To my grandparents, whose love for woodworking was not just a craft but a philosophy.
I grew up watching them work, learning that craft is a conversation between what is and what could be, and though I didn’t become a woodworker, I carried their approach into my own work:
That the most beautiful creations often begin where others fail to look; the twisted, knotted, weathered pieces are full of possibility, waiting for patient hands to reveal their hidden beauty. That mistakes weren’t failures but opportunities; character in the wood that, when approached with curiosity become the guide to exactly the place the work needs to be. A hands-on, reflective process where exploration leads to transformation.
The Woodworks Residency is born from this spirit. Rooted in craft, this residency provides artists with a space to shape, refine, and transform their work through process-driven discovery.
The inception of Woodworks was deeply intertwined with the 2020 lockdown, a time that redefined how we connect and create. Returning to Traverse City during that period was both a homecoming and a chance to reimagine what I could build here, using everything I had learned from my time away. Art has a way of pulling us in, challenging us to reimagine the world around us. Woodworks was born from that spirit of renewal and possibility.
