Among the Trees: Crafting Kinship at Camp UniStar FULL
2026-07-25 - 2026-08-01 | Camp Unistar, 25816 Star Island SE, Cass Lake, MN, 56633, United States
Among the Trees: Crafting Kinship at Camp UniStar FULL
Program Leader: Shanai Matteson
Spend a week creating journals, prints, flags, quilt blocks, and more in this robust Artist Residency, with nature-inspired, hands-on projects for all ages that will deepen your connection to the land, community, and shared stories.
Hand-made journals, nature prints, kinship flags, fabric dyeing, and pop-up printmaking—spend a week with rural community artist Shanai Matteson exploring art, craft, and storytelling “among the trees” at Camp UniStar! Each day offers hands-on projects inspired by the natural world, from sketching and printmaking to sewing and dyeing, all while reflecting on your connection to the land, community, and family stories. During this exciting Artist Residency at camp, Matteson will introduce hands-on activities for youth in collaboration with staff, and a creative art-making space for adults in the afternoon or evening that includes guided conversation.
By week’s end, you’ll have a collection of journals, prints, flags, and quilt blocks—some to take home, some to leave at camp—wrapped up with a storytelling circle celebrating new creations, new connections, and the joy of making together.
Shanai Matteson is a writer, artist, and cultural organizer who lives and works in the rural community where her family has been for over 100 years. Since moving back to Palisade in 2020 with her two children, she has been active in local arts and environmental justice projects, including Fire in the Village with artist Annie Humphrey.

History of Leech Lake Reservation and Its People FULL
2026-08-01 - 2026-08-08
History of Leech Lake Reservation and Its People FULL
Program Leader: Camille Naslund
Dive into the history of the Leech Lake Reservation through the people, events, and stories that shaped its communities, from early expeditions and treaties to leadership and legacies that continue today.
Explore the rich and complex history of the Leech Lake Reservation through stories, events, and key figures that shaped the region. Topics include the 1820 Lewis Cass Expedition, the 1832 Henry Schoolcraft Expedition, the significance of Ozawindib and Star Island, the 1898 Battle, the leadership of Chiefs Flat Mouth I and II, and the 1855 Treaty that established the Leech Lake Reservation. Join us for a deep dive into the people, places, and events that continue to shape this community’s history.
Dr. Camille Naslund is an enrolled member of the Leech Lake Reservation, belonging to the Eagle Clan, Migizi Doodem. Her Ojibwe name is Gwanebiikwe. Dr. Naslund resides in the historic village of Onigum (Onigamiinsing, The Place of the Little Portage). She is the director and teacher at Niigaane Ojibwe Language Immersion Program located at the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School on the Leech Lake Reservation.

Let’s Build a Life Sized “Rube Goldberg” FULL
2026-08-08 - 2026-08-15
Let’s Build a Life Sized “Rube Goldberg” FULL
Program Leaders: Bill Ballou and Susan Schwartz
Build a life-size Rube Goldberg style machine using everyday objects and chain reactions.
The famous cartoons by Rube Goldberg depicted machines doing simple things in unnecessarily convoluted ways, something like the board game “Mousetrap.” We will, as a group, construct a life-size “Rube Goldberg machine” using available materials and a lot of imagination (as well as principles of physics), to create amazing chain reactions with everyday objects. As a bonus, Susan will also teach mahjong some afternoons!
Bill has a background in film, TV and live theater construction, rigging and problem solving starting in the early 1970’s. He has been a construction coordinator on many feature films, a technical director at REDCAT in Los Angeles and other theaters, and taught Technical Direction at California Institute of the Arts School of Theater. Susan is a career prosecutor who holds a degree in art business and has been making art of various kinds for years. Bill and Susan have collaborated on many art projects.

Into the Woods: Exploring Henry David Thoreau Cabins FULL, Tenting Available
2026-08-15 - 2026-08-22
Into the Woods: Exploring Henry David Thoreau Cabins FULL, Tenting Available
Program Leader: Bruce Johnson
Explore the life, writings, and ideas of Henry David Thoreau, including Walden, while delving into his connections with Transcendentalist thinkers and reflecting on the art of living deliberately.
Reflecting on his two-year experiment in “simple living” at Walden Pond, Thoreau wrote, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” In this program, we’ll delve into Thoreau’s life, his connections with Transcendentalist thinkers like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller, and explore a selection of his writings, including his masterpiece, Walden. No prior study of Thoreau is required—just curiosity and a love of ideas.
Bruce Johnson is a Unitarian Universalist minister with more than forty years of experience serving congregations in New England and the Midwest. Officially retired from full-time ministry in 2023, he currently serves as a quarter-time consulting minister for the Keweenaw Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Houghton, MI. He has been drawn to Thoreau since first encountering his work as a teenager.
