Instructors
Instructors
Instructors
Shaun Devine (102, 103)
Shaun taught in CPS for eight years, competed on the U.S Kendo team, was a photographer for 2 years, and spent five years as a restaurant manager. She saved her money so she could quit her job and complete a one year unpaid apprenticeship at The Chicago Bauhaus Academy. Upon the death of the founder, she cashed in her retirement, emptied her savings account and opened The Chicago School of Woodworking with her business partner Mark Hamester. She has overseen the construction of thousands of tables as the instructor of the 102 and 103 classes for 17 years.
Todd Cohen (101)
The Chicago School of Woodworking, LLC (“CSW”) was established in 2007 to train students in the art of furniture making. Since then, our program has expanded to include the arts of turning, scroll saw, marquetry, Chip Carving, and speaker making and cabinet making.
Strother Purdy (101)
Strother Purdy is a custom furniture maker with 40 years experience, a former editor at Fine Woodworking magazine, a how-to author of Traditional Box Projects and Door-making, a professional dog photographer, motorcycle enthusiast, and former high school English teacher. Strother Purdy is a woodworker by choice, nearly an academic by trade, and a writer by night.
Paul Davis (101)
Paul has made furniture all of his life, in the sort of obsession that ends up spilling furniture out of your own house into the houses of friends, children, and random strangers. The furniture making was always an avocation, while food and shelter came from various vocations like software engineer and financial officer. What the vocations had in common was a perfect lack of tangible outcome. In the evenings and on weekends, the antidote was making real furniture that would be used in real homes. Over many years of making things out of wood, Paul learned the craft by trial and error—the school of fixing one’s own mistakes. Now, teaching others, he takes delight in the pleasure students feel when they pick up a piece of wood, form a joint with saw and chisel, and discover that it fits.
Graham McLachlan (101, Turning)
Graham McLachlan is a former student at CSW, having started classes there in 2012. He was taken in immediately by woodworking and enrolled in virtually every class. After years of honing skills on independent projects, Graham began to teach Woodworking 101 and Woodturning.
Cassandra Cantu (101)
The Chicago School of Woodworking, LLC (“CSW”) was established in 2007 to train students in the art of furniture making. Since then, our program has expanded to include the arts of turning, scroll saw, marquetry, Chip Carving, and speaker making and cabinet making.
Rick Vanderveer (101)
The Chicago School of Woodworking, LLC (“CSW”) was established in 2007 to train students in the art of furniture making. Since then, our program has expanded to include the arts of turning, scroll saw, marquetry, Chip Carving, and speaker making and cabinet making.
Chris Mack (101)
The Chicago School of Woodworking, LLC (“CSW”) was established in 2007 to train students in the art of furniture making. Since then, our program has expanded to include the arts of turning, scroll saw, marquetry, Chip Carving, and speaker making and cabinet making.
Nathan Serviss (101)
The Chicago School of Woodworking, LLC (“CSW”) was established in 2007 to train students in the art of furniture making. Since then, our program has expanded to include the arts of turning, scroll saw, marquetry, Chip Carving, and speaker making and cabinet making.
Instructors
Turning Instructors
Andy Kuby (Turning)
Andy Kuby is an architect and real estate consultant who has always been involved in carpentry, woodworking, woodturning and construction. In the 1980’s he contributed to the renaissance of the New York real estate market as residential architect and personally renovating a 100 year old brownstone for his own use. Four gut renovations in two states followed, all with his family in residence. Beds, tables and cabinets were all fabricated as required. Mr. Kuby is a member of the American Association of Woodturners, the Chicago Woodturners, an occasional demonstrator, part time instructor and mentor. He is still working on his 10,000 hours but making progress.
Al Miotke (Segmented Turning)
Working with wood has been a lifelong pursuit which started at a very young age when my Dad, who owned a custom cabinet business, handed me a broom and said “sweep”! After this beginning, I learned to appreciate the beauty and flexibility of wood as a design medium while I learned the fundamentals of cabinet construction and safely using woodworking tools. This interest in woodworking continued into adulthood with a focus on furniture design as a part time passion while I paid the bills as an engineering manager. After over 30 years of making furniture and cabinets as a past-time, I discovered woodturning in 2006 and l have never looked back. Combining my interest in precision woodworking and a newly found passion for woodturning created a perfect storm that resulted in my fascination with segmented design. I am currently the president of an international association called the Segmented Woodturners where we strive to advance the art and craft of segmenting.
Clint Stevens (Turning)
Clint Stevens is a woodturner who has had a passion for wood since before graduating Utah State University. After a career in engineering he opened a woodturning studio and gallery in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood where he tackles architectural and artistic woodturning projects. Over the years Clint Stevens has benefited from regular studies with woodturners from around the world. He has years of experience teaching woodturners in safe low stress environments where his students learn the joy of the lathe. Clint is an active member of the American Association of Woodturners and the Chicago Woodturners.
Instructors
Specialty Instructors
Nick Artemakis (Cabinet)
Nick Artemakis has been building custom speakers for over 40 years. A woodworker and hopeless audio electronics tinkerer, he established Electric Woods in 1986 in the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago. A somewhat “eclectic” woodshop, Electric Woods has offered a wide range of quality custom cabinetry, furniture, finishing, and furniture repair, but always specializing in custom speakers and entertainment centers.
Gibbs (Supervisor, Inspector, Greeter)
Gibbs is settling into his role as Shop Dog. Shaun adopted him when he was 1.5 years old and he has been “working” at the shop for about 2 years.
Kathy Cunningham
The Chicago School of Woodworking, LLC (“CSW”) was established in 2007 to train students in the art of furniture making. Since then, our program has expanded to include the arts of turning, scroll saw, marquetry, Chip Carving, and speaker making and cabinet making.
Victoria Pater
The Chicago School of Woodworking, LLC (“CSW”) was established in 2007 to train students in the art of furniture making. Since then, our program has expanded to include the arts of turning, scroll saw, marquetry, Chip Carving, and speaker making and cabinet making.
Tammy Sciortino
Tammy started her woodworking hobby when she took classes at CSW in 2016. Since “catching the bug” she has expanded her knowledge and built furniture as well as of end grain cutting boards. Appreciative of the knowledge she’s taken from her instructors she decided to join the team to help teach and continue to learn from some of Chicagoland’s best instructors.
Colette Davison
The Chicago School of Woodworking, LLC (“CSW”) was established in 2007 to train students in the art of furniture making. Since then, our program has expanded to include the arts of turning, scroll saw, marquetry, Chip Carving, and speaker making and cabinet making.
Instructors
Guest Instructors
Cassandra Cantu
Kathy Cunningham (Scroll Saw)