People perceiving heritage take a lot of pride in their work. And throughout the year in Hancock examples of Finnish heritage are displayed throughout the year. In part, Finnish American culture has been kept alive in the community by the Finnish American Folk School.
We at the foundation are doing a lot of different cultural programming all at once. And whenever we find ways for it to interact, I think the public benefits. So we have collaborations with the gallery. So folk arts meet fine arts and collaborations with the archive where students study, for example, weaving, a technique in weaving. Being practiced by modern weavers today can also take a look at our archival collections and see what that looked like 50 or 100 years ago. And so we’re trying to engage Finnish and Finnish-American cultural traditions on a lot of different levels, both the heritage and also the contemporary. – Clare Zuraw, Director, Finnish American Folk School
The Folk School is one branch of Finnish-American cultural preservation the Finlandia Foundation National promotes in the Copper Country. Where residents and visitors can learn about traditional Finnish crafts, weaving, and artwork.
Primarily adult education and then also some family education in arts and traditions and crafts and things that many people here are familiar with, but maybe don’t have a lot of opportunities to learn or take the time to experience firsthand. And what we do at the folk school is hands-on education and learning. So that is something that we offer to the community and it takes a lot. to do this throughout the year. As you said, we are offering educational opportunities around the calendar year. We have over 20 instructors and a lot of studio space here, which takes a lot to maintain. So with community support, we’re not only able to offer those programs throughout the year, we’re also able to offer them to new people who… who maybe haven’t had access to them before. – Clare Zuraw, Director, Finnish American Folk School
On Saturday the Finnish American folk school hosts an open house. Inviting the community to interact with the school’s 20 instructors, pick up crafting supplies or fiber art books, and learn more about programs the folk school offers throughout the year.
But then in terms of conversations, something that’s great about this work is hearing people share stories about crafts and traditions. So for example, whenever we do a weaving demonstration, similar to the ones that we’ll be doing at this open house event, we get to hear stories about people’s grandparents who were weavers or an ancestor who emigrated from Finland with parts of a spinning wheel disassembled in their luggage. So that they would be able to continue to practice these really important crafts in the new place that they were arriving in. – Clare Zuraw, Director, Finnish American Folk School
The folk school will even have a gift you could pick up in time for Mother’s Day.
And then we’ll be providing soil and flowers, little starts. So, and this is one of those things that’s a great, know, people of all ages might get into this and whether it’s a gift for their mom or themselves, it doesn’t matter. So a handmade pot, and then you’ll have the option to plant a flower in that pot and bring it home ready to go for mom or whoever, yourself, whoever you’re gifting it to. And then the playing with clay part of that is folks can also opt to hand build their ceramic label and that’s the part that they can they can decorate and paint. – Clare Zuraw, Director, Finnish American Folk School
The Finnish American folk school is located in the basement of the Skyview Commons, at 200 Michigan Street. Formerly the Jutila center. The open house will begin at 10 am on Saturday. Those interested in learning more about the Finnish American Folk School can find more details here.
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