I don't remember exactly when I first picked up a physical copy of Fables of the North Shore but it was definitely at Northern Coffeeworks. The south Minneapolis craft coffee roaster has always paid tribute to the rugged, tenacious ethos of the north woods. While I don't exactly embody that ethos (I have all the bravado and agility of a cat slowly awakening from an afternoon nap) that hasn't ever stopped me from feeling the gentle lull of outdoors or outdoors-adjacent merch at the shop.
I once bought a pocket nature guide called "Winter Weed Finder" from Northern on its earnest vibe alone. And amidst these and other sundry gems with a strong whiff of the north, I also found and quickly fell in love with a copy of Natalie Salminen Rude and Jordan Sundberg's multidisciplinary art and storytelling project.
As the title alludes, the book introduces the reader to several new contemporary fables. You'll meet the Wizard in Denim, Silma the Smelt, and a "delightful, impish old woman" named Grandma Ray. Each of these and other fables are adorned with a variety of original illustrations, encaustic paintings, as well digital and paper collages — and followed by a series of original or otherwise cheerfully reimagined cultural ephemera.
All together, it reads as much as an earnest tribute as it does a gentle lampoon of a place dear to both artists. I reached out over email to Natalie Salminen Rude to learn more about the book and how all of this mischief came to life.
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A mutual friend at Fika Coffee invited you and Jordan to begin collaborating together. What inspired that invitation, and how long have you both been collaborating?
Yes, the spark of the idea to collaborate came from the owner of Fika Coffee, Joshua Lindstrom. He invited myself and Jordan Sundberg of Tin Cup Design to do a show together, saying, “Why don’t you guys do something around your friendship?”
We were thrilled at the thought! We immediately knew how much fun would be in our future with this collaboration. We both love the weird and wacky and playful so initially we sensed that this project was sent with a very divine invitation to “play.”
We already knew we were good at that, as one of our first joint ventures a few years prior was a fabricated 1964 holiday work party for a gelatin mold production company. It was a mid-century riot. Complete with potted meat and tinned fish as Christmas bonus gifts for our “employees” (prior to the party we had written up our guests’ characters and they happily continue to live on in local lore).
Though we were just being our playful selves, that party gave us the full confidence that we could certainly collaborate in our professional arenas in that same zany manner.
"Generosity: Always" by Natalie Salminen Rude. Made with encaustic, Japanese Paper, ink, silver foil, and a found box panel, the painting depicts "our dear hero, Grandma Ray."
What interests you in reviving fables as a genre?
Fables are humanity’s ancient stories that persist through time because they contain truth and more often than not, it’s universal truth. But they are strange! And full of odd creatures! And oftentimes bizarre plots and twists are at play. I mean, what’s not to love?
It’s amazing to me that storytelling seems to be our primary tool for sense-making. How wonderful that this is the genre that we as humans really get to exist within and understand by. I’m a huge fan of symbolism and I think that fables are just the best way to teach. We all need some kind of moral legs to stand on, so why not take it from a guy who skis in jeans or a tiny silver fish who is a really slow swimmer?
Fables are playful, universal, telling…and they can build us up without tearing us down. And they felt very “North Shore” in a folklore-roots-in-ancient-places kind of way.
As soon as Jordan and I started to talk about what we would do together for the project, she immediately had the brilliant idea: fables. It was a lightening strike “yes” for both of us. The illustrative nature of our work, our particular creative sensibilities, our love for stories and poetry and our deep affection for the North Shore all fit together perfectly for this fables project.
From left: "A Freshly Picked Bouquet" and "They Should've Stopped To Pick the Flowers", both digital collages by Jordan Sundberg.
Can you describe what your creative process was like — for example, were the stories envisioned first, then illustrated?
The creative process started out for us like, “Hey! Let’s play!” So as simple ideas came (smelt!) we just started to make art. Honestly everything was sort of woven together at the same time. When one part of the story arrived that we both really liked, we just went for it. (Silma the Smelt sniffing flowers slowly! )
Soon the smelt became smelt tacos. Hence more artwork. We both wanted to play in our studios, too, so we decided to give ourselves the freedom to veer from our usual mediums and do some experimenting. Jordan ended up with a lot of amazing analog drawing and collage, while I explored print making and 3-D encaustic dioramas.
"The Three Sisters" digital collage by Jordan Sunberg is named after a Lake Superior phenomenon where a trio of waves roll immediately one after another.
We did buckle down eventually together to fine tune the fables, but by then some of the artwork had already been created. Of course when we first started the project with the intent of “fables” we thought of a book, naturally. But we also quickly dismissed that idea because we didn’t want the pressure. It would have been a lot more difficult to stay in the spirit of play while being consumed with publishing details and page layouts, etc.
What ended up happening was that the ease, joy and play freed us up so much that the artwork was just very successful. And it ended up being the viewers of the show who kept asking if we put it all together in a book for them.
Natalie Salminen Rude's artwork "Big Lake Endless Gifts" ties into the fable "The Swimmer". Encaustic, Japanese paper, ink on panel.
The show was scheduled to open in June of 2022 and close in September of that same year, so near the end of August we quickly endeavored to self-publish an “exhibition catalog” (Fables of the North Shore Vol. 1) with a plan to release it at our closing party (where we also commissioned over a dozen puppeteers and musicians - accordion! tuba! - from around the state to perform the fables live! It was a hoot). The entire creative process of the book coming into existence was really just a joyful flow that was in the end fueled by the viewers: folks who were lovers of the north shore, appreciative of community and advocates of the arts.
