Instructors

Now retired, Larry Underkoffler taught Junior High Art for 25 years. He is a Marine Corps veteran who served in Viet Nam, Air Traffic Controller, Camping Director for 8 years, an illustrator of children’s books and has served as the Superintendent of Art for the Washington County Fair for the past 13 years. He graduated…

Lizabeth Towers is an experienced knitting teacher who has earned the two teaching certificates available from the Craft Yarn Council of America. A friend to every knitter, she enjoys making tough techniques accessible to average knitters, teaching rank beginners the joy of knitting, and best of all, learning from her students. She is found on ravelry.com as…

Liz Schreiber is a 15 year veteran of the State Fair and has won multiple ribbons over the years. When not winning ribbons, she has worked as an illustrator for multiple publications using crop art as her medium including VitaMN, The Growler, and Edible Twin Cities.  Liz has taught workshops on Crop Art at the…

Lisa Peterson doesn’t remember a time when she hasn’t been making something. She is a spinner, knitter, quilter and weaver, creating rugs on an antique floor loom as well as doing free form weaving. She repairs and maintains old looms with her daughter, in addition to teaching weaving classes to all age groups and ability…

Kevin Nyenhuis is an avid paddler and woodworker. Enchanted by the upper St Croix as a canoe instructor 30 some years ago, he has raised his family in Marine, and on the waters of the region. Kevin teaches our build-your-own-paddle classes and is also the mayor of Marine on St. Croix.

Heather Mashuga recognized her passion for plants and herbalism in her first herbalism class, proceeding to earn her master’s degree in Holistic Health Studies, with a concentration in herbalism, from St. Catherine’s University.  She practices traditional Western herbalism and has been a practitioner and teacher for 4 years.  Heather incorporates knowledge and traditions of herbal…

John Hanson is an artist, woodworker and soap maker from Minneapolis. He has been teaching soap making for over four years, with many of his classes resulting in wait lists. He sells his soap products in over twenty local stores including at his first customer, the Seward Co-op.

Randy Gildersleeve has decades of experience playing, teaching, and recording music in many genres. He currently performs with North Shore Trail (bluegrass/acoustic), Saints of Swing (big band jazz), St. Croix Crossings (classic rock), and the Hosanna Lutheran Forest Lake worship band. As a teacher, Randy gives private lessons in guitar, bass, banjo, ukulele, mandolin, and…

A local artist from Grant, Karen Engelbretson has been making needle felted birds since 2008.  She regularly teaches needle felting at St. Croix valley locations. Karen is a semi-retired graphic designer currently working with organizations to communicate the need to improve water quality and restore wildlife habitats.

Brian Keogh was first exposed to woodcarving from his dad, Bob Keogh. Funny thing was, Brian had no interest in carving when his dad was alive, but for the past 10 years he has been carving spoons from green birch. Brian enjoys cycling in the summer and nordic skiing and saunas in the winter.  He and…

A teacher from Osceola, WI, Laurelei Creuzer has been teaching Psyanky Egg Dyeing for over thirty years.  Laurelei enjoys crafts of all kinds, including her newly acquired Nålbinding skill at a recent Marine Mills Folk School class!

Meet Danish Paper Cut Artist Torben Jarlstrøm Clausen. Torben Jarlstrøm Clausen has had several paper cut workshops in Denmark, Japan and in the US, where the participants, following his guidance, have the opportunity to put the scissors to paper and redeem their very own paper cut beings. Torben Jarlstrøm Clausen started out as a paper…

Marge Barrett is the author of a chapbook of poems, My Memoir Dress, a book of poetry, If You Have Something to Say, Margaret, and a memoir, Called: The Making & Unmaking of a Nun. Her work also appears in numerous journals and anthologies. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of…

A long time resident of Marine on St. Croix, Janet has a fine arts degree and professionally works as a teacher with at-risk and Special Education students. She is never far from wool, creating fiber garments and accessories using knitting, crocheting, naalbinding and other fiber arts techniques.

What led to your interest in fiber arts and natural dyeing? My mother did ‘tactile’ crafts such as basket weaving and ceramics, while my aunt was a seamstress. I received a sewing machine in high school and found I didn’t just want to learn about how to make garments, I wanted to learn how to make fabric…