in the Artisan Development Program at North House Folk School.

@wesley.hathaway

Todd Hawkinson

he/him
JEWELRY

Todd has been handcrafting jewelry since 1971. He apprenticed under both Ray Grobe and Robert Burke. As an educator, Todd was the head of the Jewelry Manufacturing & Repair Program at both the Minneapolis Community & Technical College and the Southeast Technical College in Red Wing, Minnesota. Currently his direction is in historic jewelry manufacturing techniques. From 1890 to 1915, jewelry design was going through dramatic changes—the Victorian Era was coming to a close, Art Nouveau was at its peak, Edwardian designs were introduced, and the Arts & Crafts movement was flourishing. Jewelry of this period had an enduring quality that is looked up to today. With a workshop in St. Paul, MN he continues to produce history-inspired jewelry of quality.

Delaney Keshena

they/them
BEADWORK

Delaney (Menomini) is a moccasin maker and fine artist born to a train-bound border town in sleepy, north-central Wisconsin. Keshena has studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts and uses hair, skin, and glass in their practice of crafting objects in relation with the body. Their work has been shown in Italy, Belgium, and throughout the United States. Delaney is a current participant in the Artisan Development Program, a two year residency at North House Folk School.

delaneykeshena.com

Elise Kyllo

she/her
Works in Wool
WOOL FELTING

Elise Kyllo grew up in South Minneapolis, but immediately after college she discovered a love for the wilderness while guiding Boundary Waters trips from the end of the Gunflint Trail. This experience ultimately led her back to Grand Marais and to North House Folk School after many years of farming, urban gardening, and being an environmental educator and artist. Somewhere along the way, wool as an artistic medium entered her life and replaced the paints, clay, and inks with a desire to create things of beauty and usefulness with wool. “It’s somewhat of a mystery as to how I fell in love with wool, but undoubtedly it’s the close connection to the land, the sustainability of fiber from sheep, and the magical transformation of wool into an endless list of things with just water, soap, and patient agitation. Felting is completely intoxicating and never, ever dull. There is joy, playfulness, and happy surprises when working with wool, which I love to share with others.”

@elisekyllo
worksinwool.com

Candace Lacosse

she/her
SHOES & LEATHER GOODS

Candace LaCosse is an artist, educator, shop owner, and mother based in Duluth, Minnesota. For over a decade, she has crafted shoes and leather goods one at a time, using traditional techniques and classic aesthetics. She is dedicated to life long learning, and in addition to teaching her craft nationally, she continues to study at every opportunity. You can find her and her work, as well as the work of over 100 intentional and independent makers, in her Duluth shop, Hemlocks.

@hemlocksduluth
hemlocksleather.com

Nathan White

he/him
WOODWORKING

Nathan was born in Milwaukee, WI, and moved to Minneapolis in 2009. Through his interest in sculpture, he started carving spoons; which in turn, inspired him to pursue woodworking. His first stop of that pursuit was apprenticing at the Carpenter’s Boat Shop in Pemaquid, ME. While there, Nate lived in community with his instructors and other apprentices as they learned boatbuilding fundamentals, building and restoring skiffs, peapods, dinghies, and other smaller boats and vessels. After his apprenticeship, he stayed in Maine and worked with one of his former instructors building a house and living off grid. There, he was introduced to green woodworking and first learned to turn bowls on a lathe. Following that, he went back and forth between Minnesota to work at a wooden boat restoration shop, and Maine to work as a timber framer. In 2016, he was a recipient of the Folk and Traditional Art Grant from the Minnesota States Arts Board to study traditional wooden bowls of Scandinavia. Nate received an Artist Initiative Grant also from the MSAB in 2019, and in the spring of 2021, did his first residency at Anderson Ranch in Snowmass Village, Colorado.

@__npw__
npwoodworks.com

Nick Wroblewski

he/him
WOODCUT PRINTMAKING

Nick specializes in large multicolor woodcuts and has developed a distinctive technique reminiscent of the stylized Japanese masters, yet uniquely his own. His work depicts the reverence he has for the conversations of the wild, and a loyalty to the honesty of the handcrafted arts. Nick’s work can be seen in private collections and galleries throughout the country, as well as in various commercial designs and illustrations.

@woodcutnick
nickwroblewski.com