Seattle Workshops

This is my Old Shop in Seattle I now have a new place @ the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center 4408 DELRIDGE apt 302 WAY SW, SEATTLE, WA 98106. I will post new pics. Also here is a link to my new my space page

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=102975388

Coquille Workshop

Recently I did a workshop with a friend of mine from the Coquille tribe. It was interesting to share skills with a Native American from a different tribe that was also an artist. Shirod Younker makes traditional paddles. I learned a lot from him in are experience.

This is a review for the latest workshop I tot, with a person that would like to remain anonymous. I successfully tot him how to make a kayak that I designed for speed and also stability. Here are a few pictures taken at the launching date. I am currently taking new students so please give me a call 1-360-301-4639 and we can set things up. I have also moved my shop to a location in Seattle and would like to connect with people in the Seattle area to set things up. Here is the address
1220 Trenton St Seattle 98108

Scotland Trip

I have just come back from Scotland just a few weeks ago and had a great time. I met a lot of crafts people their including a fellow skin boat builder that was working on a Bristol Bay style kayak. I was impressed with his work and also learned a few things from hanging out with Bill Samson. I made a movie were Bill is giving a demo making ribs with willow I hope you all like it. The movie also has shots of Edinburgh in it as well. I hope to go back to Scotland and teach work shops in the fall.

King Island Replica

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I Finished a replica kayak that I did a survey on from Harvey Goldens private collection. Harvey invited me to his home and showed me the ropes in conducting a survey. It was hard at first but I got it down pretty quickly. I did the survey and afterwards made a life size drawing of the kayak to get every little detail down.
The great thing about this kayak is the fact that it was constructed in roughly 1935 and my family was living there at the time of the construction and I would like to think that they were involved. The original kayak was made with split walrus and bearded seal skins and the ribs in the internal structure were bent in the old way of sucking and biting and slowly bending every rib.
This kayak took more time than the conventional kayak that I usually make, mostly because I split a lot of the lumber by hand to try and get the true building experience. I will not do this a lot because it does take a lot of time to do things this way and I live in present time when I have access to tools that will make the job a lot easier.

Dug Out Canoe Project

This summer I was invited to help build with a Mauri dugout canoe project with Taki Smith, a Mauri from New Zealand , John Smith from the Skokomish Tribe and Meleno Lovato, also a native crafts man. The project was a good experience for me and I learned a lot from them and I also shared knowledge. This was an approach to boat building I was not familiar with, it was much different because we were almost carving a boat. Skin on frame is very different but I received a lot of information that will help me when I start making replica kayaks. Overall my carving ability has been greatly improved from this experience.

This past weekend I attended an annual native carvers convention at the Long House at Evergreen State College. I connected with other native craftsmen and women who shared a similar vision. We were all there with the intent to learn from each other and also to recognize similarities and difference within our aboriginal roots. My knowledge was tremendously expanded from the experience. Some of the carvers were also boat builders as well and we shared different building ideas. There were tribal people from as far away as New Zealand and Hawaii. There were a lot of people there representing the North Pacific rim. I was the only person there with ancestry from the arctic region.

This passed August I was invited to the Burk Museum in Seattle Washington to do a building demo there at the Native arts gathering. With the help of other native boat builders as well, John Smith from the Skokomish tribe and Dwight Tuvek a fellow Bering Straights native. It was a true collaboration of native artist and I learned a lot from John And Dwight that I will carry it with me for times to come.
The Demo was a good experience for me and it drew a large amount of people to watch in amazement as I put the kayak together. Being a skilled kayak builder I can build fast and the construction is entertaining for people to watch. People were very interested in the history and also my family connection with the kayak. People are becoming more interested in the History of this craft because of the popularity of the sport in recent years. I am hoping to dive into doing more demo work in the near future and concentrate on places were people are selling recreational kayaks as well as natural history museums. This way there will become a bridge between the passed and the future of this craft and make it that much more interesting for people.