Nine-month Comprehensive Faculty

The Lead Instructor for the course is Tim Rousseau. For each project, Tim is joined by a co-teacher who specializes in the relevant skills. The following list is subject to change. Please visit the instructors’ websites for more extensive views of their work.

Lead Instructor Tim Rousseau divides his time between teaching at the Center and building furniture on commission in Rockport, ME. He also produces how-to and project videos, including both our own “Welcome to Woodschool” free video library, and series such as “Making a Small Cabinet” and “Build an Asian-Inspired Hall Table” for finewoodworking.com. After completing our Furniture Intensive in 1998, Tim worked in a multifaceted group shop in Hoboken, NJ, before returning to Maine in 2003 to set up his own business. For the next 15 years, he served as a Lead Instructor for our Furniture Intensive and taught summer Workshops. In 2019, Tim took over as Lead Instructor for the Comprehensive. His website is timothyrousseau.com.

Bruce Beeken is co-owner of Beeken Parsons in Shelburne VT. Beeken Parsons makes one-off household and institutional furniture and custom production seating for institutional settings such as college libraries, chapels, and refectories. Beeken Parsons also conducts research in the sustainable use of local wood, including lesser-known species and lower grades. Bruce trained at Boston University’s Program in Artisanry in the late 1970s and was one of the influential makers included in the seminal retrospective, “The Maker’s Hand – American Studio Furniture 1940-1990” at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 2004. Bruce co-teaches the curves segment in our Nine-month Comprehensive course. His website is beekenparsons.com

Seth Bosdell is founder and owner of Yankee Fine Finishing in Palermo, ME. Clients include architectural millwork companies, furniture makers, and cabinetmakers throughout the state. A professional finisher for over a decade, Seth’s original area of expertise was repair and restoration, where hand-applied finishes and color-matching with custom stains and toners predominate. Today, he specializes in finishing new millwork, cabinetry, and furniture, primarily with lacquers and high-end European water-based finishes sprayed in a custom-designed, down-draft booth. Seth also teaches finishing for our Nine-month Comprehensive course.

John Cameron designs and builds fine furniture in Gloucester, MA. He studied with James Krenov at the College of the Redwoods from 1992-94, and is currently a juried member of the New Hampshire Furniture Masters. John has exhibited at the Smithsonian Craft Show, the Currier Museum of Art, and Boston’s Society of Arts and Crafts, among other venues. Publications include With Wakened Hands (Cambium Press, 2000) and Fine Woodworking. John co-teaches the basic woodworking segment of the Comprehensive and you can see more of his work at http://johncameroncabinetmaker.com/

Erik Curtis is an American woodworker, sculptor, and television personality. He attended the Nine-month Comprehensive at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in 2012 and has taught at schools around the country. His creative practice combines the sculptural with the functional in an attempt to blur the line between furniture and art. He also stars as the carpenter on Netflix’s Instant Dream Home. Erik co-teaches the machine skills segment of the Comprehensive and you can see more of his work at encurtis.com

Tanya Harsch  is an oil painter and printmaker working in Appleton, ME. Her representational paintings encompass a range of subject matter from portrait to landscape, and her printmaking uses block printing and copper plate etching to explore subjects from children’s book characters to architectural detail to pattern design. Tanya’s work has been exhibited around the country, and is in collections worldwide. She studied classical oil painting at the Florence Academy of Art and has taught painting and drawing at, among others, the New England School of Fine Art in Worcester MA, the Ravenswood Atelier in Chicago, IL, and the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, ME. You can see more of her work at www.tanyaharsch.com

Beth Ireland has been a professional woodworker since 1983, specializing in turning and sculpture. She holds an MFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and her work has been widely exhibited and published, including a 2015 profile in American Woodturner. She has also held several prestigious Windgate fellowships and participated in the International Turning Exchange. Beth’s business encompasses everything from production runs of turned balusters, to sculpture, to one-of-a-kind stringed instruments. She is the Lead Instructor for our Turning Intensive and teaches turning for the Comprehensive. Beth lives in St. Petersburg, FL, and her website is bethireland.net.

