Welcome to this weeks publication of Heart Hand and Eye, Inside Passage School of Fine Woodworking’s newsletter celebrating the work of our students, alumni and faculty.
Artisan D – Joinery & Design
from left Kathleen, Bill, Ryan, Jacqueline, Josh, Robert, Kunga, Jack, Kim, Juan Carlos, Chi Chi, Kenji
JK Lectures
In this week’s lecture, Jim spoke about mortise and tenon, doweling and of course craft. Jim’s inspiring words will soon be available on our website. We met with our technical consultant this past week and hope to have segments of each weeks lecture available for our readers very soon. Thank you for your ongoing patience.
Resident Journeyman Program
Doug Ives from Gibsons British Columbia has been a great help to Yvonne and I with the renovations in both the gallery and at the school. His enthusiasm for the gallery has been fun to watch. Unfortunately it has left little time for his piece. He showed me a few sketches of an upcoming commission which is very exciting.Doug also shared these ideas with this weeks class during the Friday Design session. Doug hosted Elephants this past Friday. A beautiful evening with beautiful people. Doug even showed us his impressive wood pile, although I am not sure that was a good idea.
Juan Carlos from Caracas Venezuela shared with the students this week his fine eye and inspiring design thought process. Juan walked through each of his pieces from sketch through mockup. A fine Craftsman with a warm and patient nature.
Artisan Program
Jack West from Fort Jones California uses one of our shapers fitted with a router collet to rout the rebate in the back of one of the sides of his doweled cabinet. Students then made a frame and panel back and fitted it to their cabinet. Jack and many of our students joined Robert on Saturday which is an optional day at the school and made chair scrapes in palm wood and brass. A sweet man with a strong affinity for our craft.
Kunga Delotsange from New York via Tibet uses a chisel to dial in the fit of the shoulder on his haunched mortise and tenon in ash. This week students were shown the process of cutting and fitting a stub, haunched and through and wedged mortise and tenon joinery. On Friday Robert demonstrated advanced joinery including twin compound angled mortise and tenon live and slip. Kunga and his wife Heather purchased a cottage just down the road from the school where they plan to accommodate a student from our Craftsman Program and return to the coast during the summer months. The coast could use more families like this.
A very focused Kathleen Murphy from Edmonton Alberta uses her oberge cut file to dial in the fit of her through and wedged mortise and tenon joinery in ash. Students were given ash because it does not have the compression factor that poplar has and requires precise fitting. Kathleen is a fine young cabinetmaker with a promising career ahead of her. She is like I was many years ago frustrated with the soulless work of commercial cabinetry and displays the focus and sensitivity needed in our craft.
Josh Shrae from Anchorage Alaska takes advantage of a beautiful summer afternoon and fits a set of dovetails in the courtyard with Chi Chi. Josh took and old card scraper and cut it into scraper blanks for a few of the chair scrapes made on Saturday. Josh continues to embrace the tool making aspect of our craft. I am reminded of the quote by John Brown:
“I live in a beautiful place, I work at something I love and make enough money to live and my demands on the world resources are very meager. What is so unusual about this idyllic circumstance is that there is plenty of room for more to join.”
Ryan Inmann from Vancouver via South Africa cuts the mortises for his shop made diagonal sticks in wenge. Our students have taken full advantage of optional Saturdays and the school. Ryan began the Artisan Program last summer and has returned to finish the last four weeks this year. Always a pleasure to have Ryan and his young family at the school. Since leaving the school last summer he has completed a number of projects building upon the skills taught at the school. We hope you have a very happy First Fathers Day Ryan.
Kim Larson from Seattle Washington shows her completed drawer with fine joinery. She is a true perfectionist and a real pleasure to have at the school. She has already registered for two more classes next summer. We will look forward to her return. I really enjoyed watching the sensible balance of hand and machine tools in her work.
Kenji Konno from Vancouver British Columbia via Japan uses his hand saw to cut the dowels to length after gluing them in the sides of his cabinet. Kenjo enjoys the small details that distinguish our work. This is Kenji’s second visit to the school and will be hanging on for Veneers and Curves next week. He is an impeccable craftsman and has the right approach to turn this hobby into a career when he is ready.
Jacqueline Robins from Vancouver British Columbia uses one of our chopping block and chisel to refine the shoulders one of her mortise and tenon joinets. Jacqueline has a background in craft but is new to woodworking. She is a potter and suggested that while the creative aspects of fine woodworking are similar to pottery she did say that there is an increased level of accuracy required for our craft. She will be returning next month for Artisan A Hand and Machine Tools. We will be looking forward to her visit.
Bill Chow from Vancouver British Columbia uses one of our shapers to rout the rebate for his back panel in the sides of his doweled cabinet. This was Bill’s third class at the school. He is always a pleasure. When he arrived this week he donated a one thousand grit Norton water stone, a book “Understanding Wood” by Bruce Hoadly and a substantial piece of lignum which we had a draw for. He is a generous craftsman always willing to assist our new students. It is encouraging to watch the sharing going on in the benchroom with our students. We will look forward to his next visit.
Faculty
Resident Craftsman & Teacher Robert Van Norman discusses paring with Kim. Robert shared with this week’s class mortise and tenon, doweling, frame and panel and advanced joinery. On our optional day, Saturday students were given the opportunity to make their own chair scrapes.
Candid
Come to Inside Passage, the friendly school!
Doug during recent “Design Session” as he calls it.
Facility
Inside Passage School of Fine Woodworking is pleased to announce the upcoming opening of our new gallery and office.
Our gallery and office will be moving across the courtyard into the cottage adjacent to the Gumboot Cafe. In addition to our students alumni and faculty work, the Other End of the Plank Gallery, will also feature the work of a selected group of local artists and artisans. At the school, this means the addition of a dedicated Wood Room and new Benchroom for Robert with ample light and a separate entrance. With the additional room, we will be expanding our current inventory of hand picked planks.
“I made one object at a time because of the wood, because of the tools, with a certain idea and hope, and somehow these objects won friends and gradually, gradually, my confidence and experience increased. But for a very long time, it was touch and go. Even now, although people may think that I have got it made and things are going fine, even now I am only carrying my end of the plank. Someone else who is sharing life with me has believed from the beginning in what I am trying to do is carrying the other end of that plank”
Alumni Bench Order
Our annual alumni bench order has left Sweden. Leif has made and donated a left handed bench for our students which will accompany our order. Then went onto mention something about beer and the olympics. If you would like more information about these hand crafted benches visit Målilla Hyvelbänkar. Our school will be placing another alumni order next spring.
Alumni
Juan Carlos discusses the design for his stand with alumni Federico Mendez Castro. Two very fine craftsmen who we are grateful to have involved with our school.
The grand opening of Other End of the Plank Gallery will take place the day after first elephants first Elephants. We hope that you will join us.
Artisan & Craftsman for Programs 2008 -2009
There is limited space available in our Artisan Programs for 2008. If you would you would like more information or would like to register call Yvonne toll free at 1.877.943.9663. Alternatively registrations may be faxed to 1.604.885.9711.
We have confirmed our first-year students for the 2008-2009 Craftsman Program. The group consists of men and women from Japan, Ireland, Columbia, United States & Canada. We are currently accepting applications for the 2009-2010 Craftsman Program.
Artisan Program Schedule for 2009
