Meet the instructors
CAFAC’s teaching artists lead classes for more than 700 students each year in disciplines ranging from blacksmithing to stained glass. Learn about them here!
Jon Ault
Jon Ault was first introduced to neon as a student at MCAD in the late 70's. In 1982, he started Neonistics Custom Neon Designs. His company produced thousands of feet of neon, both custom and commercial, through 1996. He has been working as a freelance glass bender for other companies since then. He's taught neon classes at MCAD and the American School of Neon. His goal in teaching at CAFAC is to introduce a new generation to the possibilities of the creative use of neon and to pass on the knowledge of the craft.
Neon
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Ashley Austin
Ashley Austin is a flameworker and multimedia artist residing in Minneapolis, MN. She has been working with glass since 2010 after graduating from the University of Minnesota where she studied Architecture, Art and Anthropology. Her work draws on inspiration from fashion and global cultures, both contemporary and ancient. Her glass work focuses on color and pattern in marbles, jewelry and hollow forms using techniques she has developed over her career. Her work has been featured in galleries and collections in multiple countries and her work was exhibited at a solo gallery show in Miami, FL in 2023. She has always loved introducing people to the magic of flameworking and is excited to share her knowledge!
Flameworking
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Evalin Becker
Evalin was first introduced to stained glass as a child, growing up in various studios, watching her mother work. During the pandemic she left her career as a pastry chef and began following her mother’s footsteps and working in the stained glass industry full time. She specializes in historical restoration and traditional glass painting. She is passionate about preserving the work of bygone craftsmen and is so excited to share her love of traditional stained glass. Evalin’s work explores deconstructing a medium traditionally reserved for sacred spaces, and what veneration can look like.
Stained Glass
She/her
Brad Buxton
Brad Buxton is a lifetime learner with multiple interests and creative reinventions. Woodworking, blacksmithing, copper chasing/repousse, and bronze casting are all part of his creative tool kit. His approach to teaching and learning is for students to select projects that are personally interesting and dive in. No matter where a student’s artistic interests lie, it’s the practice of moving hot metal that is important and seeing the results of using simple tools like the hammer and anvil to change form, and move mass and volume. His philosophy for teaching blacksmith classes is to focus on five basic processes: drawing and tapering, slitting and punching, bending, twisting, and upsetting.
Blacksmithing
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Gretchen Kieling Carlyle
Gretchen Kieling Carlyle is an artist and metal fabricator with an enthusiasm for sharing the craft. She has been working in metal for about a decade and holds a Minnesota historical boiler license. Some favorite projects include: a fold-out aluminum bicycle trailer for the Hennepin Library, the Southside Battletrain human powered ferris wheel, and a set of railings made from grain elevator trolley rail. She currently works as half of Carlyle Industries in North Minneapolis.
Blacksmithing
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Crystal Celeste
Crystal Celeste has been creating copper enamel & silver art for more than 15 years, as well as teaching various jewelry-making workshops for more than 10 years. She is energized by motivating others to manifest their artistic visions and creativity within. Crystal centers her approach to teaching in relationships, growth and intuition. Identifying as mixed-Chicana, she humbly explores the intersection of her identities, experiences and artistic process. Follow and connect through Crystal Celeste Studio.
Jewelry
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Becca Cerra
Becca Cerra is a Queer, Female Artist living with Physical Disabilities and Mental Illness. Each of these identities informs the art she creates and the advocacy work she is involved in. She is passionate about contributing to the inclusivity, accessibility, and equitability within arts organizations and spaces. She believes art is for all and is honored to help make that possible.
