North House Folk School

As fall transitions to winter here on the North Shore, I’ve been reflecting on the important people who have supported my development as an artist. This blog post introduces you to four mentors of mine who helped shape my practice and outlook on craft. Together, my mentor's generous guidance informs my approach to design as applied through green wood and woodworking techniques. My work is centered on creating expressive furniture that honors tradition while exploring boundaries of form and material. Each of the following mentors has left an indelible mark on the pieces I undertake, the methods I use, and the broader perspectives I hold.

Above: Brettstuhl class with Charles Thompson. Photograph by Lin Elkins 

Chairmaker’s Toolbox

Founded by Aspen Golann, the mission of Chairmaker's Toolbox is to provide skills and professional development opportunities to makers from underrepresented backgrounds. The community of chair nerds this organization brings together provides a space for historically marginalized artisans to be curious, share resources, and experiment with both tradition and innovation in hand-tool chairmaking. Most recently, I spent an unforgettable week in a design-build class with George Sawyer. Sawyer lent his incredible depth of knowledge for traditional chairmaking techniques, melding age-old concepts and methods with contemporary craft.

Above: Lounging Post and Rung chair, 2023. Imagined and worked through the second iteration with Sawyer in design-build class.

Chairmaker’s Toolbox builds community amongst diverse artisans that strengthens our field as a whole. My peers in Sawyer’s class offered the sweetest connection as we shared joys and tribulations, celebrating and supporting each other through seven days of making. Never have I felt more light on my feet while diving headfirst into new methods and design.

North House Folk School

Above: 2021 Intern Cohort at the conclusion of portfolio night.

It's hard to believe four years have already passed since I was a craft education intern at North House. Since then, North House has been a constant source of inspiration and support.  Our 2021 intern cohort—Alex Blust, Mary Tripoli, Wesley Hathaway, and I—took up every inch of the Milling Shop that year. We shared everything we learned in our respective classes and pulled stories out of visiting instructors with brats around the fire ring. As an intern, I learned to break from the rigidity of machine shop woodworking I was accustomed to, getting to know wood through eye and feel. Starting a project in the woods by splitting apart a log offered an intimate look into how wood grows and the story it carries, informing us as to how it may then react to carving, bending, or drying.

Nels Diller

The Aslak Lie house, summer 2025

Nels and I first met through a summer internship program at the Folklore Village in Dodgeville, WI. At the heart of our relationship is the Aslak Lie house, an 1840s Norwegian settler’s log home that we have carefully worked to bring back to life. We reconstructed the cabin using traditional hand tools and techniques; cutting and hewing local trees, laying shingles, and furnishing the cabin with doors, windows, and stairs all as Lie would have. Nels guided me through the process of building on a large scale. He helped me see and trust the underlying physics of our work, to appreciate the bite of a sharp edge, and to trust in my own capabilities. Nels shared with us a reverence for our materials, for the ingenuity of the craftspeople who came before us, and for the rolling oak savannah where we were raising the cabin.

In 2018, I helped cut and fit some of the first dovetailed logs at the base of the structure. Years later, a Wisconsin Folk Arts grant supported us in building ten double-hung windows completely by hand. And just this spring, I referenced a surviving original door to build two new doors that finally seal the cabin’s exterior. 

Above: Nels and I moving a log into place, summer 2018

Sylvie Rosenthal

Sylvie was my professor and advisor while attending UW-Madison’s woodworking and furniture design program. I had the privilege of learning from Sylvie at the very beginning of my degree program, and from then I sought out her passionate, inquisitive, and magical approach to woodworking. Her tips, big and small, are buried in the ways I swing a mallet or how I bring curves into a carved object. Sylvie opened up the wood studio to be an inclusive, imaginative, and curious space. I was honored to be her studio assistant my senior year. Each Friday I would bike to her studio, passing nesting cranes and cutting through the arboretum, to her warehouse off Fitch Hatchery Road in South Madison. Her love of teaching, care to empower, and no bull environment meant I could work hard without fear of failure and ask any and all questions. She managed an inspiring balance as an artist—small batch production with an art practice of carving large, storied sculptures and teaching at craft schools around the country. Sylvie was a treasured and beloved member of many communities. We had the honor of knowing her warm spirit and are missing her greatly.

One-Armed Windsor, 2019. Built with Sylvie’s guidance and influence