New England School of Architectural Woodworking End-of-year Recap

(Posted on behalf of Greg Larson of NESAW)

We just finished a great year here at the New England School of Architectural Woodworking (NESAW), in Easthampton, MA. We had a great group of students and produced some truly outstanding and creative projects this year. You could sense the excitement in the students and the pride they took in their work. As the deadline (i.e. graduation) approached, the students on the critical projects volunteered to come in early and on weekends in order to finish them. I was very proud of all of them. Since we do real projects for real customers, the students exhibit a definite sense of ownership of the projects and it shows in the results, as you can see in the accompanying pictures.

I'm very excited because this Friday is the day that I take over ownership of the school. I am looking forward to working even more closely with NEAWI in the coming year to make sure that our program is meeting the needs of industry and that our students have the skills needed to succeed in a changing industry. I encourage anyone who is interested to visit the school, see what we have to offer, and find out more about our students.

You can also get more information on the school, as well as directions, on our website at www.nesaw.com.

If you have any questions, or would just like to chat about the school, either email Greg Larson at greg@nesaw.com, or call him at the school at 413-527-6103.

Here are some examples of the work of our students over this past year:

• This was our biggest project this year. It's 13' long and built into an alcove in the wall and sports birds-eye maple veneer doors. The two students did a beautiful job laying up the veneer and fitting the doors. Needless to say the client was ecstatic. The 2x materials that we charge is a really good deal on these bigger projects.
  
  


• This is a brochure kiosk for the local arts council. They wanted it to reflect the old town hall building that they reside in. One of the students was into marquetry, so he did the logo on the roofline using marquetry (Silas Kopf is right across the street from us, so we got some tips from him). The other student is into bandsaw art and wanted to do the tower. There are sliding doors in the back that conceal storage. Again, the client was extremely happy with it.
  
  
  


• A set of four display cases for the local art gallery with angled sides.
  
  


• The above projects were all in my class. This next one was done by the morning class by 4 students. It's a circulation desk for a library at a local high school. Another client very happy with a large project...
  
  


• A DVD/VHS rack for a local library. We do lots of projects for libraries...
  
  

(Posted by Webmaster-NEAWI)