In this episode of Bonus Make! we continue our conversation with Ellie Richards, a furniture designer, sculptor and teacher who is currently a resident artist at the Penland School of Crafts. We talk with Ellie about her project “The Highboy’s Understory: Deconstructing the Icon” in which she examines the Winterthur, Delaware Museum, Garden and Library’s collection of high chests and other related forms. Richards plans to incorporate this research in a new line of work that responds to and...

In Episode 36 Why Make? we talk with furniture designer, sculptor and teacher Ellie Richards who is currently a resident artist at the Penland School of Crafts in the mountains of Western North Carolina. After growing up in Pittsburgh, PA she attended the wood & furniture design programs at San Diego State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Looking to the tradition of both woodworking and the readymade Ellie creates eclectic assemblage, installation, and objects...

In this episode of Bonus Make we talk with Katie Hudnall, about that most important of any artists tools, the sketchbook. As a tool for organizing your thoughts, a visual expression of your daily experiences or just a place to write down a shopping list next to a cool idea for a Rube Goldberg Machine, the sketchbook is a Swiss Army Knife for most artists. Katie guides us through her sketch book ,which she also views as her portable studio, as we take a virtual studio. Look on the Podcast...

In Episode 34 of Why Make we talk with artist, woodworker and educator Katie Hudnall, currently living in Madison Wisconsin she is an assistant professor of art at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Katie began in the arts as someone who loved to draw and was able to morph her drawing language into a unique woodworking style, despite her admitted lack of finer woodworking skills. Hudnall relies mostly on recycled, used and found materials, slotted screws and various other fasteners to...

In Episode 33 of Why Make? we talk with furniture maker, sculptor, and educator, Andy Buck. Andy is currently a full professor in the School for American Crafts in the College of Art and Design at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He has also taught at the Oregon College of Art & Craft, and given workshops at Anderson Ranch, Haystack, Penland and Peters Valley. Andy’s work has always seemed to embody fun and whimsical forms but we step behind the whimsy to talk about the serious...

Episode 32 of Why Make? is a Bonus Make! as we continue our conversation with Adam Manley and talk about his 2018 solo exhibition, Ordinary Rendition. Initially exhibited in Indianapolis, Indiana, Ordinary Rendition looks at a present and future in which exposure to violence, and complacency bring violent torture into the home. What at first appear to be trendy Danish modern inspired furniture and accessories are anything but what they seem. So grit your teeth as we tighten the thumbscrews...

On Episode 31 of Why Make? we talk with Adam Manley a San Diego, California based maker and educator. Trained in furniture making and construction techniques, Adam creates a range of works, from large-scale sculpture and installations, to furniture and functional objects. His work spins reality, questioning and challenging both our perception and grasp of it. While maintaining a creative and rigorous making practice, in a coop shop, Adam is also an assistant professor of Furniture design...

Episode 30 of Why Make? is a Bonus Make! We discuss with Michael Puryear the evolution and creation of his Dan chair, now a part of the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture. From the harvesting of the wood to the markings on the legs every inch of this chair is a narrative embedded with deep historical and cultural meaning. An excellent article about this piece came out in the April 2019 issue of American Craft. Lets take a deep dive into...

On this episode of Why Make we have Michael Puryear a consummate furniture maker with an elegant understated aesthetic. We have found through the course of all our discussions that making is a journey both a physical and a mental and Michael is no different in that regard having traveled the world over and spent time working in a library and as a professional photographer as well as studying Tai Chi

On Episode 28 of the Why Make? podcast we talk with artist Maggie Sasso, a Milwaukee, Wisconsin based maker producing maritime influenced installation work. Maggie’s conceptual bodies of work examines material culture in relation to our collective past using comedy and levity to navigate through the harsh realities of modern life. Although Maggie has a background in contemporary craft, including woodworking and metal smithing, most of her current work is in fiber… resulting from an a-ha...

In Episode 27 of Why Make? we talk with John Nakashima and discuss his new documentary George Nakashima, Woodworker about his uncle George Nakashima We talk with John about making the stunning new documentary, his life long relationship with his uncle George and the 20 year journey that has taken in making the film. So grab a handplane or a chisel, pop your earbuds in and get to work on that air dried slab of walnut you just acquired… and hold on for a Why Make? history lesson!

In this episode we take a look back at the dumpster fire that was 2020 and the way we were able stay connected and talk about some of the wonderful conversations we had. We also give a preview of upcoming episodes in 2021 as well as talk about some Why Make side projects on the drawing board

Episode 25 of Why Make? is a Bonus Make! as we talk with Greenville, SC artist Daniel Marinelli about creating the new landmark sign at Penland School of Crafts. With butterflies in his stomach about creating his largest commission to date, Marinelli goes into detail about the design and fabrication of this incredible sign and the thrill of a job well done! Don’t adjust the kerning on this episodes layout, Daniel has already done it for you… so just sit back, listen and enjoy the latest...

