Liesl Chatman (she/her)
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 in Minneapolis. 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 an 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. In the fall of 2026, Liesl and Jögge Sundqvist will undertake a road trip down the spine of Norway to chase the disappearing lore of Norwegian kolrosing.
Liesl’s courses are in English.
Instagram: @rivchicawarrior