Master Artist Programs

Master Artist Workshop: Making and Carving a Brettstuhl Chair with Charles Thompson
Sunday, February 8-Friday, February 13, 2026

Learn to make two-board chair in an Alpine vernacular. This class is centered around joinery, relief carving, and design. Students will use hand tools to create components and joints, including tapered sliding dovetails and through-tenons. Each student will also develop a vocabulary in pattern carving throughout the week. Finally, students can either work from a template and carve their chair or compile their own practiced patterns onto a chair back of their own design. All levels are welcome; elements of this class may be physically strenuous.

Charles Thompson makes chairs and carvings in a humble workshop on a hill in western Massachusetts. His work reflects on vernacular forms, and uses a mixed vocabulary of techniques, patterns, and materials that speak to the efficacy of hand work. He typically works straight from the log, splitting, bending, manipulating, then rejoining wood in a process that leverages personal intention and celebrates common materials. He senses, in the back of his mind and now in his work, a deepening curiosity as to what could count as his own tradition. Charles teaches at venues including Snow Farm, North Bennet St. School, and John C. Campbell Folk School. He is the recipient of the 2024 John D Mineck Fellowship.

Social Media: @charles_thompson_would

Enrollment Cutoff Date: 1/25/2026

Supply Fee: $180