On Episode 24 of Why Make? we talk with Daniel Marinelli, a Greenville, SC maker, working in many mediums, including sculptural and architectural metal. Marinelli’s artistic path began in clay and unwilling to give up control of his work to the kiln gods he started building functional, fine art and sculptural objects in both wood and metal. After earning his MFA in sculpture at East Tennessee State University, Daniel attended a 3 year residency at the Penland School of Crafts. We explore...

Why graduate school? Episode 23 of Why Make? is a Bonus Make! and we talk with artist and educator Cory Robinson about his decision to go to grad school at San Diego State University in their Furniture Design and Woodworking program and how he chose which school and program to attend. Continuing our conversation from Episode 22 we have an honest discussion about what can reasonably be accomplished in a graduate program and “get schooled” by Cory Robinson. We also talk about many of the...

On this episode of Why Make? we talk with Cory Robinson, an artist and educator who teaches at the Herron School of the Arts in Indianapolis Indiana. Cory grew up in small town Indiana and somehow managed to to travel the the world only to return to his alma mater and become an instructor, which was never his plan. Cory’s work encompasses painting, sculpture, furniture and design but in this episode we take a tangent as we discuss what it means to be  Studio Furniture Maker and the impact...

Sylvie Rosenthal is a Madison, Wisconsin based artist and educator. She maintains a studio practice making commission furniture, work for online sales, and fantastic genre challenging sculpture dealing with the intersecting flight patterns of the histories of trade, hybridity, materiality, queer theory, and the natural world. On Episode 21 of Why Make? we discuss her fascinating 2018 show at the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum in Milwaukee called “House Of Risk” and the implications of...

Straight from the editing room workbench we are continuing with our newest feature in the Why Make? @whymakepod world... Bonus Make! These are pieces and parts from our initial conversation with Adrien Segal @adriensegal that didn’t make the final cut of Episode 19 but still make for some very compelling discussion about her life and artwork. Please enjoy Episode 20, our second Bonus Make! We talk with Adrien about her time spent as an ‘artist at sea’ aboard the RV Falkor off the coast of...

Artist and “data” sculptor Adrien Segal creates evocative work, in her Oakland, Ca studio, based on both the natural and human driven changes in our world. Whether she is graphing the tidal changes of the historic Sutro Baths in San Francisco to create the table-like Tidal Dadum series or reinterpreting fire progression chart data to elegantly display the fearsome power of forest fires in southern California, Adrien uses the aesthetic power of sculpture to inform. We nerd out on Episode 19...

Conceptual furniture maker, sculptor and teacher BA Harrington digs deep, with intense research, into her inherited past, life experiences and cultural lineage to create works that reveal the past and create a more informed, positive and supportive future for women in woodworking. We talk with BA in Episode 18 of Why Make? about Dowry Chests, the Early American furniture form which has inspired her work, translating heritage into conceptual furniture work, women in the field of woodworking...

As a new element of the Why Make podcast, we are going to occasionally release snippets are our conversations with makers that for some reason or other ended up on the editing room floor but still make for a compelling discussion. We are calling these episodes Bonus Make, so please enjoy our first Bonus Make episode with Jason Schneider our guest in episode 16 as he talks about his current work.

In the past we have stayed pretty close to home by having conversations with artists that mainly work in wood but in this episode we venture into the unknown and get into the the nitty gritty of working in laminated corrugated cardboard with Jason Schneider. Jason talks about what brought him to discover the possibilities in cardboard and how he keeps the inspiration flowing while working in just one medium.

A love of materials is what fuels Western North Carolina furniture maker and architect Brian Fireman and we get to the heart how he thinks about materials both large and small in this episode of Why Make? First inspired to become a maker while working on post and beam homes the other possibilities for working with wood came when he discovered the work of furniture makers Sam Maloof and Goerge Nakashima and the rest as they say is history.

Happiness and fun are two very important elements in the practice of Asheville, North Carolina furniture artist and maker Valerie Berlage. In this first, full episode of the 2020 Season Robb and Erik have a down-to-earth conversation with Valerie, another fellow Haywood Community College alum, about how she brings her functional art to the everyday with her line of jewelry, home accessories and small furniture. Along with the elephant in the room… talking with Valerie about her social...

Our introduction to the 2020 season of Why Make. Robb and Erik talk about whats new for 2020 including our new Patreon page to help fund production of the podcast, upcoming guests and of course life in these strange times of the corona virus and our new remote podcasting platform Squadcast. We also share our thoughts on our first season of Why Make and what worked and what didn’t.