Maker Camp: Heritage Crafts and Skill-Building Projects for Kids

DELANIE HOLTON-FESSLER is a teacher, maker, mom of two boys, and the founder of The Craftsman & Apprentice, a heritage craft-inspired workshop in Denver, Colorado. She grew up playing in the woods and making messes, lots of art, and her own clothes. She became an elementary school art teacher in 2004 and received a master's in education in 2009. In 2011, she completed 100 paintings in 100 days, and her accompanying blog, Drawing a Blank, helped her lay the philosophical framework for living a creative life with kids. She has also worked as a project-based learning specialist and as a professional artist.

She opened The Craftsman & Apprentice in 2014 with a simple mission: to make things with people. The C&A community now hosts over 500 workshops each year and serves over 300 campers each summer. Delanie has worked with schools, museums, and businesses to provide community-based maker experiences, and she's lectured on workspace aesthetics and the power of creative play and handcraft tradition.