Silver & Jewelry
Kim Bakken-Parr began her career as a high school chemistry teacher who loved to work in the lab. Her love of chemistry and teaching has continued as she shares her passion for the creative medium of Precious Metal Clay jewelry. Her husband, Lee Parr, has been involved in arts and crafts for years and they make a great teaching team. They are active in the White Bear Center for the Arts.
Marilyn Hanson lives on the South Dakota side of Big Stone Lake in western Minnesota. She has a passion for various art mediums and has been involved with MVAS for 19 years. Her father and sister, both former students of MVAS silver classes, introduced her to this fascinating art. Marilyn is semi-retired and is now able to offer 3 day classes this year. She is a veteran student of advanced silversmithing, silver spoons, bracelets, earrings and technique classes. She has been teaching silver classes since 2012. She enjoys teaching and sharing her knowledge. She is always amazed at the new ideas and designs that her students bring to her class. Her sister, Kathy Nardi, a talented silver and jewelry artist, often assists with beginner classes.
William Kennealy is a master goldsmith who has been a full-time Goldsmith since March of 1979. He has taught jewelry manufacturing and repair classes at the college level for 20 years. One of his specialties is stone setting. Setting every species of stone and every shape in all styles of settings. He comes from a family of educators and had a passion for teaching and for students.
Kathy Nardi discovered her love of silversmithing when she and her dad took their first silversmithing class together from Tom Johnson over 20 years ago. Since then, she has taken numerous classes from Tom, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, GIA(the Gemological Institute of America), and has worked closely with an award-winning gold and silversmith. She has thoroughly enjoyed the enthusiasm and eagerness of her students to learn new things. She resides in St. Cloud, MN.
Scandinavian
Karen Aakre is a fiber farmer that spins, weaves, and felts sheep wool. She travelled to Norway to learn this craft from Britt Solheim. She taught art for 15 years and has taught this craft since 2011. Karen is very involved in her Norwegian heritage and raises sheep llamas and goats.
Clarice Dieter was inspired by her interest in her Norwegian heritage to study rosemaling and has continued to study and teach rosemaling since 1977. Clarice is active in the Terrace Rosemaling Association, Terrace, MN, the Prairie Renaissance Cultural Alliance Art Gallery in Morris, MN and the Art of the Lakes Gallery in Battle Lake, MN. Clarice lives in Morris.
Norma Refsal became very interested and familiar with many of the Scandinavian folk arts while living with her family in Norway. She currently does work in metal, leather and wood, and her inspiration is closely tied to the Nordic folk art traditions. She lives in Decorah, Iowa with her husband, Harley, and they work together in their home studio.
Jon Roisen started making Norwegian knives with Gene Tokheim in 1995. Since then he’s fine tuned his knife making skills to become a Gold Medal winner at the Vesterheim. Jon has assisted Gene in teaching at MVAS for over 10 years and needs no introduction to returning Norwegian Knife Making students. Jon and his wife Sue own the Lac qui Parle Valley Vineyard and are board members of MVAS.
Lynette Swenson has been wheat weaving for over 20 years. She is a retired art teacher of 39 years. Presently, she farms with her husband by DeGraff, MN. Doing so allows her to grow her own wheat!
Ty Thornock has been kolrosing intensively for the past two years. He has written a book on kolrosing available for free download and currently has work on display in the Vesterheim Museum (The National Norwegian American Heritage Center and Museum).
Carving & Working with Wood
Charles Banks, an emerging artist/wood carver, is a Minnesota based carver with a passion for the Nordic arts. You can usually find him by following a trail of wood chips. His area of study for the past 20 years has been Scandinavian Flat Plane figure carving. A current art educator and lifelong learner, Charles will give his students a hands on experience including history, influential individuals, a study of individual characters and character design all culminating in the creation of his student’s own hand carved characters.
Jock Holmen has been a professional woodcarver for over 40 years. He began his career at Baker Furniture in Michigan, and started his company, Norwegian Termite, in 1979 in Chicago. He won his first woodcarving award at the National Exhibition of Folk Art, Decorah, IA, to be followed by several other awards, including achieving his Gold Medal status in 2010. He has received training and tutoring from various American and Norwegian master carvers, including Hans Sandom, Phillip Odden, Bjarte Aarseth, and others. Specializing in design and hand carving in the Scandinavian traditions, Jock teaches classes in flat-plane figure carving, Norwegian acanthus, timber carving, lettering and other woodcarving techniques at North House Folk School (Grand Marais), Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum Folk School (Decorah, IA), Colonial Williamsburg’s Cabinet Shop, and in his home studio. He co-teaches Introduction to Woodcarving as part of ISD 191 Community Education. Jock demonstrates woodcarving, drawing, and tool sharpening at various festivals, events, and retail outlets in the area.
Bill Jaeger, Anoka, has been figure carving in the Scandinavian traditional style since 1992. The last six years he has taught regularly at the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis as well as other carving venues. A draftsman by trade, Bill has since taken many folk arts and craft courses here and in Sweden. Bill won the 2009 Gold Medal for wood carving at the Vesterheim Museum in Decorah, Iowa and demonstrated carving at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts’ Nordic oil painting exhibition.
Scott Johnson and his wife Marlene live near Atkinson, a small town in north central Nebraska, located at the edge of the Sand Hills. He works full- time as a service tech for a natural gas company. Scott has been carving and Kolrosing for 7 years. He is a Vesterheim Gold Medalist in Woodworking and a Gold Medalist in Knifemaking. He loves sharing his passion for the Folk Arts with others and seeing their smiles when they discover the magic.
