Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant FY20 Wrap Up
“… is designed to honor and encourage the preservation of North Dakota’s diverse living traditions by providing grants that allow master traditional artists to pass their skills and knowledge to apprentices on a one-to-one basis over an extended period of time.”
North Dakota Council on the Arts, Folk and Traditional Apprenticeship grant
Wow. What a year. Honored and encouraged, for sure.
We kind of summed up the amount of growth that has taken place by another well-known quote: “Do not seek to do what the master has done, instead seek what they sought.”
When we first started on our projects this year, we were looking for direction for every step along the way in the projects. At the end of our grant period, we talk for a bit then agree on what we are working on and how to approach it and then we just dig in and ask questions when we are unsure of the next step or how to correct something. We can work independently for the most part, but we still have a lot to learn.
We had a nice selection of projects which provided a wide variety of skills and techniques to work on, and while challenging, were somewhat basic/fundamental. Or at least they seem so now, here at the end. But getting a solid foundation in the fundamentals is going to pay dividends as we continue on. You have to crawl before you can walk – we’ve taken our first steps!
fire strikers 
candleholders 
Måstermyr chain 
chisels 
cooking utensils 
shears 
Viking-age bellows