Joinery, Joists and Gender: A History of Woodworking for the 21st Century

395 Pages·2022·288.5 MB·English

by  Deirdre Visser

Joinery, Joists and Gender
Joinery, Joists and Gender: A History of Woodworking for the 21st Century is the
first publication of its kind to survey the long and rich histories of women and
gender non-conforming persons who work in wood. Written for craft practitioners,
design students, and readers interested in the intersections of gender and labor
history—with 200 full-color images, both historical and contemporary—this book
provides an accessible and insightful entry into the histories, practices, and lived
experiences of women and nonbinary makers in woodworking.
In the first half the author presents a woodworking history primarily in Europe
and the United States that highlights the practical and philosophical issues that
have marked women’s participation in the field. Research focuses on a diverse
range of practitioners from Lady Yun to Adina White.
This is followed by sixteen in-depth profiles of contemporary woodworkers, all of
whom identify fine woodworking as their principal vocation. Through studio visits,
interviews, and photographs of space and process, the book uncovers the varied
practices and contributions these diverse artisans make to the understanding of wood
as a medium to engage spatial, material, aesthetic, and even existential challenges.
Beautifully illustrated profiles include Wendy Maruyama, one of the first women
to earn an MFA in woodworking in the US; Sarah Marriage, founder of Baltimore’s
A Workshop of Our Own, a woodshop and educational space specifically for women and
gender non-conforming makers; Yuri Kobayashi, whose sublime work blurs boundaries
between the worlds of art and craft, sculpture, and furniture; and Folayemi Wilson,
whose work draws equally on African American history and Afrofuturism to explore
and illuminate the ways that furniture and wood traditions shape social relations.
Deirdre Visser is a curator, educator, visual artist, and woodworker in San Francisco’s
Mission District. As Curator of The Arts at the California Institute of Integral Studies
(CIIS) since 2010, Visser connects history to the present to look for common themes
and engage historical context in a deeper understanding of the challenges we face
today. She also has an active visual practice engaged with the arts as a form of
civic participation, working collaboratively for the past decade with the Skywatchers
Ensemble in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District.
Visser started woodworking as an undergraduate in the sculpture studio, learning
to build furniture from old growth Douglas fir scavenged from dumpsters. She later
worked as a finish carpenter on residential remodeling sites. Mostly self-taught,
Visser continued to pursue woodworking; in 2015–2016 she studied furniture
making at the Krenov School in Mendocino.
Visser is co-curator with Laura Mays of Making a Seat at the Table: Women
Transform Woodworking, the survey exhibition that grew out of this research
process, which debuted in 2019 at the Center for Art in Wood in Philadelphia,
featuring contemporary women and gender non-conforming woodworkers.

Joinery, Joists and Gender
A History of Woodworking for the 21st Century
Deirdre Visser
Cover image: © Ivy Siosi
First published 2022
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2022 Deirdre Visser
The right of Deirdre Visser to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Visser, Deirdre, author. | Mays, Laura, author.
Title: Joinery, joists and gender : a woodworking history for the 21st
century / Deirdre Visser with contributions from Laura Mays.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon ; New York : Routledge, 2022. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021044780 (print) | LCCN 2021044781 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Women woodworkers. | Gender-nonconforming
woodworkers. | Woodworking—History—21st century,
Classification: LCC HD8039.W6 V57 2022 (print) | LCC HD8039.W6
(ebook) | DDC 331.4/868408—dc23/eng/20211103
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021044780
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021044781
ISBN: 978-0-367-36340-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-36341-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-34541-8 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9780429345418
Typeset in Trade Gothic
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Every effort has been made to contact copyright-holders. Please advise
the publisher of any errors or omissions, and these will be corrected in
subsequent editions.
Work doesn’t care who does it.
—Mary Perpetua Maloney, “Grossmutti” (1901–1983)
This book is dedicated to the incredible artists/designers/woodworkers
who have participated in this project, whether through interviews or in
the exhibition. Each was generous beyond measure with their story; in
moments when my energy flagged, their lives and work inspired me to
continue.

Contents
List of figures xi
Acknowledgments xxiii
Foreword by Navva Milliken xxv
Introduction 1
The exhibition 1
It’s the wood that makes it good 3
The book 4
Research methodology 6
Organization 7
Reference 10
1 Early histories of women in woodworking 13
The legacy of Lady Yun 13
Public and private: Economics and social formations 14
Medieval: Private versus public 14
Early modern Europe: Economic transitions and the changing
meaning of work 18
Capitalism 22
Women in—and out of—the craft guilds 23
Sexual determinism and women’s economic participation 24
vii
Contents
From the Industrial Revolution to the Arts and Crafts movement 25
Sarah Tabitha Babbitt 25
Industrial capital and the home 27
A cyclopaedia of woman’s work: Decorative goods in the age
of industry 28
Philadelphia Centennial International Exhibition 29
The Aesthetic movement and the Cincinnati Art Carvers 30
The art and craft of resistance 37
American industry 40
Furniture City: Grand Rapids, Michigan 40
High Point, North Carolina 42
Postcards and the popular imagination 43
The importance of self-representation: Juliette Caron 44
2 Changing educational models 51
Pedagogy and culture 52
Educational Sloyd, an introduction 53
Historically Black colleges and universities: Industrial education
and the Arts and Crafts movement 54
Louise Brigham and the possibilities of the box 59
The Russian system of industrial arts 62
Manual training schools in Chicago and St. Louis 63
Vocationalism and women 65
3 Shifting economies 72
World War I: British women enter manual fields 72
Nancy Cook and Val-Kill Industries 77
Between the wars 79
Milwaukee Handicraft Project 80
Building and repairing furniture from New Mexico to North Carolina 82
viii
Contents
The Second World War: Lumberjills 83
Comfort craft 84
The GI Bill and the institutionalization of art education 89
Aileen Osborne Webb | founder, American Craft Council 90
Post-war: Black Mountain College 91
Mary (Molly) Gregory | builder, designer, architect, woodworker 92
Joyce Rinehart Anderson | fine woodworker 95
Post-war USA: A suburban dream 97
Doing-it-yourself: Family Togetherness and the Suburban Ideal 98
In print: Publications and media representation of woodworking 102
Art and Craft: The freewheeling ’60s 105
Pamela Weir-Quiton | “That girl woodworker” 107
Wood sculpture 108
Woodworking as a woman in the 1970s: Building blocks 113
Self-help and DIY 115
Women in shop class 118
Studio craft programs 123
Craft schools 123
Craft exhibitions 127
4 The American studio furniture movement 133
Technology and tradition: From virtuosic technique to exuberant whimsy 133
Judy Kensley McKie | painter, carver, furniture maker 134
Dolly Spragins | furniture maker 136
The studio in studio furniture 138
Theorizing craft: Postmodernism 139
Cheryl R. Riley | furniture designer, artist 140
Art furniture and the Gallery movement 144
The 1990s 149
ix