Building a Cedar Strip Canoe
with Will Hutchinson
$350 lab fee | July 26–August 8 | Skill-building
Students in this course will work together to build a floating work of art, a cedar strip canoe that will join the campus fleet and be used by future generations of artists to enjoy the Ox-Bow lagoon. Students will develop practical skills including methods for effective handwork with spokeshaves, chisels, and hand planes, as well as steam-bending, fiberglassing, and finishing processes. Although this is primarily a skill-building class, we will discuss the social practice possibilities inherent to the canoe and the relationship between objects, processes, and experience. Readings will include texts by Nicolas Bourriaud, Sigurd Olson, and Agnes Denes, while lectures will present canoe construction varieties and history. Assignments will invite students to practice tool sharpening and setup, along with strategies for cooperative working, division of labor planning, and successful communication. Participants will come away with knowledge of how to build a canoe as well as the tools to apply these practical skills to other artistic endeavors. The class will culminate in a canoe launch, a demonstration of effective and unique paddling techniques, and an exploration of the Ox-Bow lagoon.
SAIC students: This is a 3-credit course; use the course code SCULPTURE 696 001.
Will Hutchinson (he/him) is a former smokejumper and all-around adventurer. Invested in the truth of experience, he focuses his practice mainly on functional objects that attempt to facilitate and enhance experiences from the mundane to the extraordinary. Hutchinson holds a BFA in Drawing from the Art Academy of Cincinnati and an MFA in Sculpture from the University of Montana. He currently works as a full-time knife maker and teaches glassblowing workshops in the Bitterroot Valley of Montana.