Creative Support for Organizations-Round 2
Creative Support for Organizations-Round 2
Ely Folk School will expand Anishinaabe culture and heritage and ceramics programming and establish an instructor development program while continuing to provide meaningful arts and folk education to northern Minnesota residents and visitors.
Uri Camarena: business consultant; Michael Charron: arts educator and an arts and civic leader; Richard Cohen: attorney in private practice and a former state legislator; Emily Galusha: arts and civic leader, former arts administrator; Anthony Gardner: vice president, marketing and communications at CentraCare; Ken Martin, political strategist and campaign manager; Philip McKenzie: team lead with Denver Air, adjunct college faculty; Nichole Melton-Mitchell: healthcare administrator; Dobson West: retired attorney; Christina Widdess: nonprofit consultant; former arts administrator; Christina Woods: executive director, Duluth Art Institute
Erik Farseth: Farseth is a Minnesota artist specializing in printmaking, zines, and hand cut collage. He currently works as the administrator for the art history department at the University of Minnesota. Farseth has previously served on the volunteer board of directors of the Stevens Square Center for the Arts. Farseth holds a master's degree in journalism from the University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA), and a BA in art, culture, and politics from St. Olaf College. He is a three- time recipient of an Artist Initiative grant and a one-time recipient of a Minnesota Center for Book Arts Jerome Book Arts Fellowship.; Susan Foss: Foss is a lifelong artist in multimedia, especially sculpture and landscaping. She has world traveling, living, and museum experiences. She currently serves on the board of Old School Arts Center in Sandstone, and has written grant proposals for the center. She recently retired from 33 years of management of more than 20 people. She is actively involved in a large ongoing 30-year art/history project.; Andrew Hanson-Pierre: Hanson-Pierre is the coowner/operator of Clover Bee Farm in Shafer, a diversified vegetable farm. Prior to farming, Hanson-Pierre had a career in the bicycle industry. He did not graduate from the St Paul College of Visual Arts, but did complete a year there as well as a semester at Hennepin Technical College in a pursuit of a fine arts degree in photography.; Carla-Elaine Johnson: Johnson is a faculty member in the English department at Saint Paul College. She holds a PhD in literature from The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH), an MA in literature from the State University of New York (Albany, NY), and an MFA in English and creative writing from the University of Minnesota. Her publications are in the areas of memoir, essay, and poetry. Johnson has accounting experience and holds certification as an enrolled agent, which permits representation of individuals before the Internal Revenue Service.; Narate Keys: Keys is a Khmer/Cambodian poet, author, and medical manual therapist (MMT). As an experienced MMT (massage therapist), she also has a passion for writing poetry. She specializes in trigger point therapy and myofascial release. With more than fifteen years of massage experience, she has helped more than 10,000 community members achieve their health goals. She is also the self-published author of a collection of songs and poetry The Good Life, poetry book The Changes? Immigration Footprints of Our Journey, and coauthor of Planting SEADs. Keys's family lived through the atrocious Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia; she was born in a Thai refugee camp. Keys writes to express the true meaning of her voices. It is through poetry that Keys has found love, appreciation, and encouragement. Keys has performed her poems in Washington, DC; and in Minnesota at The Loft Literary Center, Springboard for The Arts, St. Cloud State University, Dragon Boat Festival, and MayDay Festival. Keys was selected as a storytelling recipient through the Twin Cities Media Alliance. Keys's painting called The Sun's Reflector was featured in the Saint Paul Almanac. Her poem "Water from Motherland? was featured on https://lyricality.org and is framed and hanging on the wall of the new building of Springboard for the Arts in Saint Paul.; Connie Lanphear: Lanphear is a visual artist and graphic designer, consulting with nonprofit environmental organizations in the Twin Cities area. She has volunteered with the Minnesota State Arts Board since 2018 as a grant program panelist. She holds a BA in journalism from the University of Minnesota and an MA in liberal studies with an arts and literature concentration from Hamline University.; Kim Matthews: Matthews is a mixed media sculptor with a diverse background that includes professional work in graphic design, writing, and illustration. She has exhibited professionally locally, nationally, and internationally for more than twenty years and was a 2010 recipient of a Jerome fiber artist project grant. Her sculpture is published in Lark Books 500 Paper Objects and Schiffer Books Artistry in Fiber Vol. 2: Sculpture. Her educational background includes a commercial art certificate from Minneapolis Community and Technical College as well as fine art and art history studies at the universities of Minnesota and Maine.; Nathaniel Wunrow: Wunrow is currently employed as a bids writer for a company that provides self-service and automation solutions to libraries. Previously, he has worked for the Walker Art Center as its cataloging librarian, at the Minnesota Historical Society in its development department, interned with The Soap Factory, and was on the board for the Saint Paul Art Collective. He received his MA in English and a graduate certificate in museum studies from the University of St. Thomas. In 2016-17, he wrote and won an Arts Board Artist Initiative grant for his amazing spouse.
ACHF Cultural Heritage
The EFS community will have more opportunity to learn arts traditional to the Ely area, developing a deeper respect for functional folk art. Ely Folk School will offer four events per week and four Instructor Development sessions in 2023. Attendees will be surveyed on what they learned and how it impacts their daily life. Evaluations will be reviewed and tabulated.
The EFS community experienced more opportunities to learn arts traditional to the Ely area and many developed a deeper respect for folk art. Ely Folk School offered 394 free, paid, and private events in 2023. Instructor Networking and Development sessions were held quarterly. Evaluations were sent and tabulated after each paid event.