Weeklong Intensive: Wood

Date: Monday, June 22 – Friday, June 26

Time: 10am–5pm (daily)

Description: Interested in designing your very own furniture? Learn how wood can be used as a medium for creative expression in this immersive, one-week workshop! Students will be introduced to the basics of woodworking through the design and construction of a table. Methods for preparing, connecting, and shaping solid wood furniture elements will be covered while we view the work of contemporary furniture artists and explore methods for creating functional but unique pieces of furniture.

Working with solid lumber, students will become familiar with a wide variety of hand and power tools as well as major woodworking machinery. With a focus on connecting parts using mortise and tenon joinery, we will discuss ways to add shape, color, and texture to a design to personalize it.

Students will explore how sketching and model making can be used throughout the design process, with technical demonstrations and slide presentations providing the necessary knowledge and context to build a table of your own design!

No woodworking experience is necessary (or expected)! Come eager to learn and ready to finish the week by taking home your very own table!

Tuition: $500 + $65 materials fee

Note: We want you to join us in the studio! Full and partial tuition scholarships are available to offset some of the financial burden of attending a class. Please fill out the application here! You can expect to hear from someone on the CC staff within 2 weeks.

Materials: All materials will be provided.

Location: Contemporary Craft Timmons Studios (5688 Butler St., Pittsburgh, PA 15201)

Cancellations and Refunds: Workshop cancellations are decided three business days before the start date. If workshops must be cancelled due to insufficient enrollment, the entire class fee will be refunded by check, to your credit card, or Contemporary Craft account for future workshops.

Refund Policy: Student refund requests must be made at least three business days before a class begins. There will be a $25 cancellation fee. No refunds will be given without three-business days notice. Processing of refunds takes approximately three weeks.

If you require accessibility accommodations, please let us know by calling 412.261.7003 and we are happy to assist you.

About the Artist

Karen Ernst is a Professor in the Art Department at PennWest University – Edinboro, where she has been teaching Woodworking/Furniture Design since 2004. She received her MFA in Furniture Design from the Rhode Island School of Design and has taught workshops at Peters Valley School of Craft in Layton, NJ, A Workshop of Our Own in Baltimore, MD, and at Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh, PA. The furniture and sculpture she creates has been exhibited and collected widely across the U.S.