Carving Out a New Type of College Course
Luther CollegeLuther College art students sorting through the tree limbs and brush at the Decorah city dump are not skipping classóthey are skipping the long lines at the bookstore as they "shop" for school supplies. The supplies they seek are uniquely shaped pieces of wood, and their search is directed by Harley Refsal, resident fellow in Scandinavian folk art and Scandinavian studies at Luther. Refsal is an internationally recognized expert on Scandinavian flat-plane woodcarving, a "lost" folk art of earlier centuries.