CRAFT IN AMERICA
HOLIDAY
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5 @ 7:00PM
Harley Refsal is an internationally recognized wood figure carver specializing in Scandinavian flat‐plane wood carving. Raised in Minnesota, he has lived in Norway in the 1960s and 1980s, and traveled extensively throughout Scandinavia. Refsal, who speaks fluent Norwegian, has shared his knowledge of and skills in Scandinavian carving with thousands of carvers through courses and presentations in North America and Scandinavia. In the episode, Harley Refsal teaches a Scandanavian wood carving class at the John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina. “Many holiday traditions, Christian and non-Christian, come from the winter solstice which was a pagan holiday that marked the start of the solar year and celebrated light and the rebirth of the sun. Santa, the Christmas tree, gifts and special meals all had their beginnings in the winter solstice.”
