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Chiaki O’Brien is a SAORI Leaders Committee Certificate recipient. She began SAORI Weaving in 1996 in Japan. She worked as an instructor for the SAORI head office/school in Japan before moving to Minnesota in 2004. She’s been teaching a variety of ages and abilities at schools (including special education classes), at facilities for people with…

In the early ’90s a friend took me on my first true Boundary Waters canoe camping trip – a group of women. The camaraderie, the laughter, the solitude for reflection, the joyful teamwork as we gently paddled and portaged the wilderness…I WAS HOOKED! I’ve now racked up some 25+ years of wilderness trail experience, leading…

“My family grew up loving the outdoors, and we always took an interest in what it was we were seeing out there,” says Setterholm on his start in geology. He worked for the Minnesota Geological Survey for 40 years before retiring. “Geology is everywhere,” he says. “It’s the study of the earth, and we all…

Emily Anderson leads workshops that help students create fresher and more intuitive paintings. A life-long artist, Emily recently picked up the paints again and has begun the joyful journey of creating playful and layered landscapes. Students will come away from the class feeling excited to know that often, the paintings that took the shortest amount…

Mark sees the color chart when he looks at the world.  He has a long standing art background that he draws from as he creates warm and wonderful environments.  He loves plants, gardening and KNITTING. Mark learned to knit 12 years ago and has not stopped.  He particularly loves to knit the same thing over…

Brennan’s fascination with food culture and history was catalyzed by a trip to Western Europe in 2009 to study communal brick ovens. He began baking bread soon after, baking out of his father’s own brick oven and selling at local farmers markets during his high school summers. He has a degree from Whitman College in…

Kirsten Aune (b. 1968) grew up in Amherst, Massachusetts and attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City where she received her BFA in 1992. She lived in New Mexico before coming to Minnesota in 1994 where she maintains Kirsten Aune Textiles. She has had exhibitions in Minnesota, Illinois, Massachusetts, Sweden, Norway, Denmark,…

Katherine has a degree in studio art from Macalester College. She enjoys many fiber-related arts, including weaving, spinning, ply-split braiding, and braiding with Sami tin thread. Whether it is spinning the yellow pages, computer tape, or adding telephone wire to weavings and braids, she likes finding something different and fun to do with her art. She is not…

Twin Cities-based glass artist, Susan Tracy, uses the beauty of her natural surroundings and Scandinavian heritage as inspiration for her art. She uses color and design to represent nature and often embeds natural elements like real leaves and silver in her glass art. Her holiday art features a modern twist on traditional ornaments and decorations.

Ross Safford is a master baker. He has worked largely with at-risk youth and families, getting food to those in need. He currently works with at-risk youth in schools. He is a huge Boston Red Sox fan and loves to sing.  At MMFS, you can often find him teaching with Bryce Johnson, another community-focused baker.

Karen Rognsvoog has been teaching fiber art  classes for over twenty years, including Natural Plant Dyeing, Japanese  Shibori, Silk Painting and Block Printing on Fabric.  She is also an instructor of Watercolor Painting and Printmaking.  Karen teaches at several locations, including  North House Folk School, the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival, and the Hopkins Center…

Fred Livesay is a crafts instructor and restoration carpenter residing in St. Paul, Minnesota. He is a founding instructor of North House Folk School.  He teaches various crafts at folk schools, art centers, museums, and gatherings in the five-state area, and is a frequent guest instructor at Spoonfest, Edale, England. Primarily a woodworker, he is…

A retired architect, Jim Lammers brings many years of drawing experience as he trained when freehand sketching was integral to the study of architecture. Jim had his own architecture and planning practice for 25 years.  He taught for many years at the University of Minnesota School of Architecture and currently is a guest lecturer at…

Mary Jo Harris lives in the knitting mecca of Madison, WI. She has been a teacher all of her adult life and has formally taught knitting for about 15 years at various Sheep and Wool Festivals, Fiber Festivals, Knit-In’s, and teaches locally for Madison College, Olbrich Gardens, and Sunset Yarns. In the last several years,…

I took early retirement from 9-5 jobs to pursue my creative interests: pottery, photography and more recently, botanical printing and natural dyes. My art studio is a converted ice fishing house on wheels I moved into my backyard in Minneapolis, to be close to my garden plants for natural dyes and botanical printing. Along with…

Peter Juhl has been balancing stones for twenty-five years. He creates and photographs the work along the North Shore of Lake Superior, where the spectacular beaches provide ideal raw materials as well as a clean and colorful backdrop. In 2013 he published the first widely available guidebook on the art form: Center of Gravity: A…

Bryce Johnson has been baking bread since he was a teenager and has been teaching bread classes for 10 years. In 2010, he guided the church where he served as pastor, White Bear Lake United Methodist Church, to build a community bread oven.  In retirement he has been making and selling bread at the Scandia…

Molly Sanford advocates for reuse and repair by spreading hands-on skills like sewing, welding, woodworking, and general troubleshooting. Molly believes that extending the lifespan of our belongings can be a joyful way to combat consumerism and climate change. She has taught a variety of hands-on classes at Fireweed Community Workshop (formerly Women’s Woodshop), Leonardo’s Basement, and the University…

Kirsten Skoglund is a fixture in the Twin Cities knitting and yarn world. She has always known how to knit, as far as she can remember, and loves the whole creative process. In fact, she describes herself as compelled to knit and can’t imagine her life without knitting. Kirsten was co-owner of Lila and Claudine’s,…

Kim is a fine artist, graphic designer, illustrator and teacher. She attended the University of Wisconsin- Madison where she received a BS in Art Education. She has received additional training at the University of Minnesota, The Center for Book Arts and Minnetonka Center for the Arts. She has participated in many group, juried and one-person…