Odden and Bigton met at a carving school in Norway where Else studied furniture construction and Phillip studied carving. The two are owners of Norsk Wood Works and have made their living carving and building traditional Norwegian furniture and other art since 1978. Phillip and Else regularly teach wood carving classes two or three times a year (including for North House Folk School) and lead tours to Norway and Sweden. They also raise horses on their farm and compete with them at a high level. Both Odden and Bigton have received Vesterheim gold medals in Vesterheim’s National Norwegian-American Folk Art Exhibition. The couple’s work is also featured at Disney’s Norwegian Pavilion, as they discuss in this conversation hosted by Vesterheim.
Fieldwork conducted by Mirva Johnson with support from the Wisconsin Arts Board.