Joel Fian (Thorn)
Creative Director
How did you get your start in traditional skills and handcrafts?
I grew up running wild in the mountains of Northern California, homeschooling and learning to live on the land from four generations of parents, grandparents, great grandparents and great-great grandparents who helped me become the person I am today. I have a degree in industrial design from the Art Institute of Seattle, and have a background in Nature Connection through the Ozark Tracker Society. I taught in a K-8 public school for 9 years, where I started a creativity-based afterschool program that built bicycles and created and performed in a circus for the community, among other ventures. I have been living off the grid and rewilding for 25 years and some folks at National Geographic decided to document my life on a reality TV show a few years ago.
How did you first become a part of Greenwood?
After leading programs together in other earthskills and nature connection organizations, Delia and I founded Greenwood to teach traditional skills through storytelling and role play. We were excited to tap into childrens' love of stories and our innate creativity to give context and meaning to these teachings.
What is your creative passion/skill focus currently?
Currently my main creative project has been building an off-grid cabin with wood harvested from the forest, while studying timber framing, and completing hide-tanning and green wood working projects on the side.
What is your favorite part of teaching at Greenwood?
I love working with children, teaching them to craft with their hands, and seeing the lightbulbs go off as they learn a new skill. I have been fortunate to learn from some incredible teachers throughout my life, and it is an honor to pass those teachings on.
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Executive Director
How did you get your start in traditional skills and handcrafts?
My life's work is exploring ways to meet my needs in harmony with the land, and in respect for the wild beings I live alongside. I found my way to traditional crafts and skills as a young adult with a degree from UGA and a job writing research papers for the New York Law School, when I began searching for ways to reconnect to place. I began in-skilling through earthskills gatherings, the nature connection movement, and the John C. Campbell Folk School. I have been teaching children and adults land-based skills and crafts since 2012. It has been a wonderful and winding journey teaching and making my way towards living a handmade life, and I still have much to learn.
How did you first become a part of Greenwood?
I co-founded School of the Greenwood in 2016 with Joel, in order to share the skills that were such an important part of our lives, and to inspire connection to the land through creativity.
What is your creative passion/skill focus currently?
I weave baskets with invasive plants, and explore ways to incorporate these woven vessels into everyday life. You can view my work at: https://www.deliafian.com
What is your favorite part of teaching at Greenwood?
It has been an incredible 9 years so far, building fantastic worlds alongside our staff and apprentices, putting in long hours to inspire awe in the camp participants, listening to the wild beings who share the forest with us, and teaching advanced crafts and skills for meeting needs in place. My favorite part has to be the feeling at the end of a camp or class, when we've all poured our hearts out, and seen the immense impact it has on the lives of the participants. When we receive letters of thanks from participants, when parents send pictures of the kids asleep and covered in mud in the car on the way home from camp, or when the kids show up to a program wearing all of the things they've made at Greenwood over the years, it truly is wonderful to see how meaningful the experiences are.
Instructor
How did you get your start in traditional skills and handcrafts?
I was raised in a family of artists and artisans; I started hand sewing at two years old and have been hooked on handcraft ever since. My mother helped me find the Earthskills community when I was a young teen so I could keep diving into traditional skills.
How did you first become a part of Greenwood?
I met Joel a decade ago through the Earthskills community, he mentored me through a teen program there. Near the start of The Greenwood Joel and Delia reached out about becoming an apprentice for the school and I was all in. I immediately started sewing a new cape and making a set of gauntlets from a pair of sparkle Converse to prepare for a summer of adventure. I've been all in since then.
What is your creative passion/skill focus currently?
I'm currently finishing up my undergraduate work at The University of Georgia. My academic passion has been building programs that use art and traditional crafts as tools for environmental education. I've found metalworking, specifically casting, to be an amazing tool for this! I've been using casting to teach about recycling, intentional consumption/sustainability, and a dash of dendrology!
What is your favorite part of teaching at Greenwood?
Learning at The Greenwood! In these magical woods with my marvelous students and mentors, I have the freedom to be a learner and a leader. The basis for my work as an artist and educator is intentional crafting kindles our sense of stewardship for the land, I learned that in the Greenwood.
Instructor
How did you get your start in traditional skills and handcrafts?
I’ve always had a love for the woods especially the small things I would find, like bones, rocks, moss, etc. I got introduced to some wilderness camps and started to learn earthskills from mentors.
How did you first become a part of Greenwood?
I first became part of the Greenwood as a camper when I was about 11-12. I then moved up to be an apprentice and then became a staff member.
What is your creative passion/skill focus currently?
I focus on a wide variety of skills but I have settled into fiber arts whatever else comes my way.
What is your favorite part of teaching at Greenwood?
My favorite part of Greenwood is being amazed at the creativity that children can come up with when working with a craft or scheming up a plan. Another favorite is all the effort and magic that goes into the storyline, crafts, and the camp itself.
Instructor
How did you get your start in traditional skills and handcrafts?
I got my start in earthskills from a young age, spending most of my time in the woods as I disliked being stuck indoors and loved all the woods had to offer.
How did you first become a part of Greenwood?
I became part of the Greenwood at the age of 9. I was instantly hooked. While I was only a camper at the time, I loved the magic and enchantment Greenwood brought to the forest. As I grew older, I then stepped up into a leadership role, and haven’t looked back.
What is your creative passion/skill focus currently?
My focus currently is on woodworking, carving, leather crafting, and building.
What is your favorite part of teaching at Greenwood?
My favorite part about Greenwood is watching the children experience the magic of the woods and all of the joy and laughter.
Instructor
How did you get your start in traditional skills and handcrafts?
I've been exploring the woods and building things since I was very little: making fires, digging holes, building bows, and climbing trees my entire life. I have learned many skills from many different people, and discover plenty on my own. And so, there is no real moment that I started learning theses skills.
How did you first become a part of Greenwood?
A fee years ago I was asked by a friend if I wanted to come with her to make cardboard armor in the woods. I thought the whole idea of the Greenwood was awesome, and quickly fell in love with it, trying to apprentice as much as possible, and the rest is history.
What is your creative passion/skill focus currently?
I love building things, and for a while now I have been working on all sorts of crossbows, trebuchets, slingshots, bows, and all other sorts of projectile launchers. I enjoy using scrap wood, bamboo, forged metal, and random parts I find on the street or in the trash, turning scavenged parts into many different projects.
What is your favorite part of teaching at Greenwood?
I have learned a lot of skills from many different people, and being able to help pass those skills down is one of my favorite parts of greenwood. Along with letting the kids explore the woods and be a part of all the big adventures and characters that are in it.
Who We Are...
Greenwood is a small fire within the wide forest of our community. Sitting at the center of the circle are Delia Turner Fian and Joel Cimarron Fian, who tend the creative flames and craft the frameworks for the learning experiences. They are joined by an incredible Board of Directors, made up of community members who are devoted to the organization's mission, who share the organization's leadership, offering support and oversight to safeguard Greenwood's vision of rewilding. Sitting around the inner circle of the fire ring we have incredible instructors for the different camps and programs. In the next ring out are the many apprentices and participants who will co-create the adventures with us all. And in the outer ring is the wider community of parents, volunteers, and donors who support our endeavors in many ways. All of us together create something much more than the sum of its parts!