Paul Linden is a sculptor and maker of things who lives in Minneapolis and works in the Art Department of the University of Minnesota. He has taught courses and workshops in sculptural woodworking, metal fabrication and metal-casting as well as traditional craft techniques. Paul has almost never met a tool that he didn’t like, and proves this by his ever-expanding collection. He takes great satisfaction from using self-made tools and is constantly modifying, remaking, and learning the use of old and new hand tools. Paul tries hard to spend all of his extra time either in the wood or metal shop, or outside with his kids.
Fred Livesay discovered his woodworking abilities at age 7 and later trained as a wheelwright and carriage builder. In college, he went on to study Scandinavian folk art and decorative arts. Fred is a restoration carpenter who also builds and repairs fine furniture, turns bowls, & weaves baskets. Fred is a founder of North House Folk School, has been a Slöjd instructor at the Waldorf schools in the cities, has studied hand craft extensively in Sweden and is a frequent and highly regarded instructor at Spoonfest held each year in England.
Steve Mullins began his woodworking career more than 30 years ago after earning a degree in carpentry and woodworking from Alexandria TCC. He started Mullins Woodworks in 1985 and specializes in turning wooden bowls and wood art on the lathe. His work has been sold across the country and around the world. Steve is a lifelong resident of west central Minnesota and lives in New Prairie township near Cyrus.
Jim Paulson has had a passion for artistic expression most of his life and some of his work has been published in magazines. A woodcarver since 1981, Jim acquired skills with world renowned carvers beginning in the mid 90’s, and he has focused on Scandinavian carving in its different forms, flat plane figure carving, low relief and chip carving, and acanthus. More recently, he has become an accomplished carver of Norwegian Ale Bowls. A pastor at St. Olaf Lutheran Church in Devils Lake, ND, he has taught classes on carving, including chip carving and carving Norwegian ale bowls. The recipient of awards by the North Dakota Council on the Arts to preserve and innovate on the cultural tradition of carving ale bowls, he has made numerous presentations to teach about ale bowl carvings. Jim is also an active member of the Lake Region Woodcarvers.
Harley Refsal has taught Scandinavian-style figure carving throughout the U.S. as well as in Norway, Sweden and Iceland. A professor of Scandinavian Folk Art at Luther College in Decorah, Harley regularly demonstrates and gives presentations on Norwegian folk art and traditions, and has authored several books and numerous articles on Scandinavian figure carving.
Bill Rickard was raised in Iowa in a family of woodworkers. From his studio/shop in Ames IA, he works in visual arts and contemporary and traditional woodworking. After retiring from Iowa State University as a technician in Aerospace Engineering, he has been exploring green woodworking, such as spoon carving, bowl carving and shrink boxes. He has shown extensively in Midwest art shows and gives demos and instruction at craft fairs and from his shop.
Painting in Watercolor
Katia Andreeva is an accomplished watercolor artist whose work has been displayed across the United States and, particularly, in the Midwest. She has received numerous awards in art competitions and in Watercolor Society exhibitions, and has been shown in galleries in New York, the Midwest, and Southwestern U.S. Her art has been displayed in the Museum of Russian Art (TMORA) in Minneapolis, MN, and in the German House in Moscow, Russia.
As a book illustrator, Katia is noted for her work in over 45 books, including the “Velveteen Bible” (2011); “The Romanovs: Legacy of an Empire Lost” (2013); “Secrets of the Vine” (2002); and “Meet Me in the Garden” (2000). Her illustrations have been published by Thomas Nelson, Multnomah and Honor Books, as well as the Russian radio station and publisher Grad Petrov in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Also noted as a teacher of Art, Katia has taught master classes in Watercolor Societies in the Midwest and in the Milan Village Arts School in Milan, Minnesota. She has worked as a set decorator and costume designer for theatrical productions in Russia and the midwestern United States.
Katia Andreeva was born in Arsenev, Russia, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. She studied art in Russia: in art college in Khabarovsk and at the Mukhina Academy of Art and Design in St. Petersburg. Now in the United States, she lives and works in Northeast Minneapolis.
Prairie Living
Maureen Hark lives with her family on a small urban farm in St. Paul, MN, where she specializes in growing garlic and a variety of peppers. She teaches at and is the cofounder of Growing West Side, an organization that promotes building community connections through a shared interest in gardening. Maureen has been baking her whole life with a particular fondness for breads both yeast and quick.
Brian Wolf began picture framing as a part time job as a student atIowa State University. In his shop he developed the decorative matting techniques that he has been teaching to other picture framers around the world since 1979. In 2002 Brian started work with Wizard International where he works with the computerized mat cutter and continues to contribute articles on framing design to industry publications.
Weaving, Stained Glass & Brooms
Kim Bakken-Parr began her career as a high school chemistry teacher who loved to work in the lab. Her love of chemistry and teaching has continued as she shares her passion for the creative medium of Precious Metal Clay jewelry. Her husband, Lee Parr, has been involved in arts and crafts for years and they make a great teaching team. They are active in the White Bear Center for the Arts.
Robin Moore has lived in Lac Qui Parle county for more than 20 years, digging into the community, her gardens, and the making of useful goods. She learned to make brooms 17 years ago and enjoys sharing the simple but useful skill of making brooms for everyday use. (Just don’t tell her if you’re planning to use it for decoration.)
Dianna Soehren, Appleton MN, has been an instructor at MVAS for more than 20 years. Dianna has been a key figure in the development of the MVAS Loom Room which will soon be expanded and renamed the MVAS Textile Studio.