Charlie's introduction to woodworking came through his father's cabinet shop in rural Idaho, where the craft was first and foremost a means of building for and within that community. Since the closure of that family shop, he has had the privilege of traveling the United States exploring other sites of craft community; building agricultural implements and structures in New Mexico, studying period furniture and timber framing in Massachusetts and Vermont, creating art installations in Tennessee, weaving black ash baskets and carving utensils in Wisconsin, and designing and building Windsor chairs in New Hampshire. While his current practice focuses on building Windsor style chairs and teaching, Charlie remains primarily interested in the ways in which class and craft consciousness overlap, their respective roles in knowledge creation and dispersal, and the ways in which those systems work to build and shape community.
