North House Folk School is a very special place. I taught a course here last year and was delighted to be asked back to share my knowledge of bowlturning and take part in the fresh cut symposium. I was so busy teaching I don’t seem to have many photos so these are just a small selection with other more general pics from around the school. This is one of the main school buildings where I was teaching my bowlturning class.
The school sits on the north shore of Lake Superior and sunsets over the harbour were stunning.
Inside the students hard at work.
Brian burnishing his bowl with shavings in the bright sunshine.
and the bowls started to pile up
Nice bowls too
This was the haul produced by the first class over three days fresh cut birch.
Part of the ethos of the school is to give young people the opportunity to learn through prolonged exposure to craft in the form of internships. This is Ben who was working on a project linking traditional storytelling with maskmaking, I adored his moose mask.
A bald eagle that used to hang out around early morning by the fish wharf next door.
One evening we took one of these little rowboats out around the harbour late at night by moonlight.
All in all it is a very special place, I would recommend a visit even if it means a significant bit of traveling. One of my students however had driven from Texas, 1500 miles in a huge camper truck that did 8 miles to the gallon. As a committed environmentalist I would not recommend doing that.
I have taken a couple of courses at North house. There is magic in the air at that wonderful place. I guess you could say I am one of the lucky ones as I can drive there in about 3 or 4 hours.