Wooden Boat School Instructors
Wayne Ford is a master woodworker and shipwright with extensive timber framing experience. His experience includes participating in the restoration of the sloop Woody Guthrie and the schooner Clearwater. He teaches a wide range of woodworking classes, YouthBoat boatbuilding, timber framing, and special project classes at the Wooden Boat School.
Bill Sterling is a retired art teacher with 30 years experience. He has been building guitars for 10 years and teaching guitar building for three years. He studied with Dave Nichols at Custom Pearl Inlay in Malone, NY. Bill is also the education coordinator for the Hudson Valley chapter of the Northeast Woodworker's Association. He teaches instrument building at RWBS.
Andrew Willner has been an instructor and boat building volunteer since the inception of the Wooden Boat School. He has taught such classes as Foundations of Woodworking, decorative marine carving, building a sea chest, building a dove tail toolbox, “split” turning for spoon making, and marine finishing and painting, and has participated in development of the Wooden Boat School curriculum. He previously owned Korthchmar and Willner Boat Builders in Staten Island, NY, taught woodworking and boat building at the WoodenBoat School in Brooklin, ME, served 20 years as the Baykeeper in the New York/NJ Harbor Estuary for NY/NJ Baykeeper, and is the Executive Director of the Center for Post Carbon Logistics
Kathy Prisco is a certified science teacher who has taught at Poughkeepsie Day School where she learned cooperative teaching and alternative teaching methods. She went on to teach Biology, Chemistry, STEM, and Engineering at Spackenkill High School. She pioneered Project Lead the Way and MST at Spackenkill, two innovative, project-based learning programs that apply in-demand transportable skills to problem solving. After retiring in 2020, she focused her passion for building and creating on wood crafting, jewelry making, and creating handcrafted artwork. At the Wooden Boat School, Kathy combines her two passions—teaching and creating—in one place where she thoroughly enjoys helping people turn wood into functional art while having a lot of fun along the way.
Annie Raso is an artist and designer who moved to the Hudson Valley after living in NYC for almost two decades. Annie learned the basics of woodworking at SUNY New Paltz, and continued to hone her craft in the city, where she spent years running community wood shops at Makeville and Makerspace, teaching woodworking classes, selling tools at Tools for Working Wood, working at furniture companies, and freelancing. When she’s not woodworking, she enjoys taking her cat for walks, procuring fine vegan cheeses, and sewing her own clothes.
Maxwell Smith is a professional luthier, boat builder, piano tuner, and woodworking enthusiast. He teaches the Foundations of Wood and Furniture Restoration classes.
Anna Landewe is president of the Saugerties Lighthouse Conservancy board of directors, and also a resident lighthouse keeper. She is a lifelong artist with years of experience in traditional scrimshaw techniques. Anna teaches the Scrimshaw series at the boat school.
Michael Puryear is an internationally known furniture maker, studio designer, and teacher with 30 years of experience. He has taught college-level courses and has built a number of small wooden boats using the stitch & glue technique which results in strong lightweight boats. He has taught the Foundations of Woodworking series, furniture building, and boat building at the boat school.
Kate Hawes has been working with wood for 25 years. They have worked as a custom furniture maker, founded a cooperative wood shop in Brooklyn, and taught woodworking classes to adults. They have taught woodworking at Peters Valley School of Craft, The Crafts Student League, Makeville Studio, and The American Folk Art Museum. They have a certificate in Furniture and Cabinet Making from The North Bennet Street School and was recently awarded a Masters in Craft History and Theory from Warren Wilson College with a research focus on contemporary spoon carving community. They completed a residency at The Anderson Ranch Arts Center and their work has been exhibited in shows around Brooklyn, The Fuller Museum, and Manifest Gallery. They split their time between teaching and working in their shop in the Catskills where they are inspired by the surrounding woods. katehawes.net
Sue Muldoon specializes in seatweaving (chair caning, wicker repair, rush, splint, etc.) and basket weaving. Sue’s career has always been creative, from wallpaper hanging and interior painting to a lengthy career in the floral industry as designer and merchandiser. Wood carving, furniture refinishing and upcycling furniture in novel ways using unique materials like leather belts, ties and alpaca wool set her work apart from traditional seatweaving methods.
Erin Gardner is a fiber artist who creates nature-inspired sculptural and two-dimensional pieces using the process of needle felting. She is founder, co-owner, and designer of Grey Fox Felting, a family-owned business dedicated to sharing her love of needle felting to others through carefully selected supplies, workshops, and complete kits. Find out more at greyfoxfelting.com.
John VanBuren is a member of the Hudson Valley chapter of the Northeast Woodworker's Association (NWA). He teaches paddle carving and boatbuilding at the WBS.
Rich Cerruto is a retired engineer and IT executive who teaches skin-on-frame boat building and paddle carving. Another area of focus is oval Shaker boxes. He served as president of the Northeastern Woodworkers Association and currently serves as vice-president of its Mid-Hudson chapter.
Leanora Kovacs is a retired lawyer and member of the Northeast Woodworkers Association. She teaches lathe classes such as Pen Turning, where students craft their own fountain pens.
Janice Meltzer has sewn since childhood and started out teaching macrame, then caning until she went into upholstery. Eventually she combined the two (caning and upholstery) as a business. Janice has done wicker and natural rush. While she retired in 2015, Janice still enjoys teaching and demonstrating these techniques.
Jack Weeks is an experienced timber framer and has built many of the timber frame structures on the museum campus. He is a board member of HRMM and teaches timber framing at the Wooden Boat School.
Bob Boisvert retired from IBM as a Service Planner after 36 years. He is a member of the Mid-Hudson Woodworkers (MHW) chapter of the Northeastern Woodworkers Association (NWA). Bob has coordinated the Mid-Hudson annual woodworking show for the past 12 years. He has been a woodworker for many years and started scrolling in 1994 and has a special interest in Intarsia. He took classes in Intarsia from Judy Gale Roberts’ studio in Tennessee. Many of his creations have won ribbons at the NWA Showcase in Saratoga Springs.
Janice Meltzer has sewn since childhood and started out teaching macrame, then caning until she went into upholstery. Eventually she combined the two (caning and upholstery) as a business. Janice has done wicker and natural rush. While she retired in 2015, Janice still enjoys teaching and demonstrating these techniques.
Jack Weeks is an experienced timber framer and has built many of the timber frame structures on the museum campus. He is a board member of HRMM and teaches timber framing at the Wooden Boat School.
Bob Boisvert retired from IBM as a Service Planner after 36 years. He is a member of the Mid-Hudson Woodworkers (MHW) chapter of the Northeastern Woodworkers Association (NWA). Bob has coordinated the Mid-Hudson annual woodworking show for the past 12 years. He has been a woodworker for many years and started scrolling in 1994 and has a special interest in Intarsia. He took classes in Intarsia from Judy Gale Roberts’ studio in Tennessee. Many of his creations have won ribbons at the NWA Showcase in Saratoga Springs.