Furniture Design & Woodworking

Calling all young inventors and creators! In this fun and imaginative workshop, kids dive into the world of toy-making and storytelling through hands-on art projects. Each day brings a new creative challenge as students build, paint, sculpt, and design their own one-of-a-kind toys and games. Participants will construct and decorate spinning tops using pre-sawed wooden parts, design and build mini puppet theaters and create characters to perform with. Craft imaginative creatures and figures using fabric, felt, cardboard, and clay, create handmade board games and interactive toys from recycled materials, explore basic woodworking, painting, sculpture, and design techniques, develop storytelling skills through puppet shows and imaginative play. This workshop encourages curiosity, collaboration, and creativity. Kids will not only take home a collection of unique, handmade toys—they'll also leave with new artistic skills and a sense of accomplishment. No previous experience is necessary—just bring your imagination!

Anderson Ranch’s Studio Session approach provides artists the opportunity to work on independent projects while receiving regular one-on-one mentoring and critique sessions with Anderson Ranch artistic staff and interns. Each participant receives an assigned studio space, orientation and access to equipment, as well as five hours of weekly technical guidance in the Ranch’s state-of-the-art facilities. This program affords artists the experience enjoyed by national and international artists who access our state-of-the-art studios. Participants may expand their practices, take artistic risks, try new media or complete works for exhibition. *Bench and gluing rooms open 24 hours a day. LIMITED machine tool room access from 9am – 5pm and evening open tool room hours 7pm – 9pm Monday through Thursday. Studio Sessions are available to artists with prior experience in woodworking, tools, and safety. All participants will be required to attend safety orientations for the facilities and specific tools they will use. TO APPLY: Portfolios will be accepted on a rolling basis. Instructions on how to submit your portfolio are as follows: Submit digital images of your work in one single PDF (as opposed to individual JPG attachments) via email directly to Lane Preston, Studio Coordinator of Woodworking & Furniture Design, at [email protected] The single PDF must be less than 10 MB to be considered. Include 5-10 images of your work with image identification that lists the title, media, dimensions and year of each image. While not required, it is helpful to see an artist statement addressing the images you send. Include “Advanced Portfolio Review” in the subject line of your email, as well as the studio session you are applying for. Please provide a phone number where you can be reached and a link to your website. Submissions that do not follow the requested directions will not be reviewed.

Students make their own unique puzzle boxes using hand tools based on the traditional methods of Japanese Himitsu-Bako. Students learn how to use a high precision miter box, pull saw, and a hand plane to make secret sliding dovetail mechanisms. The workshop challenges the student to do precise work with hand tools in a process that is both meditative and satisfying. The workshop includes a detailed demonstration of making traditional Japanese parquetry veneer called "Yosegi Zaiku.”