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—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 Covid-19 pandemic—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.
