Minnesota woodworkers display their art in EP

Cecilia Schiller’s “Puppet Master” is among the showcased items at the Northern Woods Exhibition in Eden Prairie Center mall this weekend. The piece pays tribute to the art of puppetry and the skills it entails, drawing inspiration from Schiller’s experience crafting and performing with puppets. Photos and video by Vijay Dixit

The Minnesota Woodworkers Guild, comprised of professional and amateur woodworkers, is hosting its annual Northern Woods Exhibition at the Eden Prairie Center mall this weekend.

The exhibition began on Thursday and runs through Sunday, April 30, featuring guild members’ work and 14 award categories with over $4,000 in cash and prizes. One category includes “Best First Time in Show.”

Admission to the event is free.

The woodworkers will continue demonstrating their art until 8 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.

The guild has 900 members hailing from various backgrounds. Among them, EPLN spoke to Ed Neu, the guild’s president, who is a semi-professional furniture maker and retired mechanical engineer, and Charles Osville Finne, one of the exhibition’s organizers, who is both a woodworker and a practicing surgeon.

Displayed below are photos and a video featuring select pieces from the exhibition. The video showcases Cecilia Schiller’s ‘Puppet Master’ in action.

For more information on the Minnesota Woodworkers Guild, visit its website at www.MNWWG.org.

Thomas Menke designed and built the chairs, including the one pictured, for Urness Recital Hall at St. Olaf College. The chair needed to stack five high to facilitate flexible seating arrangements in the mid-century modern 300-seat facility.

Editor’s note: Vijay Dixit is the Chairman of Shreya R. Dixit Memorial Foundation, a 501-c-3 nonprofit advocating distraction-free driving. He is also a board member of Eden Prairie Local News and a member of the EPLN Development Committee and Journalism team.

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