Queer Green Woodworking and Forest Exploration
September 24-26, 2022
Join artist Gina Siepel and woodworker Chris Nassise for this three-day introductory exploration of the forest, green woodworking, and our human relationship with trees. In this experiential workshop, we will explore the connection between the living forest and the process of working green timber with simple hand tools. Green woodworking is fun, hands-on, and well-suited to group work and conversation. We will challenge assumptions about materials, workspaces, and makers, and look for inspiration in nature and within ourselves. Basic woodworking techniques will be taught and no previous woodworking experience is necessary.
Inspired by the “slow movement” and the richness of our regional ecology, we will use raw green wood from local forests and rustic woodworking techniques to craft cooking utensils and other woodenware with hand tools. The skills we explore can be used to make hand carved spoons, spatulas, cutting boards, and wooden bowls, or anything else your imagination inspires you to create.
In addition to woodworking, we will spend time walking in and experiencing the forest, centering and reflecting on Queer relationships to land, trees, and woodworking. Working with Chris, Gina and other special guests, we will learn more about trees, gain a better understanding of forest ecosystems, and field identification skills. We will practice embodied and contemplative relationships to woodworking and forests. We will discuss the role of forests in mitigating the climate crisis and how to build sustainable woodworking practices, working to foster meaningful connections between ourselves as makers, our human and more-than-human communities, and our materials.
In addition to these activities, there will be plenty of time to hang out at the base camp, explore at your own pace, and get to know one another. Comfort with or curiosity about any kind of simple handwork, light physical engagement, and walking in the woods will be a good starting point. Wood will be provided; tools are also provided, and will be for the participants to use during the event, and to take home afterwards. Cost of tools are included in the event registration fee.
Please Note: This is not a sober event. This event is BYOB and we ask those who decide to drink alcohol that they do so responsibly.
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Gina Siepel (she/they) is a queer-identified interdisciplinary artist and woodworker, amateur naturalist, and forest enthusiast. Their artistic practice reflects a deep engagement with place, history, queer experience, and ecology. Gina’s work integrates conceptual concerns and craftsmanship with a focus on wood as a natural and a cultural material, and her objects, installations, drawings, videos, and other works are rooted in intellectual curiosity, embodied practice, and material research.
Gina is originally from rural western New York, and lived in New York City, Maine, and eastern Massachusetts, before arriving in the Connecticut River Valley of Western Massachusetts (Nipmuc, Pocumtuck, and Abenaki land), where they now live. Their works have been shown in museums and galleries nationally, including the Decordova Museum, Vox Populi Gallery, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, the Center for Art in Wood, and the Colby Museum, among others. Gina has been a fellow/artist-in-residence at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Mildred’s Lane, The Winterthur Museum, Sculpture Space, Hewnoaks, and the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship. They have received funding from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Berkshire Taconic Foundation, and the Puffin Foundation. Gina holds a BFA in painting and drawing from the School of Art + Design at SUNY Purchase and an MFA in interdisciplinary studio art from the Maine College of Art. They taught Studio Art at Mount Holyoke College from 2015 - 2022, teaching courses in interdisciplinary studio foundations, drawing, and art and ecology. She is a current Visiting Artist at the Macleish Field Station at Smith College, and lives in Greenfield, Massachusetts with her partner and frequent artistic collaborator, Sara Smith.
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Christopher Nassise (he/him) has worked with heart and hands for nearly twenty years, as an artisan, teacher, and green woodworker. His greenwood chairs, hand carved spoons, rustic furniture, and other woodenware are rooted in the craft traditions of rural New England, and are inspired by principles of hand craftsmanship, sustainability, and self-reliance. Ingrained in his back-to-basics approach to woodworking is a lifetime developing the hand skills of an artisan, a joy for green woodworking, and an aspiration to make life more meaningful through the creation of handmade objects.
Christopher is a graduate of the Cabinet and Furniture Making Program at the North Bennet Street School in Boston, and has a BA in English Literature from Suffolk University. He regularly teaches workshops in traditional craftsmanship and green woodworking at his studio, The Green Woodshop, in North Easton, Massachusetts, as well as other venues across New England.
Christopher is the Cabinetmaking Lead at Old Sturbridge Village, a living history museum in central Massachusetts. In his role at the museum, he researches, teaches, and demonstrates pre-industrial cabinetmaking and chair making techniques for the visiting public He is grateful for the support of a loving family, and for friendships that have grown out of a common interest in woodworking and a passion for being outdoors.
What are TVOP Frontcountry events?
Frontcountry events - a new project from The Venture Out Project - take place solely at BCBF and are a great option for folks who prefer warm beds, stocked kitchens, and relative closeness to flushable toilets. Our frontcountry events focus on community and skill-building outside of backcountry settings.
GENERAL INFO
Location: Basecamp at Beaver Falls, Halifax, VT (Wabanaki and Elnu Abenaki Ancestral Lands)
Start Date**: September 24, 2022
End Date: September 26, 2022
Cost: Sliding scale $450-$750
Includes: Food, lodging, $75 worth of tools that participants take home afterward
Doesn't Include: Carpool to trip location, personal clothing, toiletries, flights
**Specific times and locations to be released to registered participants only
COVID SAFETY
Proof of vaccination and/or booster within the last 8 months
Negative COVID Test within 72 hours of trip