Jo Guttormson

Jo has been weaving beautiful, handcrafted baskets for years. She is a member of several basket guilds and attends many national workshops and conventions where she hones her craft. She has taught classes at the Longville Arts Center, the Hackensack Senior Center, and at various locations in the Twin Cities. You can reach Jo at her email address below.

jogutts@yahoo.com

Paul Elwell

Paul Elwell, owner of Cottage Heights Blades, says making the knives is a very labor intensive process. He first has to cut the wood into the basic shape that he wants, and then goes through multiple steps in the sanding process. He finished the blade with five layers of lacquer. Each layer needs to dry before the next is applied. You can reach Paul through his email link below.

cottageheightsblades@outlook.com

Tom Soucek

Tom is a self taught watercolor artist. Always have enjoyed working with watercolors rather than any other medium.

He has been painting for over 30 years. His signature is usually the birch trees that stands out in many of his paintings. Themes are mostly winter and north woods scenes. Barns are a customer favorite also.

psoucek2006@yahoo.com

Kathryn Rosebear

Functional porcelain pottery – mugs, cups, plates, bowls, and vases – with animal and floral themes. All work is food-safe and oven-, dishwasher- and microwave-proof.

If I had lived in a warmer climate, I might never have become a potter.  My first artistic medium was soil, from which I coaxed gardens - broad swaths of color from perennials, and the more subtle shades of green from foliage.  Over 35 years, I have turned my entire corner city lot into a garden which regularly wins awards from Minneapolis’ Blooming Boulevards Program.

In Minnesota, though, the gardening season shuts down for almost half a year, leaving us with stark scenes of white and black, shadow on snow, and the persistent cold.  During one of those long winters during the 1990s, I decided to take up pottery.  Now when I have to leave my garden, I can go to my studio in the Northern Clay Center, a non-profit dedicated to clay art, where I share the camaraderie of working with other artists and the warmth from the kilns.

My work has evolved over time, but is strongly influenced by my interest in gardening and the natural world. I work in porcelain, which offers a strong white palette on which I can paint floral and animal motifs.  I often sketch in my garden, creating motifs based on the plants I love and the insects which benefit from them.  Those animals which make appearances on my pots –cats, foxes, rabbits, and a variety of birds – are often found within a half mile of my home.

The functionality of my work is important to me, and I think it is important for those who own my pots to use them. For that reason, I fire my pots to cone 10, or approximately 2300 degrees, to ensure that they are safe for household use and wear.  I have experimented on glaze formulas and applications to ensure that the pots retain their bright colors though they are fired at such a high temperature, and also to ensure that the pots are durable and safe to eat from and use, whether in a microwave or oven. I hope that, as people use my pots, the colors and motifs remind them of the magic of summer and the gardening season throughout the year.

You can contact Kathryn by Email or her Facebook page.

Mike Lein

Mike Lein successfully published over 50 non-fiction pieces in magazines and journals before moving on to book publishing. His first two books – Firewood Happens – Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness in Minnesota’s Northwoods and Down at the Dock – More Stories of the Good Life in the Northwoods scored back-to-back First Place Awards for Humor from the Midwest Independent Publishing Association. A comment from one judge says it all – “This book belongs in every cabin in Minnesota!”

The Crooked lake Chronicles – Mostly True Stories of Life Up North continues this series with more lightly embellished tales of the things that happen, the people you meet, and the struggles with Mother Nature that occur when you step out and enjoy the simple life in the Great Outdoors.

You can buy Mike's books through this link.

Meet S. S. Baits and your next lure!

The Stennes Sisters, Erica and Shanna have created the company S.S. Baits. They have lived in the MN North woods their entire lives. Growing up in a rural area, on a lake, ensured plenty of time on the water. As children many of our summer days were spent preening and modifying their tackle to better catch the elusive monsters of the lake. As adults we developed and expanded our skills to create one-of-a-kind lures that the fish cannot resist.

Please visit the Stennes Sisters website linked below.

S.S. Baits

Susan Cross - Wild Wind Studio

Wild Wind Studio, is an art festival based business. By using our silk items and unique dye you can create a special piece of wearable art. We look forward to August 14, 2021 when Susan can help us create our own unique silk scarf or bag.

Hand Dyed Silk Scarves and Bags

wildwindcenter@yahoo.com

M E Fuller

Saving the Ghost, the debut novel by M E Fuller, is a story of resilience and courage. When Ellen McInnis left home at 17, she was free of her abusive father’s violence against her. His death brought the terrors of childhood back to life. Ellen, now 57, is desperate to tell the truth. She believes it’s the only way she can save herself from total emotional collapse. But there’s only one living family member she can trust, her elderly aunt Mercy, and Mercy is keeping her own secrets, devastating secrets of unimaginable horrors and betrayal.