Blacksmithing & Welding
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Helene Constantine
Helene Constantine started her blacksmithing journey in Madison, WI at the tender age of thirteen, when she decided she wanted to craft a sword. She did so with questionable results. She then worked with some local smiths, and did a fair amount of experimenting in her off time learning the tricks of the trade. She journeyed to Charleston, SC in 2018 to refine her craft at The American College of the Building Arts. There, she learned historic styles and techniques from the middle ages to the 21st century that she molded into her own brand of dark whimsy. After leaving the lowcountry, she worked in many different types of blacksmithing shops in the Midwest and New England before returning to Minnesota. She brings a breadth of expertise and unending passion for the craft to her lessons, and always keeps in mind that blacksmithing is not just a craft: It is magic.
Blacksmithing
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Emma Crutcher
Emma Crutcher worked with plastic for several years before starting her business, Cool Trash, in early 2022. Cool Trash is a part of the Precious Plastic universe - an open-source network of individuals and groups recycling waste plastic around the globe.
Jewelry
she/her
Heather Doyle
Heather Doyle has been inspired by fire as a creative and empowering tool since her first industrial arts class in high school. After working in industry as a welder, fabricator, and product designer, she became a fire arts educator in 2006 and developed a new sculptural welding and blacksmithing program at Minneapolis Community & Technical College. At CAFAC, she continues her work as an educator and mentor in sculptural welding, blacksmithing, enameling and public art. She served on the Minneapolis Arts Commission for four years and continues to contribute to the creative sector through educational partnerships, sculpture fabrications, selection panels for arts organizations, and emerging artist mentorship.
Blacksmithing, Enameling, & Welding
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Mary Ila Duntemann
Mary Ila Duntemann creates art glass beads inspired by the colors, textures and patterns that surround her in the natural and human-made landscape. She captures these influences, working each unique piece by hand using traditional methods. She finds joy in witnessing the aha moment when students are able to read the honey consistency of molten glass to explore glass creations of their own. She is primarily self-taught but has studied with Kristina Logan, Aja Vaz, and Holly Cooper. She exhibits at regional art shows including the St Anthony Park Art Fair, Grand Marais Arts Festival and the Powderhorn Art Fair.
Lampworking
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Tamiko French
Tamiko French is a multidisciplinary creative with a background in dance performance and choreography for over 20 years. Her expansion in handcrafted crystal vibrational adornments began in 2010. She then expanded her private sound practice to public service in 2020 amid the uprising from the murder of George Floyd. Her mission is to share the power of natural healing through the senses, layering crystal healing and sound healing, in collaboration with the community. She has been a student and teacher at CAFAC since 2021, teaching free form wire wrapping. Her vibrationally charged work is featured at CAFAC’s Nokomis Gallery.
Jewelry
she/her
Pete Gierzynski
Pete Gierzynski is a local artist and blacksmith with a passion for DIY ethics and sharing knowledge to empower community. Pete runs his own metalworking business in south Minneapolis, where he crafts custom commissions using various metals and woods to create unique pieces of art and functional furniture. As an instructor, he is dedicated to ensuring everyone is respected and is met where they're at, regardless of skill level or learning style.
Blacksmithing
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Jordan Hamilton
Jordan is a multi-disciplinary artist based in the Twin Cities. Bridging spirit aspirations and connections to earthly transformations and expressions - Jordan’s work reflects realities and explores cosmic and elemental energies through abstract and surrealist painting, murals, iconography, sculpture, collage, textile, mixed media, and sonic art. Jordan is a community/teaching artist, a founding member of the Power of Vision mural project and Creatives After Curfew mural collective, as well as a member of the Million Artist Movement and Voice of Culture. He is also the creator of Ancestral Aspects Adornment.
Enameling
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Linda Seebauer Hansen
Linda holds a MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a BFA from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. She received an Individual Fellowship Award from the Wisconsin Arts Board, was an active member of MetalPeople Studio in Madison, WI and visiting instructor at the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater and Madison, and Milwaukee Area Technical College. Her experiences led her to accept a position as Metals Department Head at the Worcester Center for MA, where she was presented with the Barrett Morgan Award for exemplary leadership and teaching. To be closer to aging parents, Linda moved to Minnesota and for seven years directed a comprehensive education program for a non-profit arts organization. She has since returned to her studio practice and teaching. Her artwork is exhibited and collected nationally.
