The Lind House Association will sponsor a Scandinavian Wood Carving booth at New Ulm’s Christkindlmarkt, an olde world Christmas festival and marketplace, held on Friday and Saturday, November 29 & 30 from 10 am to 5 pm at the New Ulm Event Center.
Guest carver, Ken Rockvam, a retired Retail Sales Director for Associated Milk Producers, Inc. began carving because he was looking for a creative outlet and became inspired by the wood carvings of Faribault artist, Ivan Whillock. Ken’s style of carving is referred to as Scandinavian Flat Plane Carving. This style deals primarily with larger flat planes rather than rounding off most of the edges. He carves caricatures of Scandinavian people and also Tomtes or Trolls.
Ken has studied with internationally recognized figure carver, Harly Refsal, a professor of Scandinavian Studies at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. Ken is a member of the Faribault and St. Peter wood-carving clubs and participates regularly in Faribault’s ‘Carv-Fest’.
Alice Lind, portrayed by local teacher, Vickie Tambornino, will also be visiting Christkindlmarkt and reading the story The Christmas Tomten on the Kinderwelt Stage at 2 pm on Friday. The John Lind House Association events have been sponsored, in part, by a grant from the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council with funds appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature.
Admission to the festival is free and open to the public. For a complete list of attractions, please visit newulmchristkindlmarkt.com