I am constantly upgading my skills as a woodworker and an artist.  Here is a sample of people and institutions I have come in contact with as a result of this effort.

Country Workshops, near Marshall, North Carolina
www.countryworkshops.org
I built my first chair at this crafts school in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  I have since returned to Country Workshops to take other courses under the tutelage of Drew Langsner, the school's director and head instructor.  Mr. Langsner has become a leading authority in traditional country woodcraft since serving an apprenticeship to a Swiss cooper in 1972.

Anderson Ranch, Snowmass Village, Colorado
www.andersonranch.org
Out West, numerous artistic media are explored on Anderson Ranch, several miles outside Aspen.  During each summer season at the Ranch, top woodworkers of all varieties visit the Maloof Wood Barn to teach courses in their areas of expertise.

Penland School of Crafts, Penland, North Carolina
www.penland.org
Located less than an hour from Country Workshops, Penland, like Anderson Ranch, offers courses in a variety of artistic media.  Noted woodworkers from around the U.S. and the world serve as guest instructors each year.

John Alexander's Greenwoodworking, Baltimore, MD
www.greenwoodworking.com
Mr. Alexander teaches chairmaking and joinery at his shop in Baltimore.  His book and video,
Make a Chair from a Tree, were instrumental in my early chairmaking education.

Fox Maple School, Brownfield, Maine
www.foxmaple.com
Far to the northeast, Fox Maple specializes in traditional, rugged, and environmentally-sensitive methods of timber framing.
 
 

Nancy Darrell and John Kraus, Shelton Laurel, North Carolina
www.nancydarrell.com
Nancy Darrell is a pottery artist who specializes in breathtaking porcelain lamps.  John Kraus, an accomplished metalsmith who makes high-quality edged tools for woodworkers, assists Nancy with the hardware and bases for the lamps.  Nancy and John live a short distance from the Country Workshops crafts school.

Protect All Life (PAL), Oakland, California
www.recycletrees.org
One need only travel across town to see trees felled by storms, disease, or to make way for new construction.  It drives me crazy to think that such beautiful wood will end up in a landfill or, at best, hacked up for firewood.  Protect All Life is a program that should be instituted in every city: recovering urban timber would take a tremendous burden off the world's forests.

Midtown Logging and Lumber Company, Memphis, Tennessee
www.scottbanbury.com
Scott Banbury, a cabinet maker, woodworker, environmentalist, and occasional Green Party candidate for local office, is working to recover urban timber in Memphis.  Scott owns a portable Woodmizer sawmill and is available to mill fallen Memphis-area trees into valuable hardwood lumber stock.  Scott was very busy after a powerful windstorm hit Memphis on July 22, 2003.