Mark Juliana left the world of high tech in 2007 to explore more meaningful work and graduated from our Nine-month Comprehensive in 2008. He returned to Ashland, OR, where he set up a workshop and began to teach locally. In 2011, Mark returned to the Center as a Fellow and, in August of that year, joined our staff, where he now serves as Facilities Director and instructor. He is also the inventor of the EZtension bandsaw tension gauge, which he markets internationally. Mark teaches the CAD and CNC segments of the Comprehensive.

Aled Lewis is a furniture make in Machynlleth, Wales, who was the Lead Instructor for our Nine-month Comprehensive from 2009-2019. He originally trained at Rycotewood College and has more than 39 years of professional experience in all aspects of designing and making one-off and limited-production furniture. Clients range from private collectors to public institutions such as Oxford University and London-based law and finance companies. Aled was featured on the back cover of Fine Woodworking in February 2013, profiled in the September 2017 issue of Furniture & Cabinetmaking, and awarded a Bespoke Guild Mark from the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers of the City of London in 2018. He teaches chair making for the Comprehensive and his website is aledlewisfurniture.com.

Jim Macdonald creates custom guitars, furniture, art, and portraits featuring marquetry and inlay in Burnham, ME. Additionally, Jim collaborates with luthiers and furniture makers as a marquetry specialist. His work has been commissioned by Gibson Guitar’s Custom Shop and Hinckley Yachts. In 2018, his Allman Brothers tribute guitar entered the collection of their Big House Museum in Macon, GA. Recent gallery shows include the traveling exhibition “Out of Bounds: The Art of Croquet.” Jim teaches marquetry and veneering for the Comprehensive. His website is jamesmacdonaldartguitars.com.

Philip Morley‘s passion for woodworking began in his youth when he was introduced to woodworking through a shop class in school. In the woodworking shop, Philip, who previously struggled in school due to dyslexia, found a place where he could feel successful and indeed excel. He pursued his passion by learning the craft of carpentry and joinery through the City and Guilds of London program, a three-year trade school program, working on various historical buildings throughout central London. Through his courses Philip developed a passion for fine furniture craftsmanship and pursued apprenticeships to acquire the experience and skill needed. In these apprenticeships, Philip gained experience with both furniture design and quality craftsmanship. Through his apprenticeship with furniture-master, Michael Colca, he learned the value of craftsmanship and integrity in every detail of the piece. Michael continues to be a valued mentor today. He reaches casepieces for the Comprehensive and his website is philipmorleyfurniture.com

Adam Rogers is an award-winning furniture designer in Portland, ME, and partner in Square Manufacturing in Lewiston, ME. Honors include Best of Neocon, Interior Design’s Best of Year, the Chicago Athenaeum Museum’s Good Design Award, and, most recently, Best of NYCxDESIGN for his Mae collection designed for Radnor. Publications include Metropolis, Architectural Digest, Dwell, and Interior Design. Prior to founding Adam Rogers Studio in 2017, he was Director of Design & Product Development at Thos. Moser. Adam teaches product development for the Comprehensive and his website is adamrogers-studio.com.

Libby Schrum is a professional furniture maker in Camden, ME. A 2001 graduate of our Furniture Intensive, she subsequently earned a Masters of Fine Arts in furniture design from Rhode Island School of Design, in 2005. Libby has exhibited at top venues such as the International Contemporary Furniture Fair and the Architectural Digest Design Show in New York, and her work has been featured in The New York Times, Fine Woodworking, and 500 Chairs (Lark Books, 2008). In 2010, Libby was awarded the prestigious John D. Mineck Furniture Fellowship by Boston’s Society of Arts & Crafts. Libby teaches the Table and Drawer segment of the Comprehensive and her website is libbyschrum.com.

Valdemar Skov is a woodcarver, furniture maker, and engraver, specializing in ornamental carving for furniture and architectural details, as well as hand-engraving clock dials, fine tools, and jewelry. A woodworker since 1986, and self-employed since 1990, Valdemar has been formally recognized for his work by the Maine State Legislature and has been featured in numerous articles, including a profile in This Old House magazine. Valdemar works out of his studio in Waldoboro, ME, and teaches carving for the Comprehensive. His website is skovwoodcarvingengraving.com.