Saving the Ghost is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle. Contains adult language and violence. This project was supported by Five Wings Arts Council with funds from the McKnight Foundation.

Fuller has published short fiction in Shark Reef-A Literary Magazine, Talking Stick 26, PHOTOWRITE 2018, and South85Journal blog. She is a freelance writer and visual artist in central Minnesota and a member of Brainerd Writers Alliance and The Crossing Arts Alliance.

Becky and Bob Seemann

Nature: Love. Respect. Protect. "We want to help people enjoy, respect and protect the beauty of the woods, water and wildlife all around us," says Becky and Bob Seemann of Artwoods.

"This inspires us to create our nature-oriented silver jewelry and rustic furniture and accessories to share with other lake folks. There are endless ideas for creativity in the forests and lakes -   leaves, trees, unique stones, and animals. Our name Artwoods simply means that we make art in the woods of northern Minnesota. We give 10 percent of net profits to support environmental organizations and want to help people understand that it's up to all of us to preserve it for future generations."

becky.seemann@icloud.net

Tim Jollymore

Tim Jollymore grew up next to the swamps, forests, and Indian reservations of northern Minnesota, the setting of his first novel. He spent his working life as a tree planter, pulp peeler, local historian, traveling salesman, and corporate manager. After migrating to California, he pursued residential design, contracting, and the teaching of English. Jollymore has a master’s degree in literature from the University of Minnesota.

Since leaving teaching in 2011, Jollymore has devoted his time to fiction and drama, writing a five-act play, completing two novels and numerous short stories.

During summer, he camps across the western states traveling to visit extended family in northern Minnesota. Otherwise, he writes in Oakland, California and shares free time with his artist companion, Carol. His three grown children live nearby.

Jollymore’s fiction explores struggles of identity and loss in American society from the viewpoint of the under and working classes. Though these contests—sometimes mysterious and often fierce—play out in spare, natural settings and every day, domestic life, they are marked by unusual, compelling events. 

His novels include: "Listener in the Snow" (2014) which abounds with Native stories, Algonquin legend, Indian characters, and heartrending strife set against the Northern Minnesota snowscape.

"Observation Hill", a novel of class and murder (2015). Police Detective Paul Tuomi has his hands full. He has just been assigned the highest-profile murder case of his career, is in the middle of investigating the strange death of a family member, and is about to cross the line on a long-ago failed marriage.

"The Advent of Elizabeth", (2016). Twenty-four years have passed since the murdered girl was buried. The classmate who confessed to the stabbing is doing time. Both families moved out of town. Case closed? Justice done? Not so fast. As they converge on their California high school’s 100th-anniversary celebration, cryptic notes are unsettling members of the “Class of ‘67”. Some question what they thought they knew.

Jollymore's books have won awards or been finalists in several award categories. His book of short stories, essays, and poems, "Lake Stories and Other Tales", (2017) has had a warm reception. Comic, heartfelt, and mysterious, these stories charm the reader with good humor, affection for their natural settings, and the gentle, persistent seeking for a lasting place in the daily world of common folk.

Jollymore's newest book, "People You've Been Before" (2019) edges into city life, recovery culture, the lives of writers, and fallout from the Vietnam conflict. 

All books are available on Amazon and his website timjollymore.net

Sue Rowe

Sue Rowe was born quite a while ago - growing up around black bear in northern Wisconsin. However, she had no way of knowing that depicting them in art would take up more than twenty years of her later life. After earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin - River Falls in 1981 she put fine art aside to concentrate on a different creative occupation. But in 1997, while working in a Stillwater, Minnesota antique shop, she decided to copy an illustration of a grizzly bear that she'd found in a vintage hunting magazine. Little did she know that this one action would alter her life's direction for the next twenty years!  

Sue's pastel and acrylic paintings have garnered awards in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. She is returning to oil painting again - one current work is a painting of the Minnesota Zoo's grizzly bears.

Recently Sue's subject matter has expanded. Spunky squirrels, gentle rabbits, fluffy sheep, and dancing pigs ( her favorite subject while in college) have joined the bruins in the studio. She also does pet portraits - specializing in cats and dogs.

In March Sue had planned to teach her first workshop on Visual Journaling at an event in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Because of COVID-19 concerns, this event was canceled. However,  she enjoys Visual Journaling so much that she is definitely planning to teach this creative subject in the coming years!

