It’s a weekend that seems custom-made for woodworking enthusiasts in downtown Port Townsend.

PT SCHOOL OF WOODWORKING

The Port Townsend School of Woodworking (PTSW) will host an evening of talks about the future of woodworking from 5:30-9 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1, at the Pope Marine Building at 250 Madison St.

The speakers will include Tlingit carver and PTSW instructor James Johnson, a representative of the Jefferson County Timber Cooperative and PTSW co-founder Jim Tolpin.

Attendees will also be able to meet Taylor Hamilton, the newly hired executive director of the Port Townsend School of Woodworking.

PTSW Marketing and Communications Manager Emmy Gran described Hamilton as an international urban planner, equity advocate and woodworker who’s worked as a management consultant for public and private organizations.

“This experience in community development and passion for woodworking have uniquely positioned her to lead PTSW in furthering its mission,” Gran said.

“I believe I can best contribute to the school by working to ensure it can continue to provide students with experiences like the one I had,” Hamilton said.

PTSW has recently completed a new strategic planning process, and Gran described its student body as “rapidly growing.” Hamilton looks forward to connecting with more local community partners.

“My hope for the school is that we can expand the circle and introduce people from across the U.S., from all different walks of life, to the joy that is working with wood,” Hamilton said. “I see PTSW as a place where you can begin your career journey, build skills for working on your home or create works of art.”

PT WOODWORKERS SHOW

The Port Townsend Woodworkers Show will not only celebrate its 20th anniversary on Saturday, Nov. 1, and Sunday, Nov. 2, at the American Legion Post 26 hall at 209 Monroe St., but it will also introduce the Jefferson Timber Cooperative to the public, with free admission.

The cooperative consists of local sawyers, millers, forestry owners and forest workers who promote sourcing wood from local forests.

Hosted by the Splinter Group, an informal collective of local woodworkers, with the support of the Port Townsend School of Woodworking, this year’s show will feature more than 20 booths, displaying the works of local woodworkers and students from local high schools.

“We’ve already seen the benefits of the local food boom, connecting farmers with local customers,” said Tim Lawson, a member of the Splinter Group, and the first executive director of the Port Townsend School of Woodworking. “I’m excited to see this happening to the local timber industry.”

“We’re delighted to be part of the local wood movement,” Jefferson Timber Cooperative Executive Director Cody Wayland said. “It’s all about beautiful work being done with beautiful materials.”

The current version of the Woodworkers Show started in 2006, to continue the legacy of shows in 1998 and 1999, organized by Jim Tolpin and John Marckworth, who co-founded the Port Townsend School of Woodworking.

The show has been held at the Legion Hall ever since, except for 2020 and 2021, when the pandemic shifted the show to storefronts on Taylor Street. It typically draws around 1,500 attendees over the weekend.

Show hours run from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 1, and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 2.

FUNCTIONAL ART OF QUIMPER

Just a few blocks away, the second-annual “Functional Art of Quimper” show runs from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1, and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 2, at the Cotton Building, at 607 Water St. in Port Townsend.

Sculptor, machinist and luthier Steve Leggett, a first-time participant in the show, joins returning fellow local artisans Gunter Reimnitz, a fine metalsmith, and John McCormack, a furniture designer, maker and teacher.

McCormack noted the diversity of formal training the three artisans have received “from among the most acclaimed art and design schools in the country,” including the Rhode Island School of Design, the North Bennet Street School in Boston and the San Francisco Art Institute.

McCormack said that the three craftsmen bring “the richness of their lives” to their work.

Leggett grew up on Marrowstone Island, ran the mill and joinery shop at Timbercraft Homes and brings 40 years of experience to bear in creating one-of-a-kind electric guitars and amplifiers.

Reimnitz was born and raised on Kodiak Island, Alaska, spent his childhood fishing for salmon on a fishing boat with his family and makes metal sculptures through “the coalescence of intention and useful accidents.”

McCormack noted that his work balances his sense of humor with his serious sense of high functional design, as he endeavors to design and create “beautiful, functional objects, using methods that honor the material,” including the longevity of the wood itself.