Kolrosing is a humble decorative Scandinavian folk art made by incising wood surfaces and filling the lines with pigment. In 19th century Norway, this art adorned three-quarters of a million wooden Toten spoons but is now classified as an endangered folk art. Kolrosing doesn’t involve specialized tools, strength, or a studio—just a very small knife. In fact, you can do it in your lap and carry everything you need in a pencil case! Kolrosing artist and folklorist Liesl Chatman will cover knife techniques used in cutting letters, borders, patterns, and illustration.
Kolrosing knives and other tools are available to borrow during class or to purchase. Prior experience in woodworking is helpful but not required.
In this course, students will learn the basics of kolrosing through good technique and practice allowing them to confidently and joyfully explore kolrosing beyond this class. Liesl will cover layout and design, surface preparation, knife techniques, cutting straight and curved lines into letters and patterns, and techniques for working on both flat and curved surfaces.
Students will be able to make something extra special through kolrosing—like putting someone’s name or their birthday or kolrosing an image on a special wooden object like a spoon. Plus, you’ll make your own pocket zine using Liesl’s hand drawn handouts—all sized to be pasted into a Moleskine 3 ½” x 5 ½” notebook that fits in your kit!
As a traditional folk artist, teacher, and amatuer folklorist, Liesl is on a mission to rekindle the accessible and enjoyable traditional decorative folk art of kolrosing (think of kolrosing as tattooing wood). She is an accomplished spoon carver, and her kolrosed spoons have been exhibited at museums including a one-woman show of 35 illustrated story spoons at the American Swedish Institute. Kolrosing is an endangered craft—it is officially “red-listed” in Norway. As part of her mission, Liesl has travelled to Sweden and Norway to both teach kolrosing and to explore its lore dating back to medieval and Viking times. A passionate teacher, she has won numerous awards over the course of her 35-year career in education. In her teaching of craft, Liesl works with students to carve spoons and kolrose wood with confidence and joy through mindfulness, technique, and practice. She was the 2023 Folk Artist-in-Residence at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a 2024 American Scandinavian Foundation Fellow. She teaches at the American Swedish Institute, John C. Campbell Folk School, North House Folk School, and the Vesterheim Norwegian American Museum. In Scandinavia, she is an invited teacher at Sätergläntan in Sweden and at Rauland Akademiet and the Gudbrandals Museum in Norway.
Vesterheim offers a 60% discount for in-person class tuition on a space-available standby basis to any year-round resident living within 50 miles of Vesterheim. Students will be notified about the availability of an opening in the class 21 days before the starting date of the class period. Discounts do not include materials fees. If local area residents want a guaranteed place in a class, they must pay regular class tuition.
The local standby option is supported by Decorah’s Depot Outlet.