Nat (she & they) 

Nat is a trans and nonbinary Korean-American maker with six years of professional experience in large-scale art fabrication, shop instruction/maintenance, studio management, and living and working in communal settings. Her/their experience spans nonprofit, education, and production environments in both rural and urban areas in multiple states. She/they are passionate about building inclusive shop environments, and the role these spaces play in challenging ideas of what a highly competent and skilled designer, fabricator, artist, or builder looks like.

Key experiences:

• 2016-2018 Apprenticed with Chico MacMurtrie, a Guggenheim Fellowship awarded robotic artist, and designed and built inflatable robots in Brooklyn, New York and Bisbee, Arizona. She/they managed shop, and led a production team in fabricating large-scale inflatable architectural forms intended to arch over the US-Mexico border.

• 2018-2019 Artist intern at Franconia Sculpture Park. Provided fabrication services for local production shops and artists. Also maintained nine studios and two galleries for Bethel University’s Art Department.

• 2019-2021 Helped establish Western North Carolina Sculpture Center, a nonprofit art organization as part of a six-member team of artists and builders. Converted an old gym into a 10,000 sq foot art studio, cleared a mile of trail for artwork and campsites, maintained 4 acres of sculpture park, gave tours, helped artists-in-residence make large-scale artwork, led artist interns in park work, and conducted public events and iron pours. 

• 2019-2021 Exhibit Technician at Catawba Science Center. Led six overlapping exhibit planning committees, refitted the maintenance shop into a production shop, built two grant-funded exhibits from scratch, and procured material donations for conservation-based workshops. 

Nat is currently a shop instructor and technician for UMN College of Design, and volunteers with both Fireweed, and Chicago Avenue Fire Arts Center.

Jules Bunch (they/them)

Jules Bunch is a visual artist working across media while investigating the phenomenology of life’s patterns and cycles. Jules received their Master of Fine Art in Sculpture and Intermedia at the University of Iowa (May 2022) and their Bachelor of Fine Art in Industrial Design from the University of Illinois (May 2013). They are currently a resident artist fellow at NE SCULPTURE | Gallery Factory in Minneapolis, Minnesota where Jules also serves as the program assistant. 

“I enjoy sharing my skills and collaborating with artists, makers, scholars, and inquisitive people. I am especially interested in sharing my skills with machines and Arduino programming for interactive lighting and kinetic art. The application of mechanics, motors, sensors, pumps, fans/blowers, and lights plays a major role in my art installations, and I enjoy helping artists activate their art by utilizing these tools.” 

Key Experiences:

• Taught Sculpture I and Elements of Sculpture for three years at the University of Iowa (2019-2022)

• 6+ years of professional experience in 3D design and construction site management (2013-2019)

• Served on the board of the Underwater Club at the University of New South Wales in Randwick, Australia (2012)

• Served as committee chair of Public Relations of Twin City Derby Girls in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois (2014-2018)

• UIowa Public Digital Arts Grant recipient (2021-2022)

• Cork County Arts Council Grant at Greywood Arts, Killeagh, Ireland (2019)

Stephanie Lunieski (She/ her)

Stephanie is a woodworker, sculptor and runs her studio furniture company, Lefty Design Co in Minneapolis, MN. She attended the nine-month woodworking program at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship as well as assisted summer courses there. Stephanie teaches at Fireweed Community woodshop and she believes everyone deserves to experience woodworking and the empowerment that comes with crafting something with your hands. She has seen first hand the way a welcoming space like Fireweed can nurture individuals to grow in an open and non judgemental environment and would love to help to Fireweed continue it's mission and grow in the community. 

Barbara (she/her) grew up in a small Wisconsin town, rooted in neighbors and community. She’s lived in Minneapolis and worked at the U of M since 1989, where she currently leads 50+ professional and student staff at International Student and Scholar Services (iSSS). She brings a wealth of leadership, management, financial (budgets over $4 million), strategic planning, crisis and grant writing experience (more than $3.5 million in training grants). Her earlier career including curriculum design and facilitating intercultural learning. She’s humble, a strong listener, and energized by teams working together. She hikes local and simple trails, in awe of the beauty of trees. She’s new to Fireweed and deeply impressed with its focus, energy, and mission. Growing up, tools were for her brothers. She’d like to contribute to the empowerment Fireweed makes possible and to participate in making something together.