Jewelry
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Annemarie Hines
Annemarie Rose is a multidisciplinary artist driven by a desire both to teach and learn within her community. Since 2020, Annemarie has been instructing stained glass courses in Minneapolis, ranging from beginner to advanced-level projects. In addition to stained glass classes, she also offers soft soldering jewelry and glass etching workshops at CAFAC. Annemarie is drawn to pursuits that challenge and inspire her. Embracing the complementary roles of teacher and student, she is devoted to exploring new skills and mediums which help foster an ever-evolving creative mindset. She believes that staying curious and being willing to learn are essential elements of any artist's journey — a philosophy that is intrinsic to her passion for teaching.
Stained Glass, Soft Soldering & Glass Etching
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Laura D. Juul
Laura D. Juul is a jewelry artist, teacher, and crafter that has been making silver jewelry for more than thirty 30 years. She has been teaching in the Minneapolis area for 20 years, with a focus on PMC and fused glass. As an instructor she loves to share her knowledge and is inspired by the new ideas her students create. After spending many years in retail as a visual merchandiser, she's returning to her roots in traditional silversmithing and has made teaching her full-time endeavor, including helping with the launch of the new jewelry program at CAFAC.
Jewelry
she/her
Roger Karlson
Roger Karlson has a BFA from UW-Stout, with a concentration in Interior Design. He has been teaching for the last 6 years, assisting students in the creative design process to resolve clients' needs. Roger's exploration of sculptural welding began several years ago, and as an instructor, he finds inspiration in observing the unique way others create objects and resolve problems as they acquire new skills.
Blacksmithing
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Kathleen Kvern
Kathleen Kvern is an abstract painter based in Minneapolis. She works in encaustic and mixed media creating multi- layered paintings inspired by the beauty of the natural world. She is primarily self-taught but has studied with local encaustic artist Jodi Reeb, national encaustic artists Jeffery Hirst and Lisa Pressman and intuitive painter Flora Bowley. Her work has been juried into exhibitions in Minnesota and Wisconsin and at the Minnesota State Fair Fine Art Exhibition. She has been commissioned to create public art for private homes as well as public art installations at the Minneapolis International Airport and St. Joseph’s Medical Center in Brainerd. Kathleen teaches encaustic workshops at CAFAC and at Dillman’s Art Workshop Retreats in Wisconsin.
Encaustic
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Jennie Leenay
Jennie Leenay is a fashion designer from Minneapolis. A Black, queer, Southside designer inspired by Afrofuturism, they fight for Black liberation through design and mutual aid. Raised in a Black matriarchal, intergenerational home, fashion and appreciation of the quality of clothing was instilled in them by their mother and grandmother. Jennie’s mother taught them the strength of expressing themselves through fashion, while Granny raised them on thrifting from a young age. At 18, Jennie was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. While recovering, they volunteered in theater costume shops, and their love of fashion morphed into a passion for design, leading them to pursue a degree in Minneapolis College’s Apparel Technology program. Two years in, after the public lynching of George Floyd and the global uprising that followed, Jennie’s career trajectory took a drastic turn. They brought their gifts to the community of 38th and Chicago (George Floyd Square), where they now manage a free clothes closet dedicated to meeting the clothing/fashion needs of the people.
Jewelry
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Samael Leopold-Sullivan
Samael Leopold-Sullivan is an artist and educator with a passion for sharing their myriad skills with others. They have an MFA from Alfred University in Sculpture/Dimensional Studies, and have been teaching stained glass at CAFAC since spring of 2022. They love learning new skills and teaching them to others, and stained glass is their current favorite medium for making three-dimensional work. They delight in seeing their students grow in confidence and skill, and approach teaching with the goal of helping students make art and have fun.