"The Portager Takes in the View" by Natalie Salminen Rude. Encaustic, Japanese paper, mixed media, ink on panel.
I love how much humor is in the book. In particular, the way you've managed to lampoon mundane aspects of book publishing. For example, there's a back cover blurb that calls the book "surprisingly somewhat so-so" and a signed note from Grandma Ray that describes finding the book in a dumpster with an "ole pair of Levis." What made humor such an important thread to incorporate into the project?
There is so much humor in the book! (Have you sung the ISBN# yet?) Especially when you spend some time with the book, you start to notice the subtle but silly threads woven throughout that are just begging for an “A-ha!” and a chuckle. I mean what’s more North Shore Scandinavian than a backhanded compliment (that happens to be written in the same, playful s-words lipogram as the fable “Silma the Smelt”)? There were so many things that came together for us in the end that just made us laugh.
On their copyright page, Sundberg and Salminen Rude decided to take a bold stance for their book: "No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a dog kennel. This includes terriers, poodles and all types of spaniels. Whoever put a copy in the dumpster is a villain and a traitor."
For Jordan and I, humor is definitely a part of our makeup. It was nothing we had to think too hard about and we really just fed off each other. Again, I think the self-publishing aspect gave us so much freedom that it was easy to just run with it.
It was the playful and free nature of the project as a whole that ended up being the creative conduit for our jokes to flow through. We laughed a lot that summer! And don’t forget, we’re world famous in Lutsen! And we’re still taking applications for our global door to door Bookseller Musketeer™ program for any of your readers who are interested (in helping us sell “70 million copies worldwide”). A goal Grandma Ray (get it? Say it fast with that charming little North Shore town in mind) and her seagulls would get behind in a heartbeat.
There are small bits of cultural ephemera scattered in-between each fable: including a parking ticket, a thimbleberry candy recipe, and a packet of wildflower seeds. What was the inspiration or creative intent behind these?
We both talked about how as kids the books that really captured us held these kinds of elements. We were captivated by them! I think we would also say that the freedom to make a book without any publishing restraints made it so easy to say yes to the ideas that came to us. And when one digs even deeper, there is meaning and story behind so many of these details.
For instance the recipe card! The bit about boiling the thimbleberry sauce til it’s “thick as Rolo Snevet’s thigh”? Well that was a nod to a sordid family tale of someone on the lam in Jordan’s family history. Ha! Sorry to out you, Rolo! And the recipe card itself was from the kitchen of my great aunt who lived in Stockholm.
Thimbleberry candy sounds a bit like a fancy snack dreamed up for a teacup pig and their rambunctious band of animal misfits to steal. But while this recipe is fictive, the fruit is delightfully real. After some real serious internet research, I have also deduced Toughskins — at least once — existed as well.
I asked my mom to write out the recipe, so it’s in her actual handwriting. I like to think of recipe cards as being passed down the family line. So we are passing this one from Grandma Ray down to the readers of the Fables. Even if some of the book’s particular details are hidden, I think the spirit of each detail really comes through to the reader who’s paying attention, especially to the subtle bits!
I was excited to recognize the Grand Marais lighthouse in one of your illustrations. Were there any other specific landscapes/parks/landmarks that inspired the book?
Well the North Shore as a whole was really the inspiration for the book. It’s full of so much magic! And Jordan and I personally have heaps of stories and memories built up over the years in this special place. That’s why we need a Volume 2!
"There Is Nothing a Visit to the Lake Won't Vastly Improve" digital collage by Jordan Sundberg.
There’s so much more to cover. From Lake Superior to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, from favorite hiking trails to the infrastructure for play built into the region - like nordic ski trail systems, as well as natural ones like mouths of rivers in which to catch smelt, there is just so much natural fodder for these fables. The book has definitely heightened our gratitude for this very remarkable area we are so fortunate to live in.
How fictive are the fables — are any of the stories based off real-life experiences or stories you've heard through word of mouth?
Hmm, perhaps we would say that they are mostly made up but suspiciously true? There are definite truths in these stories that we have experienced firsthand, but we were given the gift to dress them up in some very creative and fictive clothes. I think if you know Lake Superior at all, then we are all “The Swimmer.” We hope no one has actually choked on a taconite pellet but we’re pretty sure someone somewhere has. And that beautiful paddle used to rescue our picnicking friend from said pellet? Well that’s a replica of a Glørud Design canoe paddle, made here in Duluth, Minnesota, by my husband Josh Rude. We use paddles for more than just paddling! And that’s the truth.
"Our Wizard in Denim" by Natalie Salminen Rude. Encaustic, Japanese paper, ink on panel.
In the fable “The Wizard in Denim” we had to poke a little fun at what we call “gear culture” here in the north woods. A little bit of truth to just remind us all that “it’s better to ski in jeans than to not ski at all.” Seriously! That’s easier said than done sometimes in a state that has a very strong outdoor culture and loves its gear. So I would say that the morals are suspiciously true for those with eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts to understand.
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You can buy Fables of the North Shore at:
- Northern Coffeeworks (in store only)
- Tin Cup Design
- Fika Coffee
- Etsy
All photos courtesy of Natalie Salminen Rude and Jordan Sundberg