Faces of ASI: Bill Jaeger
For decades, ASI has hosted popular woodcarving classes shepherded along by devoted instructors, including Ivar Anderson, Bob Erickson and most recently Bill Jaeger. These classes have offered hundreds of students the chance to learn Scandinavian flat plane figure carving, using nothing more than basswood blanks, a simple carving knife, and a little paint to depict anyone from Swedish immigrants to Vikings. Not for the first time, ASI woodcarving program is evolving: Bill is taking the opportunity to officially retire from teaching after 18 years, after ASI’s in-person classes were put on pause last year due to COVID-19.
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The American Swedish Institute
Bill is a homegrown instructor who started carving at ASI after he found one of Harley Refsal’s Scandinavian carving books in the bookshop. “It was just a natural thing for me,” Bill said of his connection to this older style of carving. “It opened a whole new world for me, I started meeting all these other carvers, going to Sweden… I met so many wonderful people.” Through the years, Bill took classes from Harley, Ivar and Bob, but also Göte Ericksson, Anja Sundqvist, Ramon Persson and other Swedish carvers, and was recognized for his work with a Gold Medal from Vesterheim’s folk art exhibitions. After Bill took over ASI’s carving classes in 2002, the classes grew from two to six
