Along North Shore Scenic Drive, at the intersection of Larsmont Road, an artist lives in a Norwegian stabbur. A stabbur is a small traditional Norwegian storage building elevated on pilings to provide shade beneath the first floor as a cool place for animals and food storage. Around this stabbur are gardens and large decorative barrels of water fountains with flowers and goldfish.
This is the home and studio of Brad E. Nelson, a talented silversmith working in a new medium: creating mosaics from stones and pebbles he has gathered along the shores of Lake Superior.
To listen to Nelson, one would think he had recently arrived from Norway due to the subtle cadence of his speech, but he grew up in Knife River, graduating from Two Harbors High School in 1976. He said his heritage is mostly Swedish with some Norwegian. Still, his family had Norwegian visitors every summer, and he has visited Norway many times. He is especially interested in Norwegian art and culture. He often participates in Scandinavian festivals to sell his Nordic Silver Jewelry. Some Nordic festivals he has participated in include the Norsk HostFest in Minot, ND, the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis and the Vesterheim in Decorah, IA.
COVID-19 disrupted Nelson’s business, forcing him to sell most of his inventory. He now shows his work outdoors on weekends during good weather.
His home and studio are merely three miles from his childhood home in Knife River. “If I had known that dreams could come true, I would have aimed higher,” he joked while entertaining the Northern Wilds reporter and her husband. At the same time, they sat at a table beneath a shade umbrella, enjoying the picturesque surroundings. His stabbur, surrounded by singing birds, blooming flowers, and handcrafted water fountains, provided a picturesque setting.
This summer, Nelson has combed the beaches around Two Harbors and other Lake Superior Shores in search of intriguing pebbles to create mosaics.
“I’m really interested in things that take incredible amounts of time to do,” he said. “The bird mosaic,” he gestured towards the deck. “Took me about six months to complete.” He estimated another mosaic took him about four months. “That’s not even just the time you gather pebbles. I just figure that’s like therapy.”
When he finds an agate—a translucent stone with varied colors—he brings it home but prefers not to polish it too much. He prefers it rougher.
“I like agates tumbled first or second grit, but not to the full polish where they look really glassy. It cheapens them, and they look gumballish, you know, from the gumball machine.”
Nelson creates mosaics by gluing paper to a plywood background and assembling stones.
Once the mosaic is completed, he washes it with acid, allows it to dry fully and cure, and then applies a water sealer. This sealer enhances the colors with a wet look and protects against the elements.
Nelson says his stone mosaics would look nice flanking on either side of a stone fireplace. And hopes to find a buyer for them.
After graduating from Two Harbors High School, he majored in art at the University of Wisconsin, Superior. He fondly remembers his college years, when he learned art and took classes on family ancestry.
A peek at Nelson’s professional Facebook Page, B E Nelson Design Silversmith, reveals many fans commenting and liking his craft. “Love your work,” fellow artist Jean DeRider commented. “From the time that I met you long ago at UWS, I’ve always thought of you as a Renaissance man/artist,” Penny Clark said. “Everything that you touch is golden, including these spectacular mosaics.”
Nelson has shown his jewelry at Scandinavian festivals nationwide.
He shared a story about adult twin women who showed up at a Scandinavian art festival where he was selling his designs. They each wore a reindeer necklace that he had created. However, the twins lived thousands of miles apart, and each one’s husband had purchased the necklace for his respective wife at a different event. One had seen the necklace in Boston, and the other husband purchased it at a Midwest event.
The Vesterheim, an American-Norwegian museum in Decorah, IA, purchased one of his Sami-inspired Tin-Thread pieces. Tin Thread is a mixture of twisted pewter and silver sewn onto felt. It resembles Native American beaded patterns on cloth or leather.
Nelson, likening himself to an anthropologist, enjoys studying various cultural traditions and frequently attends festivals to learn and appreciate traditional artwork.
Nelson will attend the Twin Ports Rosemaling Scandinavian Festival on Sept. 21 at St. Luke’s Sports & Event Center. He has also applied to the American Swedish Institute’s Julmarknad from Dec. 6-8, 2024. His studio, B E Nelson Design Silversmith, is located at 583 Scenic Drive, Two Harbors, and is open on weekends during nice weather. For inquiries, call (218) 834-4188.
