Courses

Discover the designs, colors, styles, and techniques of traditional bead embroidery as you work with Ojibwe cultural specialist and Grand Portage band member Marcie McIntire, sewing and decorating a pair of moccasins in this course co-sponsored by the Grand Portage National Monument. The course begins with an overview of the…

Late summer brings on a plethora of mushrooms, and the North Shore and Superior National Forest are great places to see myriad species. From the fairytale Amanita to the mysterious Lobster mushroom to the unusual Ramaria species, there’s no shortage of beauties to find and identify. Michael Karns, a certified…

Discover the textile craft tradition known as nålbinding and explore its Scandinavian roots. As a course project, students choose to create their own pair of mittens, socks, or a syltemjölkskopp – a “milk strainer” cap. Or draw from tradition to inspire a project of your own design in consultation with…

Explore nature-based green medicines in this intensive botanical class. You’ll discover a bounty of foods and plants to use during the seasons and cycles of plant life to create your very own natural medicine kit, including over 30 botanical and herbal mixes and applications. The course tailors to individual needs…

Natural plant dyes and earth pigments (soil) can add infinite possibilities to highlight or accent your weaving by adding unexpected color to your projects. Instructor Karen Rognsvoog is an experienced natural dyer who is offering her knowledge to experiment with basket making materials. On the first day, we will use…

Dyeing cloth using natural materials is a magical process: Add a bit of steam and assorted leaves, flowers, and old rusty nails, and wait an hour…the results are extraordinary. Who knew all the colors of nature were hidden in plain sight? In this course, you’ll learn a bit about the…

Needle felting is fun and therapeutic...and who doesn’t have a little frustration to work through in a creative and positive way these days? In this virtual class with fiber arts instructor Laura Berlage, we will mail you a kit with all the supplies you need (just bring a scissors), including…

Combine bead embroidery and needle felting to create a unique landscape “painting,” while learning the basics of both in this two-day workshop. Participants will bring a landscape image (photo, magazine image, postcard etc.) to inspire their beaded piece. First, you will create a simple needle-felted wool background fabric. Then, you…

Healing traditions, like all crafts, reflect the landscape and stories of the people who create them. Explore Norse and Sami-inspired herbal medicine in this workshop based around the handcrafting of seven herbal medicines, each tethered to a particular story and made from northern plants. Rooted in her own Nordic ancestry,…

Tradition holds that any self-respective Nordic homemaker would always have seven different types of cookies on hand to offer guests. We’d settle for a couple! But in the spirit of the north, we’ll bake four types treats, guided in part by Swedish chef Magnus Nilsson’s “the Nordic Baking Book.” We’ll…

Learn to turn on both power and pole lathes and explore the historical continuum of bowl turning in this unique course offering. Students will move back and forth between the foot-powered pole lathe and modern electric lathe to delve deeply into a study of old world Norwegian ale bowls. This…

Create a traditional coiled basket from locally-harvested red pine needles. Starting with either a pliable birch bark base or an elegant agate base, you will work with a variation of the spiral stitch to form a basket with a distinct spiral pattern inside and out. Samples of pine needles from…

The foot-powered pole lathe is an ancient tool used in many cultures and modified in countless ways to best meet the needs and desires of the user. Though once a common tool, the only way to get one now is to build it yourself. Over three days, students will build…

In order to turn bowls on a foot-powered lathe efficiently one needs a well-made hook tool. These turning tools are not manufactured in North America and are therefore difficult to find. Most pole lathe bowl turners have to learn to make the tools themselves or find a blacksmith to help…

Turning on a pole lathe—a wonderfully simple hand-built machine that needs only your leg and a wooden pole or bungee to power it—is a challenging and empowering experience. Your whole body must work together to make a useable and pleasing turned wooden item. Over three days we will learn to…