Stained Glass
they/them
Brighton McCormick
Brighton McCormick is a sculptor, educator and art fabricator living and working in South Minneapolis. Their interdisciplinary practice focuses on sculpture and gallery installation, community engaged projects, and public art primarily utilizing metal working and reinterpreted found objects. McCormick has a BFA from the University of Minnesota and an MFA from the University of Washington. They are currently teaching at the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center, they are a visiting faculty member at Hamline University in Sculpture, and the founder of Fire Press Library. Current exhibitions include Stevens Point Sculpture Park and the Minneapolis Convention Center. McCormick is a 2024 Next Step Grant recipient.
Metal Casting
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Jess Bergman Night
Jess Bergman Night has been exploring art her entire life and was introduced to her first fire art form, cast metal, as a teenager. She has been teaching and creating with the cast metal professionally for the past decade following completion of degrees in Studio Arts and Art History from the University of Minnesota. Jess joined CAFAC in 2011 as a volunteer and has since broadened her love of the fire arts to include many processes which she enjoys mixing with non-fire related techniques. Jess is a teacher to her core and loves sharing her passion for creating with others and seeing the joy of possibility in her students’ eyes as they learn new skills. She also delights in bringing unique creative opportunities to unusual places and working with non-traditional creators, by offering education and art-making experiences in communities with her bicycle-transported "Pedal to the Metal" art engagement tools.
Metal Casting, Enameling, & Blacksmithing
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Dan Osadchuk
Dan Osadchuk's earliest memory is of stumbling into his grandfather’s blacksmith shop when he was two years old and becoming so mesmerized that his father had to drag him out kicking and screaming. His fascination with metalworking continued through high school, where he became the shop teacher’s assistant, and into his first job out of technical college in the largest machine shop in St. Paul. He started building his blacksmithing practice 25 years ago and is a member of the Guild of Metalsmiths through which he’s taught various blacksmithing classes.
Blacksmithing
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Wayne Potratz
Wayne Potratz is a Professor Emeritas from the University of Minnesota Art Department with more than 50 years of metal casting experience. Potratz's expertise includes Meso-American, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian, and Western African metal casting methodologies, as well as historical Western technologies and contemporary materials practice. His work in cast bronze, iron, and aluminum has been exhibited nationally and internationally and can be seen at www.ironwain.com. Wayne maintains a studio in Minneapolis, where he continues to study contemporary art, sculpture, and metal smelting and casting technologies.
Blacksmithing
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Erin Proctor
Erin earned her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts Degree from Cal State Long Beach in 2009 and has been a passionate metal arts instructor for over a decade. She is also a dedicated crazy cat person, lover of mid-century modern design, and aviation enthusiast which are all themes often represented in her work. Her work in enamel blends jewelry-making with photo to create beautiful, finely-detailed pieces that are accessible to beginners to create.
Enamel
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Jim Ricci
Jim Ricci is a jack-of-all-trades with decades of experience in woodworking and construction, who discovered his passion for metalworking right here at CAFAC. Jim attributes his love for craftsmanship in part to his grandfather, whose favorite saying was: “you can learn something new every day of your life.” He also learned many important life lessons during his 38-year career with the military traveling the world; most importantly, we are all human and should always treat one another with dignity and respect. It’s Jim’s mission to share the positive experiences and wisdom he has gained along the journey.
Blacksmithing
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Jhyle Rinker
Jhyle Rinker is a curator, contemporary jewelry artist, picture framer, and the gallery coordinator for the Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center. In her curatorial practice she attempts to stretch the boundaries of the art gallery norm. Her goal is to give space to see art from different perspectives and she seeks ways to make it accessible and open to every person, providing both the artists and the viewers a safe space to connect to art and those that make it. Jhyle also believes strongly that we are always learning and each show curated is a new story to learn and grow from. Similarly, in her jewelry practice, she is always open to new experiences, techniques and forever seeks knowledge on how to create works as environmentally sound as possible. She enjoys the process of taking “trash” and making it a wearable piece of artwork.
