LOLA Arts is set to host two renowned Green Bay woodworkers, who will be teaching classes in Land O’ Lakes at the beginning of March. These classes are a part of LOLA’s winter programming, focusing on fostering community through folk and fine art classes, along with community events.
Dan Wieske developed his love for woodworking as an apprentice carpenter in Montana, before moving back home to Green Bay, where he grew up in a family of professional chefs. Dan currently focuses on making functional kitchenware items including boards, spoons, spatulas and brushes. His work reflects the conviction that everyday work items should have some artistic value. He will be teaching an all day handmade brush workshop on Friday March 1st, where students will choose pre-roughed out brush blanks with predrilled holes and make Tampico fiber bundles and epoxy the bundles into the brush body, following up with additional shaping, finishing, and sealer application. The class cost is $125 and students can go home with up to three handmade brush, depending on time.
Mark Hawkins has been building custom furniture for clients throughout the United States since 2007. He is currently the executive director at Hands On Deck, North East Wisconsin’s only woodworking school, mentoring youth at the non-profit that promotes creativity, community, and craftsmanship while building boats, boxes, tools, and more. In 2017, he started taking classes from Jarrod Dahl in green woodworking, and now teaches spoon carving and other green wood crafts to all ages with his most popular class being “The Magical Shrinking Pot”. This all day workshop will be offered at LOLA on Saturday March 2nd for $100, with students using sloyd and hook knives to carve a freshly cut piece of birch, which will be dried around a puck, and a carved lid if time permitted. Good hand strength is required.
