NW Coast Arts
A traditional Salish Welcome figure
The Port Townsend School of Woodworking's mission is "to inspire a lifelong passion for craftsmanship through education in woodworking and traditional building trades." The original woodworking tradition in the NW is the art and craft of the First Nations / Tribes. We are delighted to encourage a deeper appreciation of the richness of this tradition.
The School offers classes in toolmaking and carving techniques, currently taught by
. Steve has made a lifelong commitment to the study of the NW Coast Arts and is acknowledged as a mentor by many tribal craftspeople.
Our goal is to encourage you to participate and become involved, and as more of you become involved we hope that you will use this site to share information related to the preservation and creation of the Northwest Coast art.
This section of our blog is intended to be a "clearinghouse" for information about classes, events, sources of materials, tools and toolmakers, exhibitions and a bibliography of good reference material for the aspiring carver or craftsman.
Chris Artman has volunteered to run this section of the website. Please feel free to contact
with content that you'd like to see published to wider audience. We'll publish class information for any craftsperson teaching in the NW tradition, not just at the School.
Chris's statement:
"I am in no way an expert on anything related to Northwest Coast Art, my passion are the stories, the mythology that crosses cultures and creates the images. I am fortunate that my wife has a passion for carving and is learning to create those images; this bit of luck has provided me a window into a like minded community of artists, aspiring artists and people who just have a passion for the art. I have met some wonderful people in the classes she has taken and every one of them had something to share without hesitation. This is not a secret society, there is no conspiracy, Dan Brown would be bored. So why not create a place where any of us could go and find information as to where to buy that Vermillion red or Cobalt blue powder to create that distinct color you want. Maybe you want to make your own tools and want to know where to buy a forge or you just want to find a class without spending six hours surfing the internet. My hope is that we as a community can create that place."