Liesl Chatman

As a folk artist, teacher, and amateur folklorist, Liesl is on a mission to bring back the accessible and enjoyable traditional decorative folk art of kolrosing (similar to scrimshaw, think of kolrosing as tattooing wood). She is an accomplished spoon carver, and her kolrosed spoons have been exhibited at museums including a one-woman show of 35 illustrated story spoons at the American Swedish Institute. Kolrosing is an endangered craft—it is officially “red-listed” in Norway—and so Liesl travels to Sweden and Norway to both teach kolrosing and to explore its lore dating back to Viking times.

A passionate teacher, she has won numerous awards over the course of her 35-year career in education. She was the 2023 Folk Artist-in-Residence at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a 2024 American Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) Fellow. In the US, she teaches at the American Swedish Institute, John C. Campbell Folk School, North House Folk School, and the Vesterheim Norwegian American Museum. In Scandinavia, she teaches at Sätergläntan, Rauland Akademiet, and the Gudbrandals Museum. In the fall of 2026, Liesl and renowned Swedish craftsman Jögge Sundqvist will undertake an ASF-funded road trip down the spine of Norway to continue to gather the fast disappearing lore of kolrosing.

Follow her @rivchicawarrior on Instagram.