Rob Lewis grew up with wood for a teething ring, well not really, but he’s been around the woodshop his entire life. His dad, Merlyn, a Master Craftsman can build anything, and it’s fun to wander around Portland with him as he tells you about all the different projects he’s worked on. One of his favorites was working on Pittock Mansion after the Columbus Day Storm. If you’re lucky, you’ll get to meet him when he comes in to help with the tougher projects.
Rob followed in his dad’s footsteps and started in the cabinet making industry when he was in high school. He went on to open Orenco Wagon Company where he built wagons and stagecoaches, because coaches’ last and cabinets don’t. Over the last 8 plus years he ran the wood studio for Oregon College of Art and Craft where he worked with graduate students on hundreds of projects. But his real passion was ignited when he worked with Chuck Landers at Franklin High School in their afterschool program with at-risk kids. There he discovered how much he loved teaching kids who needed the hands-on skills of a trade. It was this passion that pushed him to open Anvil Academy in Newberg and it is his love for the kids, his knowledge of his craft, and the network of artists and friends that makes Anvil Academy a unique place to grow and thrive. Email Rob
Steve Ellingboe worked at Camp Tadmor for the last 30 years, fixing anything and everything. Steve has a heart for kids and a love of making things run smoothly. He, and his son Cory, love fixing up old cars and going to car shows, so building Cycle Karts is right down his alley.
Shirod Younker has been researching canoes and canoe paddles for over twenty years. He holds a B.F.A. in Visual Arts with an emphasis in Sculpture from Oregon State University. He currently works as a Program Manager and Instructor for the Journeys in Creativity: Explorations in Native American Art program at Oregon College of Art and Craft. He also serves as a Carving Instructor for an after school program at Chemawa Indian School and for cultural programs at The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde. His passion is teaching craft to communities in order to help spread understandings regarding historian and utilitarian uses of making tools or objects that will help to educate and perpetuate cultural values.
Chip Webster is the owner and operator of Furniture & Finishes, a boutique practitioner of antique and vintage furniture restoration, as well as a designer and maker of custom new furniture. Webster learned his craft over that past 14 years working with a finishing master in Atlanta, Georgia. He moved to Portland in 2008 and has built his business over the past 8 years. Webster teaches finishing and woodworking for the Guild of Oregon Woodworkers, where he is a past secretary, the present education director and a member of the board of directors.
His current developmental focus in his work includes decorative features, veneer and marquetry in furniture design and turned wood objects. Webster’s involvement with Anvil Academy stems from a deep passion for education in the arts, especially the cross-functional aspects across disciplines. He serves as both an instructor and as a business advisor.
Matt Rode was born in Norway and moved to the States when he was 8 years old. He still tells stories of running around the deck of the ship as they traveled to the United States, and seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time.
At around age 18 Matt got a job at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. His love of fishing in the mountain streams, and skiing made it a natural for him to settle on the mountain. After years at Timberline he moved to the Willamette Valley but has never lost his love for the Mountain.
The intricate ironwork at the lodge intrigued Matt and he started to research how the work was done. His first anvil was a piece of rail discarded by the railroad. He formed a horn and a heel on the rail and with the help of his Oxy/Acetylene torch and a hammer he started pounding out iron. Now some thirty years later Matt, owner of Mountain Stream Forge, is one of the premier blacksmiths in the US. Mountain Stream Forge
Steve Gosset specializes in repair restoration and conservation on antique and historical items. He began blacksmithing and woodworking in 1969 and started Cherry Grove Forge in 1985. His passions include doing his work in a way that is historically accurate, and passing on some of what he has learned after 47 years as a master tradesman. Email Steve
Julie Tannehill has been sewing since she was ten years old, discovering as a child how much she, as a self-proclaimed “tall, gangly girl”, liked creating her own clothing. She made a deal with her mom that she would buy the fabric for any project as long as Julie would wear it. Julie began to sew new outfits over the weekend for school on Monday, and when the compliments starting rolling in, she was hooked.
When she had children, she sewed for them as well; then, early one morning while visiting her parents, her mom handed her some fat quarters and told her it was time for her to learn to quilt. Despite Julie’s objections (as a result of having two small children, a full-time business, and a husband) her mother won out, and Julie discovered she loved quilting. It has now become her mission to cover the world in quilts, one at a time.
She has taught many workshops and likes to share her passion with others through hooking them on this endlessly creative medium.
