2016 was an amazing year! It was active with teaching at a variety of different schools around the country, keeping up with filming and adding a new instructional video each week to my online school, and finishing writing a book on Carving the Acanthus Leaf. Yes, it was a crazy, busy, but incredible year.
I love to travel and teach. It gets me out of my workshop (because if I allow myself, I can easily turn into a hermit) and actually gets me to socialize with other human beings. Last year I taught at The Woodwright’s School (Roy Underhill’s school), Connecticut Valley School of Woodworking, Lie-Nielsen Toolworks, Port Townsend School of Woodworking, Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, Savannah Technical College, and also taught carving seminars at MESDA (Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts) at Woodworking in America and the SAPFM (Society of American Period Furniture Makers) Mid-year conference. Yes, when I put it all together in a paragraph, it was a busy year. I have just updated my 2017 class and seminar schedule, and it’s looking just as active.
Many new instructional videos were also made this past year for my online carving school. One episode was added each week (every Thursday morning) and roughly totaling 40 hours of video. They ranged from basic, beginner carving projects to highly advanced designs, and everywhere in-between. Some were based on period furniture details, while other were unique designs – just for fun. Here are photos of what lessons were added (click on the photo to see a short Introduction Video of the lesson – you also have the option on the Introduction Video page to purchase each lesson as a download if you are not a Premium Member of my school):
And as a grand-finale (in case I felt like I had too much spare time) I completed writing a book – The Acanthus Leaf – A Rite of Passage for the Classical Carver. This is being published by Lost Art Press and Christopher Schwarz is hoping to have it published by summer. This is my first book, and I was amazed at how all-consuming this was. I just never realized what was involved and I have an amazing respect for anyone who undertakes a book writing project.
It’s exciting to think about what 2017 will bring!
