Courses

This course will introduce students to the world of bird carving. This is a great class for beginners and experienced carvers alike. We will focus on song birds commonly found in the sub-boreal forest of the Lake Superior region. Of course, each bird is different but the general form, anatomy,…

Make the wood chips fly!  This course is for students ready to stand at the chopping block and to learn to use classic wooden bowl-carving hand tools—the adze, axe, gouge and push knife. Topics to be explored include selection of wood stock, elements of bowl design, strategies for hand-hewing, use…

Carve a wooden figure for the upcoming holiday season—either as a gift for someone special, or for yourself (since you are special, too, right?). Harley, who says, "If you can peel a potato, you can carve a figure," will lead new as well as experienced carvers through the process of…

The spoon is in the eye of the beholder. A crooked branch can become a perfect ladle; a slight bend makes a lovely eating spoon. Enjoy three days of handwork in this greenwood carving class focused on ladles and spoons. Working with native woods, you’ll use simple hand tools and…

This course provides beginning carvers with the opportunity to create several figures in the Scandinavian flat-plane style. Beginning with tool sharpening, the course provides hands-on carving experience as you complete a figure in step-by-step fashion. You will then paint the figures and apply a final oil finish. After this initial…

The timeless beat of the drum stems back to a time when we made our own music, literally from the ground up. Before drum shops and before Putumayo, materials were hand-harvested from the forest to create wonderful sounds, and were used to find rhythm in the world. In this course…

Meet Jock Holmen, the “Norwegian Termite”: when it comes to carving on timbers, you can’t “stump” him. From blueberries to little people, lettering to logos, Jock can help you chisel your ideas into white pine as you design and carve decorative embellishments for your home. Choose from a variety of…

In 1904, five dragon-like animal headposts were excavated from the Oseberg Viking ship grave. Dating from 800 A.D., these exquisite carvings with their bared teeth, long necks and elaborate relief carving are iconic works and demonstrate some of the highest levels of art and woodcarving skill seen throughout the world.…

Carving wooden spoons is a tradition in Scandinavia, where carvers crafted spoons for home use, for seasonal income, and to give as gifts. The techniques, designs, and embellishments commonly used today are deeply embedded in centuries of cultural history, but spoon carving is also a vibrant and growing craft tradition…