Gary Hill is Wisconsin-born, Minnesota-raised and of Finnish and Polish descent. Together with his wife Janet, they run Raspberry Island Folk School, teaching blacksmithing, Finnish log carpentry, pottery, painting, and a number of other crafts like knife-making for which they hire outside instructors. Hill was a dentist and dentistry professor at UM-Duluth for many years, but also grew up being somewhat of a handyman and has done crafts in some form his whole life. As his dental career was winding down, Hill got interested in Finnish log building, and built his first log cabin at his property in Minneapolis. Hill teaches crafts, particularly blacksmithing, to a number of high school students.
Fieldwork conducted by Sallie Anna Pisera with support from the Minnesota State Arts Board.