press release...

From the Newsletter of the Northeast Woodworkers Association, Clifton Park, NY.

Doug Stowe to give the 2013 Fiske Memorial Lecture ...By Charlie Goddard

Doug Stowe has been selected as the 2013 recipient of the Fiske Award and will be honored at the November general meeting, November 14, 2013. He will be the 18th to receive the award. Among previous awardees are Silas Kopf, Phil Lowe, Teri Masaschi, Ernie Conover, Hank Gilpin and Garrett Hack.

Doug has been a self-employed woodworker in Eureka Springs, Arkansas since 1976. He is an expert furniture designer but is probably best known for making boxes. He is the author of seven books, including one entitled “Basic Box Making” which is an excellent reference for anyone who wants to make boxes. He has written many articles for Fine Woodworking and American Woodworker and Woodwork magazines. In addition to his work in his own workshop he teaches children at the Clear Springs School. When I asked him for some information to put into this article he sent me the following, which I have decided to leave just as he wrote it.

“When I met Herman Finkbeiner at Showcase a few years back, I told him about my Wisdom of the Hands program at Clear Spring School, and he asked if I knew of the German term, Fingerspitzengefühl . I think it was Herman’s way of reminding me that wisdom is not exclusive to a particular culture or language. It means finger-tip knowledge, and is essentially the same thing as what I’ve come to call “the Wisdom of the Hands.” In honor of Herman Finkbeiner, I will be talking about how the hands make us smart. “ “It seems that with all the technology that surrounds us in every waking minute, we have a tendency to undervalue the creative act through which the hands and mind are fully and deeply engaged in making beautiful and useful things.

Early teachers and administrators in many of our nation’s first public schools knew how the hands make us smart, but also that the hands have the power to shape the moral foundations of our culture. It seems that too many educators have forgotten this essential relationship between mind, heart and hand. Woodworkers, on the other hand, will never forget that which we rediscover every time we enter our wood shops.” Doug will show some slides of his own work and some photos of the kids at Clear Spring School, and will talk about tools, hands and the development of intellect.

In addition to the Fiske Lecture on November 14, I'll offer two days of box making class. There may still be an opening or two. Contact NWA Education.