You may find Sue Rowe's work in the following shops or galleries:

• Art Dock - Duluth, MN

• Lake Superior Trading Post - Grand Marais, MN

• Stillwater Art Guild and American Gothic Antiques - Stillwater, MN

• The Grand Hand - St. Paul. MM

• Brickyard Pottery - Shell Lake, WI

• Pottery at Best - Webster, WI

• No Rules Gallery - Spring Green, WI

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You can reach Sue at one of the accounts below:

• Instagram: surobear1

• Facebook Page: Sue-Rowe-Studios

• (website is not working at this time - sorry)

• email: surobear1@gmail.com

• phone: 651-303-5453

Marsha and Gary Wolff

Marsha and Gary Wolff own Wolff Works Studio, north of Nevis, where they turn out all sorts of fun stuff. Gary is a potter and a painter and Marsha is a mosaic artist and a jeweler. Marsha spends most days breaking dishes, which she highly recommends to others.

Among their unique mosaics, they also create paintings, pottery, jewelry, and bags. We look forward to seeing them in August 2021.

You can get a hold of the Wolff’s at their email below.

decoys@arvig.net

Jackpine Writers

The Jackpine Writers’ Bloc is an active writing group in north central Minnesota, in existence since 1993. Our group kicks off each year by opening up for submissions to the next Talking Stick Book. These books are collections of poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction submitted by Minnesota writers.

During each year, we put on writing workshops, prepare the book, and put on an annual book release party where we pay out prize money for the top two places in each of the three writing categories. We continually look for new ways to entertain and inspire writers and fellow artists.

We want to thank the writing and arts community for their continued enthusiasm for our group and our books. Bring your friends to our workshops and parties.

For many years, we supported ourselves with donations, book sales, and a few grants. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to fund our books. Without your support and donations, there would be no Jackpine Writers’ Bloc and no Talking Stick books. Remember, your tax donation is tax deductible. We are a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization.

The Jackpine Writers’ Bloc is native to Minnesota. We are a writing group as well as a publishing company. Our literary journal, The Talking Stick, has become a state-wide publishing ground for amateur and experienced writers alike. Our goal in publishing writers is simple – we publish to encourage solid writing that shows promise, creativity and brilliance.

We started where most writers up here seem to start – hiding behind jack pines with few outlets and few who could enjoy our craft with us. Things have changed. The writers in our group, and those from many other writing groups that have sprung up in nearby cities, offer experience, criticism and encouragement in abundance.

Kim Young

Kim a retired dental hygienist who is passionate about canoeing and camping discovered that making jewelry was a wonderful gift that allowed her to be creative. Make one Kim’s beautiful hand painted earrings, fish leather earrings, snap bags, Lake Superior Rock Necklaces, sea glass earrings and or necklace your own.

queticokim74@gmail.com

Barry Nelson

Barry Nelson was our 2019 Spirit of the North Award Winner - Bird Brain Bird Houses

Barry Nelson was our 2019 Spirit of the North Award Winner, Barry has always been interested in birds, although didn’t start building birdhouses until about 9 years ago. He worked on quite a few houses until he came up with this design. Barry wanted something that looked unique compared to other designs he had seen. These are functional homes for birds and where ever they will be placed, either yard, garden, or your home, they will certainly add interest. These birdhouses embellished with sticks and driftwood are made from barn wood and ceiling tins that are 100 years old. Barry has also been featured on Kare 11.

You can contact Barry birdbrainbirdhouses@gmail.com

Jacob Moses

Cotter Trespin has been experiencing strange phenomena on the streets of Chicago. Since turning twenty-one a month prior, the spotlights come and go without reason. They seem to shine from a place far beyond the stars, and Cotter quickly realizes that they are lighting up stages that are set for murder. The light goes unseen by others, as does the hoodie-wearing figure who directs these death scenes. Cotter eventually finds himself entwined in police investigations after continually appearing at the site of apparent accidents and suicides. Inevitably, the relationships in his life are being consumed by the mounting turmoil, and perhaps by the alcohol he consumes too. It’s a strange connection with the killer though that sends Cotter reeling, desperate for answers to his life, answers to his existence. Could they lie within the seemingly insane thoughts of the killer and his mystical claims that the people in the spotlights have been marked for death? Or, is it Cotter’s job to stop this killer.

Jacob Moses

lives in central Minnesota with his wife, Tracy, and their four children. This is his first novel.

Liz Shaw

National and state award-winning news photographer, Liz Shaw of Park Rapids, has been playing with light and images since 1983.

Her passion as a photographer and photo editor has allowed access to beautiful people and places in Minnesota’s Lake Country, Montana, and beyond for more than three decades. 

