On Sept. 3 and 4 (Labor Day weekend), Berkshire Botanical Gardens once again will host the Berkshire Woodworkers Guild Fine Arts Show and Silent Auction. The annual show features Guild members who exhibit and sell unique, hand-made products, including furniture to musical instruments. The Guild also provides ongoing demonstrations highlighting their trade and providing an educational component to the weekend event, which runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. 

A fine woodwork show and sale featuring designs by professional woodworkers from the Berkshires and neighboring counties in New York and Connecticut. Silent auction to benefit the Berkshire Woodworkers Guild Scholarship Fund, which supports individuals who aspire to make
woodworking their professional goal.

Throughout the weekend, Guild members will demonstrate various woodworking techniques including woodturning, tool sharpening, French polish wood finishing, and chair making techniques. Sean Stanton from North Plain Farm, Great Barrington, Mass., will
be onsite Saturday and Sunday, offering farm-raised pork sausages
and other food items.

Dates: Saturday, Sept. 3, 9 to 5 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 4, 9 to 5 p.m.

Admission: $5 General Admission; $3 for Berkshire Botanical Garden Members

Location: Berkshire Botanical Garden

Highlights: The Guild will announce the aspiring woodworkers who are the 2022 recipients of $2,500 scholarships. Silent auction to fund next year’s scholarships. Guild members will be selling their work. Guild members will be demonstrating woodworking
techniques.

The Berkshire Woodworkers Guild is a not-for-profit association of 50 professional and amateur woodworkers who live and work in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Columbia County New York, and surrounding areas. Guild members share expertise, tools, and business opportunities, and promote awareness of the benefits and availability of custom woodworking. 

From the Guild: "The Guild represents a range of backgrounds and experience. Members include furniture makers, cabinetmakers, boat builders, sculptors, house builders, wood turners, luthiers, and suppliers of wood products. We practice and advocate for fine woodworking on a professional level and encourage woodworking as an enjoyable hobby. We are interested in the work of others, in exchanging ideas and techniques, in learning more about woodworking, and in helping one another with advice on skills and materials. To encourage this, Guild members meet once a month in a member’s shop for a brief
meeting followed by a demonstration of a technique, tool, or project. These meetings are a time for members to share ideas and learn new ways of approaching their craft. We are a supportive group, welcoming new members to join those who have been part of the Guild for many years. For 20 consecutive years, the Guild hosted its Fine Woodwork Show at the Berkshire Botanical Garden. After a two-year pause due to Covid, the Guild is excited to return to the Garden this Labor Day weekend for our 21st Annual Show." 

This year 18 Guild members will be displaying and selling their work. Live demonstrations will be ongoing throughout the weekend highlighting various woodworking techniques and an
important highlight of the show is the Silent Auction. Since founding our guild in 1998, members have supported individuals planning to become professional woodworkers.  To that end we have established a Scholarship Fund supported by generous financial donations and by the proceeds from our annual Silent Auction to which guild members donate a variety of beautiful wooden objects. All of the proceeds from our Silent Auction go to our Scholarship Fund.  As our reputation has grown, our recipients have attended some of the best woodworking and wooden boat building schools in the country. Examples include the North Bennet Street School in Boston, the Furniture Institute of Massachusetts in Beverley, the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, Maine, the Krenov School in Fort Bragg, California, the Apprentice Shop in Rockport, Maine, and the International Yacht
Restoration School in Newport, R.I.

To date the Guild has awarded $48,000 in scholarships to 33 recipients. The 2022 show will feature 4 scholarship recipients showcasing work completed during their time at the educational
institution supported by the awarded Scholarship funds.

2022 Exhibitors
Jim Law, Undermountain Jointers
Frost White
Joshua & Kristen Kanter, JK Custom Furniture & Design
Peter Thorne, Peter Thorne Furniture & Design
Jeffrey All, All Woodwork
Joel Mark, Joel Mark Museum Quality Furniture 
Warren Vienneau, Turnedworks
Brad Simon, Undermountain Instruments
Erik Schutz, Erik O. F. Schutz Cabinetmaker
Thom Lipiczky
David Douyard, Chairmaker
James Daniels, James Daniels Custom Woodworking
Tom Nichols
Hilary Russell, Berkshire Boatbuilding School
John Dunham, John Dunham Woodcraftsman
Christopher Stosiek, CMS Cabinetry
Louis Wallach, Louis Wallach Fine Woodworking
Geoff Leibovitz, G Leibovitz Restoration 

For information, contact Kris Kanter at (413) 429-6830 or email berkshirewoodworkers@yahoo.com.