ELY — Jane Dandron-Holtz knows that art doesn’t need to be expensive, and creativity doesn’t need too many rules. And living in Ely the past eight years has meant learning to be versatile and economical, while also supporting her art while she and her husband are raising a young son.
Dandron-Holtz is the recipient of the 2026 Creativity of the North Award from Northern Lakes Arts Association. The award includes a dedicated studio space at The Meadows gallery, a small stipend of $500, a three-month solo exhibit at the Ely Area Community Hub, a commitment to teach some art classes, and mentorship and marketing support from NLAA. A printmaker and jewelry maker when she first moved to Ely, she has expanded her areas of expertise into puppet-making. Her exploration into using recycled materials has benefited from her role at Ely Community Resource, where she tutors children after school and also leads arts and crafts lessons. When she received her award, she was able to move to part-time work at ECR, freeing up more time for both her art and her child.

Workshop day
As part of her residency, Dandron-Holtz has been teaching a few workshops and classes for NLAA. This class was free of charge with costs covered by NLAA.
The focus on June 6 was cardboard, mostly boxes, some flattened, some round, and some still in its original box form. The tables at the Ely Community Center were covered in cardboard, tape, newspaper, paint, fabric, sewing supplies, and various sundries. A group of around ten adults worked quietly on their creations, during the puppet- and mask-making workshop led by Dandron-Holtz.
“You can do so much with cardboard,” she said, “and everyone has it.”
“This is time to use materials and learn together,” she said. “This is something you don’t think about doing when you are alone at home.”
While Dandron-Holtz may seem to be an expert puppet-maker, her first foray into puppetry was when she was asked to create the giant carnivorous puppet called Audrey II for Northern Lakes Arts Association’s production of “Little Shop of Horrors” a few years ago.
This summer, with a second small grant from the Gardner Trust, she is creating a large walleye puppet to march in the Ely Fourth of July parade. She is hoping that workshop attendees will join her, showing off the creations they have made.
At this workshop, she was also busy creating a large flower with flowing leaves and a friendly, smiling face. She kept an eye on all the workshop participants, giving advice as needed as she added more details onto her own creation.
These artists-in-training were busy creating a wide variety of puppets and masks: a T-rex, a sci-fi dog, a dragonfly, a great blue heron, a Muppet-lookalike, and several types of masks.
Dandron-Holtz said she loves watching children do art.
“They are so free to play,” she said. “And we can also do that as adults.”
And the participants were all just doing that, exploring, experimenting, and building.
Megan and Jesse Olson were busy creating a T-rex puppet that Jesse hopes to march with in the parade. The two worked together, painting boxes bright green, building out the jaws and teeth, and hoping to keep everything structurally sound. They learned about the workshop through the NLAA newsletter and thought it was also a fun excuse to hang around with Jane, they said.
Rene and Laura Arguijo were busy building their own version of the canine robot from “Dr. Who.” While Rene was crafting the cardboard body, Laura was quietly working on the details, sewing sequins and bangles to create eyes and other embellishments.
Ilon Weise was making his own doppelganger puppet, down to a look-alike pair of eyeglasses. “This just sounded like fun,” he said when asked why he decided to join the class.
A giant dragonfly was coming to life for Barb Cooper, who was searching for the perfect material to create iridescent wings. Betty Firth was creating a mask that could be worn as a costume, using fabrics that had been scavenged from the NLAA wardrobe archives. And Zandi Peterson was patiently figuring out how to create a three-dimensional puppet of a great blue heron with its long neck and pointy beak.
Duct tape, masking tape, and hot glue guns were out and getting a lot of use as cardboard, newsprint, and cardboard cylinders were being shaped to match their creator’s vision. Finished creations were being painted, covered in fabric, and otherwise getting their final touches. A large area of the floor was covered in a tarp, to create a safe painting place.
NLAA Executive Director Ian Lah was also there for the day, working on his own version of one of the curmudgeons from the Muppet Show, the old men sitting up in the balcony mostly complaining.
“I get to watch a lot of prop building,” he said, “But I haven’t done this before.”
Lah talked about the importance of creativity for both children and adults.
“Once you get people creating,” he said, “they learn how to flex that muscle and then they want to do it again.”
Lah, who also teaches as an adjunct professor at Minnesota North-Vermilion, said he was grateful to be able to use the space at the Ely Community Center, as well as other spaces in Ely, since NLAA does not have a dedicated space of its own. He was pleased with the turnout for this class, especially since Ely had a couple of other high-profile events going on at the same time.
Lah said their adult classes have become pretty popular, and the last three classes NLAA sponsored have sold out.
He said they are trying to fill some niches that don’t compete, for example, with classes at the Ely Folk School. These are in addition to the very popular summer arts programming for children and teens that NLAA sponsors.
In the future, he would like to expand offerings to include the literary arts.