Coming from a world of glorious film, darkrooms, and magic paper, she has made the transition to digital formats, discovering everyday moments with a focus on swans. Thanks to a restoration program at Tamarac Wildlife Refuge, she sees them as the phoenix of the north.

Her mission statement embraces values including: Joy. Love. Beauty everywhere.

Professional Photography Affiliations, Past & Present 

Bella Design, LLC, owner

Bella Design, LLC, owner

Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, bereavement photographer

Nemeth Art Center, Board Member

North Country Museum of Arts, Revolving Gallery Show

 New York Mills Regional Cultural Center

National Association of Professional Women

National Association of Press Women

Photojournalist/photo editor

You can contact Liz at the address below

Liz@BellaDesignLizShaw.com

Creative Nutworks - Mother Nature and Imagination

My name is Albert Tanko.  I operate Creative Nutworks in North Branch, MN and this is my story. 

I escaped from communist Romania in 1982.  I landed in Minnesota where I met and married my wife.  My interest in art from seeds and pits began with the black walnut shell cross on my wife's Grandma Roberts' wall in Mindoro, Wisconsin.   When I saw I was fascinated with the intricate pattern in the individual slices of black walnut shell.      

Fast forward 20 years.  Our two boys are grown and I had time to experiment with recreating grandma's cross.  I picked a wheel barrel full of nuts and began the task of figuring out the best way to husk, clean, and slice them.  They are definitely a "tough nut to crack". 

I began making a few crosses.  After a few months, the initial crosses would break because the glue was not strong enough.   Then began the illusive search for the optimum adhesive. 

After making crosses, I began to look for other ways to utilize the black walnut pieces with this beautiful pattern.  I asked for feedback from friends and family.  A friend said these are beautiful but try making something different- like a bowl.  A bowl?  No way!  I did not think it was possible.   I started dreaming of how to create a circle.  Thus, the evolution of the sun catchers.  Next the best method for adding color.   I experimented with different media, but I wanted to create something to hang in the window and dazzle in the sunlight.  Thus the addition of colored glass, which evolved into the use of stained glass.  

Eventually I figured out how to make a bowl, serving plates and even a dining room table!  Then how to utilize the scrap pieces left after slicing and assembling.  My wife had purchased a turkey table favor made out of an American walnut with a silk leaf tail.  I told her I could do better and she asked for 22 table favors for Thanksgiving dinner.  Voila!  Enter the Nutwhats into my collection.  They are whimsical critters each with a personality of its own. 

 I utilize different nuts and pits - peach, apricot, plum, date, buckeye, butternut -- the list is endless.  The array of items that can be created from the nuts, pits and seeds that Mother Nature provides is also endless -- limited only by the boundaries of  imagination. 

John C. Warren

Renowned High Arctic bush pilot, Don C. Braun, a native of St. Cloud, MN, and first to land a wheeled aircraft at the North Pole, would share stories of his arctic adventures at the drop of a hat, most often at family gatherings. “Someone should record these stories,” relatives would say as Don was nearing his 80th year. Writer John C. Warren, who married into the Braun family, stepped forward and was able to transform Don’s life story into a fascinating true-life adventure book. Don passed away before the book was published, but his fame as one of the premier high arctic bush pilots lives on today. Don’s fireside narrative of close calls and life in the High Arctic is laced with humor and total honesty. The “Arctic Fox,” as he was known in the North, was superbly resourceful, bailing out of tight situations in his years of High Arctic flying. This is your book, pilots, and all others who love flying. Now in soft cover, this handsome 244-page book includes 32 pages of photographs. Author Warren, who lives in Walker, MN, has been a regular at the Northwoods Art & Book Festival the past 10 years. “I get to meet so many interesting people who, like me, love anything and everything about aviation and the High Arctic. The Art and Book Festival is so well organized, and it is really a joy to attend and participate, whether you are an author or book-lover – or both!” says Warren.

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For more information contact John C. Warren @ 218.547.2865 or jcwarren@eot.com

William Prickett

My name is William Prickett and am in love with turning wood. Finding beauty within a log that others cannot see, turning a bowl or a vase out of it we’re it could of been burnt or left for decay is my pleasure .  I starter wood turning in high school but then gave it a break till my late 20’s and then resumed the dance with my lathe full time in 2014. I am a full time turner a full time nurse a full time dad of 3 (2 which play hockey all year round) and a loving husband.  I would love to run a full time wood shop in the near future.  You can find me on Facebook or Instagram at woodsman wilderness, or www.woodsmanwilderness.com