Woodshop Journal

I remember seeing the wood shop in my middle school, but never taking a class. It had closed down a few years before I got there, probably due to funding, so I never really had the opportunity to play around with tools. My father had a dresser with tools in it, and sometimes I would see him fixing things, but I couldn’t tell you which wrench was which or the different kinds of screwdrivers. I didn’t learn how to change a light bulb until I moved into my own apartment when I was 19. My daughter, on the other hand, is all about fixing things. Whenever anything is broken, she tells me, ‘don’t worry mommy, I’ll fix it, let me get my tools.”

I think, especially for girls, with all of the gender ‘restrictions’ and stereotypes they’ll be fed in our society, it’s important to be given the opportunity to learn how to work with their hands, to learn to fix basic things, and also create art with non-delicate materials. On the flip side, I also think it’s important to encourage boys to learn how to cook, take care of a house, use delicate materials, such as a needle and thread. All of these skills are practical and useful to boys and girls, who will grow up to hopefully, become independent adults.

My wood shop experience was a lot of fun. We went to a different classroom and before touching anything were given the opportunity to make observations as to how it was specifically different form the other art room. The tables were low to the ground and had two vices on opposite sides. There were lots of different cutting tool, rulers, glue, paints, nails, a huge stack of grade A pine wood, and a great display of a variety of student art.

We weren’t given a specific assignment, so at first I had no idea what to do. I looked around and saw some people sawing wood, others using sandpaper to make it smooth, some using instruments I was unfamiliar with to create different textures, there was such a variety of creativity happening all at once. I began by sawing a piece of wood into a smaller, more manageable piece. There were so many sounds in the room and the sharp noise of the saw against the wood wasn’t my favorite, so I decided to hammer for a while. The pounding was quite therapeutic after a long day and I have to say that I am inspired to work with wood and nails again. I would really like to create some design pieces using wood as a canvas and nails as my design tool. It’s amazing how the freedom of exploration can so quickly lead to inspiration.