Jewelry
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Tai Salisbury
Tai Salisbury is a local goldsmith and jewelry instructor with 15 years of teaching experience. Her areas of expertise span metal fabrication, casting/wax carving, stone setting, wire wrapping, lapidary, and more. She lives with her wife, step-kids, two cats and the best dog in the world.
Jewelry
she/her
Woody Stauffer
Woody Stauffer has been discovering and implementing methods of mold-making techniques primarily for the casting of metal and concrete for the past 10 plus years. After earning his MFA degree in sculpture from Fort Hays State University Woody then obtained his teaching license and taught industrial arts for a few years in Kansas. Now back in his hometown of Minneapolis he continues to work in metal fabrication as an independent contractor while also teaching and spreading the joy of creative expression. WSSG Designs is the name of his business where you can find more of his creations as well as his recent usages in 3D printing and digital design work. Woody empowers his students with a fun and supportive classroom environment that is considerate of the needs of everyone involved.
Metal Casting
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Sergey Vaynshenk
Sergey's blacksmithing journey ignited in 2021 during his inaugural class, where the first swing of the hammer captivated him. Since that transformative moment, he has passionately called CAFAC his creative home, dedicating himself to the art of blacksmithing. Focusing on creating practical objects for everyday use, such as ornate garden trellises and culinary tools, he is driven by a desire to share his knowledge and passion for blacksmithing. He believes that the preservation and proliferation of traditional crafts are vital for fostering creativity, resilience, and a deeper connection to our past.
Blacksmithing
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Visiting instructors
As part of our commitment to serving learners of all skill levels, we’ve been working hard to bring in master artisans from around the US (and even overseas!) to offer weekend intensives and advanced workshops. Some of our past visiting instructors are listed below.
Elizabeth Belz
Elizabeth Belz is a blacksmith, educator, and the owner of Black Widow Forge. She is currently the Blacksmithing and Metals Coordinator at John C. Campbell Folk School in North Carolina and was previously the blacksmithing apprentice at the Metal Museum in Memphis where she trained under master smith Jim Masterson. Elizabeth was also craft education intern at North House Folk School in Grand Marais, MN, a resident artist with the Science Museum of MN, and a Creative Catalyst fellow. She has shown her work, competed, and taught blacksmithing throughout the U.S. and internationally and has most recently finished up a year long artist residency at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Elizabeth sits on the board of the Society of Inclusive Blacksmiths, an international nonprofit committed to building equity and diversity in the field of blacksmithing.
Blacksmithing
she/her
Ellen Durkan
Ellen Durkan is an artist blacksmith based in Wilmington, DE, who teaches both in a college setting and through her business, Iron Maiden Forge. Ellen specializes in wearable “Forged Fashion” art that she presents through performance runway shows in addition to large-scale drawings. While completing her MFA, she was intrigued by metalworking and that led her down the blacksmithing path. Ellen enjoys creating pieces to fit the complex forms of the figure and how each piece takes on a new presence with a new wearer. She creates forged work to decorate the body as visual and metaphorical armor. The metal forging and forming process constantly inspires Ellen to build challenging new creations to be worn.
Blacksmithing
she/her
Lars MøRCH
Lars Mørch is a full-time blacksmith who specializes in Viking Era toolmaking. He runs Mørch’s Smedie, a tool smithy in northwest Denmark. Since childhood, history and traditional crafts have played an important role in Lars’s life. His commitment to handmade craft allows him to thrive in his rural lifestyle. Forging steel to create hand tools combines his passion for DIY ingenuity and his work. Lars has taught forging classes for many years, sharing the joy and challenges of this craft with others and focusing on process rather than finished product. His hope is to inspire students to forge further on their own.
Blacksmithing
he/him
