Duluth Folk School

It's a busy August! Here are a handful of the events we have going on this month. See our full calendar: https://duluthfolkschool.com/calendar/

Can you help us make leaves this Thursday? We are working on creating enough foliage for our beautiful new birch trees! We could use some extra hands for the final push!

Set-designer Lisa has almost completed the papier-mâché limbs, and now it's up to us to make sure we have enough leaves to make Duluth Folk School bloom and rustle for our 10th Anniversary.

Come join us from 3:30-5:30pm at Duluth Folk School this Thursday the 13th to lend a hand! (Reply or message us if you're pretty sure you're coming, so we can have a light head count.)

PS. We will also be assembling DIY air purifiers to give away from free/low cost at that same time period! So bring along a friend who likes putting things together with duct tape!

Creepmas Crafternoon is coming this August! Join us for a community crafting session at the Duluth Folk School AUGUST 16 from Noon - 2pm. Free supplies provided. All are welcome!

Join us for our second DIY Air Purifier workshop! We have free supplies: come make one to bring home, or stop by to build one or two for someone else to take home!

This is a drop-in event. Instructor Devan will be on-hand to walk you through the simple steps, which mostly involve using duct tape! You can take one home on a sliding scale, starting at $0! (Or if you build some for us, someone else can take one at a sliding scale.)

Every household should have an air purifier, especially one that can filter the fine particles of wildfire smoke. (HEPA or MERV 13 rated.) This keeps everyone healthy on smoky days -- and on other days: filtering out air pollutants is important!

DIY Air Purifiers have the added bonus of coming to understand the simple mechanisms at work: filter media and air intake. Underneath the bells and whistles of commercial purifiers are something that we can assemble ourselves somewhat cheaply.

Thanks to ALL the people who donated to make these workshops possible.
(In addition, we have some commercial wall-mounted air purifiers that can also be taken home if you are comfortable bracketing them to your wall. Thank you to Travis Wright and Medify for the massive donation to our community!)

Devan's art show "Flora Borealis" is now available for viewing! Devan brought a 21st century perspective on the interplay of technology and nature by using a 20th century chainstitching machine and 19th century botanical drawings of native wildflowers.

If you can, admire the delicate texture and slightly trippy swirls to Devan's pieces, creating a unique and beautiful set of pieces. (Please do not touch the artwork.)

Devan has really pushed the envelope of a lost art, and they're so beautiful!

*This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

Miss making educational posters? Or want to try again, now that you're an adult? This is your chance! Join Good Puppet Bad Puppet for an event inspired by the educational 4-H posters at the state fair, held right here at Duluth Folk School. (As a bonus, the event will be emceed by puppets.)

Pictured are some topics to help inspire you: the voyage of Shackleton, the wide array of romance novels about baseball, differences in brand preferences between children and adults, and the age of amphibians.

There are no real guidelines about the subject of the educational display, so long as the visual medium of the poster board is used to present information about the topic at hand. You can use a trifold poster board or a smaller 22x28 poster board.

IMPORTANT: Your poster should try to incorporate as many of the 5Ws as possible: Wit, Whimsy, Worldliness, Wonder, and Wisdom.

Posters will be displayed on Thursday, August 27th, from 4:30-7:30pm!

Lincoln Park is majestic.

We had our first DIY air purifier workshop! We were able to kick off the first (of several) workshops and events thanks to the many donors who pitched in during the worst of the smoke (so far) this year, when the air pollution became inimical to human life.

What became clear during that time was that we need to support each other, with resources and with education on what, for many, is a new aspect to their health. Thanks to donations, we are able to get these purifiers out the door at a sliding scale starting at $0.

DIY Air Purifiers aren't just a cost-effective air purifier -- they also are great educational tools, that help people see underneath the bells, whistles, and interfaces of consumer air purifiers. They are actually pretty simple, and things that we can assemble, repair, and repurpose with our own hands!

A variety of other organizations supported us, including the local Mask Bloc, Trans Northland (who donated supplies for 15 air filters!) and St. Louis County MN Public Health, who donated hundreds of high-quality masks (small-size only) that you can pick up for free at the entrance side table.

Please keep an eye out for more smoke and air quality workshops. And in the meantime, what can good people do but care for each other?

Learn about surfing on the big lake with Instructor Richard McNabney! This is a classroom-based class, and will be a wonderful look at the culture and practicalities of Midwest surfing.

Learn more or register: https://duluthfolkschool.com/events/lake-superior-surfing/