Silver & Jewelry
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.
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.
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.
Jim Paulson has had a passion for artistic expression most of his life and some of his work has been published in magazines. 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 carving, chip carving, and dragon style and acanthus carving. In the last several years, he has become an accomplished carver of Scandinavian ale bowls. Last fall, Jim became a full-time woodcarver. He teaches classes and workshops in Scandinavian ale bowl carving and relief carving where Nordic dragons and other mythical creatures are depicted on panels. He has also taught bowl carving workshops for confirmation age youth, Sons of Norway, and in his shop in Leeds, ND. Jim has been commissioned through Partners for Sacred Places to provide carving pieces for church buildings repurposed as community cultural places. He has been a recipient of awards by the North Dakota Council on the Arts and a fellow of the American Scandinavian Foundation for his work in preserving and innovating on the cultural tradition of carving ale bowls.
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.
Carving & Working with Wood
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.
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.
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.
Alex Yerks is a Minnesota based greenwood craftsman who is an international instructor making his living selling and teaching his craft around the world. He specializes in carving a traditional Scandinavian influenced drinking vessel called kuksas, utilizing pre-industrial revolution hand tool techniques. Alex has dedicated his life to working with trees and utilizing natural resources where he lives in Minnesota. It has been a daily part of his life for the past 15 years. Alex teaches all over the US and abroad, including Spoonfest in England, London, The Milan Spoon Gathering in Minnesota, Spoon Jam in Australia, The Spoon Hoolie in Scotland, and the Necessary Traditions Festival in New Zealand. His focus is uncovering the techniques and philosophy of yesteryear and trying to see where it fits in the modern world we live in. He believes we all have a connection with our natural environment and can enrich our lives if we surround ourselves with simple items crafted from the forest.
Painting: Scandinavian & 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 and 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 the German House in Moscow, Russia.
Katia Andreeva was born in Arsenev, Russia, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. She studied art in Russia: art college in Khabarovsk, and Mukhina Academy of Art and Design in St. Petersburg. Now in the United States, she lives and works in NE Minneapolis and has taught master classes in Watercolor Societies in the Midwest and in the Milan Village Arts School.
Lois Mueller has been painting for 45 years and teaching for 43 years beginning at the Technical College in Appleton, WI, followed by travel teaching throughout the USA, Canada, and Taiwan. She has published 9 rosemaling instructional books. She received a Gold Medal for Excellence in Rosemaling in 1998. She was the chairman of the Rosemaling Coast to Coast convention for 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023. One of her ornaments was hung on the Christmas tree in the White House and 2 were included on the WI Christmas tree.
Skills & Decorative
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. Fred was one of the founders of the Milan Spoon Gathering.
Jim Paulson has had a passion for artistic expression most of his life and some of his work has been published in magazines. 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 carving, chip carving, and dragon style and acanthus carving. In the last several years, he has become an accomplished carver of Scandinavian ale bowls. Last fall, Jim became a full-time woodcarver. He teaches classes and workshops in Scandinavian ale bowl carving and relief carving where Nordic dragons and other mythical creatures are depicted on panels. He has also taught bowl carving workshops for confirmation age youth, Sons of Norway, and in his shop in Leeds, ND. Jim has been commissioned through Partners for Sacred Places to provide carving pieces for church buildings repurposed as community cultural places. He has been a recipient of awards by the North Dakota Council on the Arts and a fellow of the American Scandinavian Foundation for his work in preserving and innovating on the cultural tradition of carving ale bowls.
Ty Thornock has been kolrosing intensively for the past three 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).
Weaving, Brooms & Framing
John Kellen has always loved photography having received his first camera when he was very young and over his lifetime, he has documented his experiences and travels behind the lens. His intentions are to share his work more broadly and to offer photographic services, cinematography and writing to individuals and organizations.
After a 30-year career in International Business, Academia and Philanthropy spanning more than 60 countries John has returned to his hometown in Minnesota to pursue his artistic inclinations. As a lifelong learner, he is constantly learning new techniques and skill sets to enhance what he has been able to share with the world.
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.