Preserving History for a Better Future
“North House Folk School was created to promote and preserve knowledge, skills, and crafts of the past and present, and through them, to better understand the future and our role in it. The mission of the North House Folk School is to enrich the lives of individuals and build community by teaching traditional northern crafts in a student-centered learning environment that inspires the hands, the heart and the mind.”
“Grand Marais is a tremendously artistic community,’ explains Greg Wright, current director at North House Folk School (NHFS). Community members have knowledge of a tremendous variety of traditional northern crafts and skills. The community came together to find a way that they could share those skills and enrich each other’s lives, and it was out of this dream that the North House Folk School (NHFS) was born in 1997.
In the Beginning
Mark Hansen, one of the founding fathers of NHFS, was familiar with Scandinavian “folkehoskoles” where learning is valued for its own sake, with focus on strengthening the community at the same time. Community members started putting classes together, and the forest service donated two old warehouses on the lakeside to the city that would become the NHFS campus. Now with 2 beautiful classrooms, a schooner, and over 3,600 participants last year, NHFS has grown tremendously with an incredible amount of community volunteer support.
The initial vision and foundation of the organization was entirely created by volunteers. Over time, the organization’s ability to pay staff and finally hire full-time staff has grown, and this year they were able to hire a full time director (Greg) and an office manager. “We are moving from being a start-up project into something,” explains Greg, “You can only be a dream for so long until you have to get pragmatic.” With funding from The Kellog Foundation and the Duluth/Superior Community Fund, the Northland Foundation, IRRRB, the Kenneth Kellar Foundation, and the MN Lake Superior Coastal Program, NHFS has become a vibrant reality for the original group of dreamers.
The membership campaigns in the last four years have increased the member base to over 300 members, who provided $35,000 of support this past year. Over 100 volunteers have helped with everything from cooking brats at the festivals to mailing the catalogs, and the teaching staff has grown to over 70 instructors. “The array of skills and passions that our instructors bring are important factors that give the school its great flavor and feeling,” says Greg.
Dynamic Variety
NHFS offers well over 200 classes in a year, with subjects ranging from knitting to timber framing. “Imagine being here on a weekend where in one classroom you’ve got rosemaling and soap making, and across the way in the other class room there’s timber framing and anarondak chair building going on. Then they all gather around the coffee pot…the dynamic is just awesome!” says Greg. The classes are divided into these ten categories:
· Boat building
· Freshwater studies
· Timber framing
· Foods
· Northern living
· Shelter building
· Tool/metal working
· Traditional crafts
· Woodworking
· Clothing
Experiences at NHFS range from a two hour sail boat ride to a weeklong boat-building workshop, but everyone has a chance to develop their creativity, talents, and interests, and leaves with a sense of community and accomplishment.
Celebration
The Wooden Boat Show and Summer Solstice Festival is an annual NHFS event. This year’s festival will be June 21-23, and will include craft demonstrations, boat launching, music, folk dancing, food, and a solstice pageant featuring a combined production by local artists, musicians, dancers, and performance artists. “This is a wonderful community and family event, and a time to celebrate our mission,” says Greg.
At North House Folk School, there is much to celebrate…the success of a vision come to fruition, the coherence and growth of a community, and the kindling of the spirit of the North Shore.