Where will you spend your vacation time this summer? Do your travel plans include something related to woodworking or woodworking education?
One of my responsibilities with our magazine is to interview woodworking organizations for the Industry Interview department of our biweekly eZine. Recently, I called the Great Lakes Boat Building School to learn more about their mission and programs. They’ve got a lot going on for woodworkers of all skill levels.
Maybe you caught that interview, but if not, here’s a link that will direct you to it.
The school opened its doors just five years ago, and its purpose is to continue the rich tradition of wooden boatbuilding in the Great Lakes region. Great Lakes Boat Building School (GLBBS) offers two-year curricula for woodworkers interested in repairing, restoring or building boats full-time. That alone is cool enough. Imagine turning an ages-old maritime craft into a viable 21st century career? You can do it–at any age, I’m told–and find gainful employment these days.
But equally exciting, GLBBS offers a variety of summer workshops lasting six days or less. For many of us, that’s just half the downtime we have coming from work to learn something that could enrich our shop time for the rest of our lives.
Back to my almost shameless plug for our fine eZine: there’s a tab on the homepage that will direct you to dozens of top-notch woodworking schools around the country and abroad. Haven’t noticed it before? Click here, and we’ve alphabetized them by state for you. Many of these schools offer summer and weekend workshops that might be of interest, however much time you can devote to a “woodworking getaway.” They’re quite affordable and taught by some of the best woodworking educators around.
If you’ve already attended theme-based woodworking workshops in the past, I’d love to hear your impressions of those experiences — and I bet other fellow blog readers would, too. What did you learn/make/take away from the experience? Have you been back since? What’s your next woodworking vacation destination? Please post your comments! It’s time to start planning where to point the paneled station wagon this summer, so let’s talk woodworking vacations. After all, there’s always more to learn and do.
Catch you in the shop,
Chris Marshall, Field Editor
