Program Description
The Fine Woodworking & Furniture Design Program at Vermont State University is a premiere fine woodworking program offered in partnership with the Vermont Woodworking School (VWS). VWS is a full-time furniture design and woodworking education program. Students spend full days in the woodshop with access to the guidance of professional furniture-makers and woodworkers. Over four semesters, students learn the basics and then take on increasingly challenging woodworking and furniture-making projects of their own design.
Students enrolled in the Associate of Arts in Fine Woodworking and Furniture Design take most courses at the Vermont Woodworking School (VWS) in their 15,000 square foot, historic barn turned modern woodworking facility. The Vermont Woodworking School is located in Cambridge, about 20 minutes away from the VTSU-Johnson campus, complete with state-of-the-art bench rooms, mill shops, a finish room, a 12-seat computer lab, a photo studio, common areas and galleries. Students study in the same classes and with the same faculty as VWS’s Immersion students. They are assigned a bench at the Vermont Woodworking School and participate in an average of 6 to 9 credits of their full 15-credit course load each semester.
Graduates of the AA in Fine Woodworking & Furniture Design are prepared to go on to careers in the wood products industry including working for wood products manufacturers, small wood businesses, making and/or designing furniture, or in other fabrication industries. Students are equipped with skills using SolidWorks, CAD program, preparing graduates for design jobs in the wood industry and beyond.
Program Outcomes
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Articulate informed and ideologically sound ideas about art, both historic and contemporary, and connect those ideas to the wider world.
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Create artwork that is technically proficient and imbued with meaningful content.
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Demonstrate a general understanding, ability and resourcefulness with a wide range of art media.
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Display an openness to new ideas and a willingness to take risks with their work.
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Understand the mechanics of setting up a safe and functioning studio.
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Know how to professionally exhibit, write about, and speak about their art.
