Elaine Moe

Elaine Moe teaches traditional Finnish birch bark basketry, a craft with a centuries-long history in Scandinavia and Russia. During apprenticeships with master birch bark craftsmen Vladimir Yarish and John Zasada, she learned to collect birch bark and prepare it into strips and layers used to make baskets, shoes, and household items. Birch bark weaving employs traditional techniques of diagonally plaited, double walled construction as well as straight weaving. Some of Elaine’s birch bark baskets can be used to bake bread.