About Gary Rogowski

Gary Rogowski has been a woodworker since 1974 when he found an old wooden hand plane and a chunk of fir outside his house in SE Portland. Since he didn’t see his work then pouring concrete as a long term career and the art and science of woodworking was intriguing to him, he taught himself how to design and build fine furniture. He started showing his work in galleries in the late 70’s locally and then nationwide, building custom made furniture for public and private commissions. His work was shown in the 1989 Biennial Art Festival at the Portland Art Museum and his public furniture graces the Oregon State Archives, Temple Beth Israel, St. Juan Diego Parish, and the Oregon State Forest Service headquarters.

He has been writing about woodworking since 1988 with dozens of articles, videos, and several books on joinery published. His latest was The Complete Illustrated Guide to Joinery, Taunton Press. In 1991 he was awarded the Oregon Arts Commission fellowship in Crafts. He started teaching woodworking in 1980 at schools in the Northwest and around the country. In 1997 he founded The Northwest Woodworking Studio, A School for Woodworkers, in Portland, Oregon. For the past 16 years, the Studio has been the center for tradition based woodworking classes in the Pacific Northwest. As a teacher has always focused on no nonsense solutions to common woodworking problems through his week long classes, one month intensives and two year Mastery Programs. His hobbies include walking his beagle Jimmy, gardening, writing, and last but not least, woodworking.

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