Mathilde Lind

Mathilde is a folklorist and textile maker, and she loves restoring and using antique spinning wheels and working with wool from heritage sheep breeds. In 2023, she finished her PhD in folklore from Indiana University Bloomington; thanks to her graduate studies, she’s had the opportunity to travel, including living in Estonia for nearly four years while studying traditional textile crafts and wool production. While there, Mathilde took classes in traditional Estonian spinning, weaving, embroidery, and instrument building, and examined and reproduced items from the collections of the Estonian National Museum. She still regularly returns to Estonia and Northern Europe to present her research at conferences on folklore and craft. She is currently living in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, where she is the 2024-2025 Kenneth R. Trapp Craft Assistant/Curatorial Fellow at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts.

Mathilde’s connection with the Adirondack Folk School started when she was the director of programs and research at Traditional Arts in Upstate New York (TAUNY) in 2022-2023, where she also taught craft workshops. She has been teaching fiber crafts since 2011. In her workshops, Mathilde focuses on helping students become fluent in the materials by showing them how to work in harmony with their natural qualities. Craft is a powerful way to connect with history and culture while exploring our creativity, and her students can expect to encounter folk tales about textiles, historical methods, and a variety of tools and fibers from around the world.