Essay | How Craft Builds Connections from the Past Into the Future

This is the first of two articles about the 2026 art show, Made by Hand: How Craft Shapes the Maker, opening in May.

WINONA COUNTY – When we think of craft, finished pieces of work usually come to mind. The perfectly crafted mug that fits within your hands as if that’s the only place it was ever meant to be. The sturdy, warm quilt that tells a familial story. The functional cabinet built in a style reflective of your home and tastes. 

These are the items we celebrate and prize. And while such finished pieces of craft are of most use and benefit to their recipients, I’d argue that the evolution of creation, the problem finding and solving, the hunt to perfect what one’s hands and mind are capable of, is of most benefit to the craftsperson. 

Lindsay Krage spinning yarn from sheep wool. (Photo by Taliesin Nyala)

“Being forced to be creative and take the longer road can open up experiences and memories and a life that feels worth living,” said fiber and textile artist Lindsay Krage.

The meaning behind making by hand

The end pieces are simply the means for makers to continue our craft, as their sales allow us to get back into our shops and continue the work. 

“With printmaking, the simple puzzles get easy,” said painter and printmaker Zak Fellman, “but then you get to solve more difficult puzzles as you go.”

For the last year and a half, I have been developing a project to bring light to the aspects of craft that we don’t often see but that impact the makers of that craft in profound ways. Born of my own experience as a woodworker, my desire was to better understand how working with our hands changes us as people.

Zak Fellman inspecting a print in process. (Photo by Taliesin Nyala)

The project culminates in an exhibition, Made by Hand: How Craft Shapes the Maker, opening at the Winona Arts Center on May 3. 

“Human beings are form makers, and as such seek a sense of closure, or what others would call wholeness,” said sociologist Richard Sennett in an interview about his research and writing on craft.

 “Craftwork, in developmental terms, enacts that impulse with physical objects, satisfying a psychological desire for closure and tangible results.”

I reached out to four skilled artisans — including Krage and Fellman — in southeastern Minnesota, talking with them about their approaches to craft, their inspirations, frustrations and the impulses that kept them returning to their work, day after day. 

How family traditions shape today’s artists

One important theme that came up in these conversations is how craft connects us to those who are gone, allowing their skills and knowledge to pass through our hearts, minds and hands into the creation of tangible items for others to enjoy.

Flower urn quilt square created by Krage. (Photo by Taliesin Nyala)

“My motivation in making has always been a connection to a tradition and ties to my family, to loved ones who aren’t with us anymore,” said Krage. “Growing up, my grandmother was my neighbor and I treasured making things with her.”

Krage’s business, Salome Acres, is named after her beloved grandmother, and she still uses sewing skills she learned from her grandmother as a child in her work today. 

But her grandmother’s presence goes beyond those skills: it’s embedded in Lindsay’s mindset, which is to embrace hard work and to engage in a project from scratch. This led to her raising sheep, shearing those sheep, spinning the wool into yarn and using that in her fiber and textile art. Krage makes everything from quilts to clothes, as well as household items and most recently screen-printed skateboards. 

Raw sheep wool from Krage’s livestock before it’s processed into yarn. (Photo by Taliesin Nyala)

For Krage, being part of every step of the process makes life meaningful and rich in history, in tradition, in letting her grandmother’s spirit continue to grow and interact with the world in essential ways.

Fellman, owner of HVRNT, mentioned a similar experience and the impact his grandfather, a woodcarver, had on his own life and practice. The lessons he learned, Fellman told me, were less about the actual skills (his grandfather wasn’t a printmaker) and more about learning the right way to approach craft and life. 

Fellman holding a finished print. (Photo by Taliesin Nyala)

“I learned that there’s a right way to do things,” Fellman said. “We’d play cribbage a lot with our grandfather and he would make us do it right and count the numbers. No cutting corners. We took him to Two Fathoms [Brewery in Winona] last summer and it was the same — he wouldn’t let anything slide. But he was never rigid about it.”

The point, Fellman explained, wasn’t to perfect a death grip on a skill, but it also wasn’t about shrugging off mistakes or giving in to the temptation to take a short cut when the long way is actually necessary to doing the given task. 

Ultimately, “even taking the time to do things the right way doesn’t mean the end result of the work will always turn out the same,” Fellman pointed out.

Wooden carved ducks in Fellman’s studio. (Photo by Taliesin Nyala)

Variation is integral to the craft making process. How the maker handles those variations showcases their real skill — do they learn, adapt, improve?

Even after both of their grandparents have walked on from this Earth, their footsteps are still present in Krage’s and Fellman’s lives through their craft, their willingness to show up day after day and do hard work.