The latest issue of Quercus magazine features a drawing of me on the cover and a photo of Megan on the back cover. Put together we are almost a centerfold (and nearly a professional publishing company).
This cover was a bit unexpected. Nick Gibbs asked me for a photo showing me at work for his John Brown tribute in issue 11. Then he asked Lee John Phillips to turn that photo into an illustration. Nick put it on the cover of issue 12 to promote an excerpt from “The Stick Chair Book.”
I was a bit grumpy about it at first. I have spent the last 11 years avoiding magazines, podcasts, seminars and classes. Why? I needed a psychological break from media because… well… this will sound weird but I found it difficult to grow as a designer and builder when people were asking me to do the same things over and over (workbenches, tool chests, hand tools….).
There’s more. Even though I never intended it, this cover symbolizes a small return to the periodical life for me. This week, Megan and I are finishing up the first issue of The Stick Chair Journal. Plus I have just agreed to write two more articles for Fine Woodworking and work with the fantastic Anissa Kapsales. Weirdly, it all feels good.
So thanks to Nick for the privilege (even though my boobs are *much* bigger in real life).
— Christopher Schwarz
Is that pic from when you were on the A-ha “Take on Me” video? Just kidding, great honor, congratulations!
Ordered my copy
Wow, impressive! Do we need to call you “sir” and “ma’am” now?
Congrats to all (I like Megan’s better).
Congrats! I hope when you wander off to bed tonight you take in the moment for what it is, and sleep with a proud smile on your face.
Congratulations on the LAP outerfold!
Wasn’t the last time Megan was featured with a full page photo of herself on a woodworking magazine, she was given multiple marriage proposals? Haha
Great articles by the way. Awesome magazine!
Nah — only for the 2009 one
Congratulations! Well deserved.
Congrats to both of you! Good recognition, well deserved.
🙂
How cool is that! Quercus is entertaining and fun and manages to be informative without being too serious. I am addicted.
Where in the Sam Hill do I find Quercus Magazine? This is an unknown publication.*
*Unknown to ME, that is, and isn’t that all that matters?
You can buy a single digital issue here: https://pocketmags.com/quercus-magazine#
Tools for Working Wood sells the individual printed issues. https://toolsforworkingwood.com/store/item/AQ-1231.XX?searchterm=qu
Lee Valley sells them as well.
Now you’re like a comic book super hero… Woodworker man armed with his trusty Crucible hammer..
Thor: Stickchairok
Only one is worthy to wield the lump hammer
Congrats
I just bought the digital edition. Out of interest, have you ever used any Australian hardwoods in chair making?
I have not. We don’t see many Australian woods in Kentucky. But there have been many great stick chairs made from those timbers. You can read more from Suzo here: https://blog.lostartpress.com/?s=australia+chairs
Great product placement on the lump hammer. Now I have to have one!
Nice pics both of you! Chris, you’re showing a bit more finesse than the famous John Brown pic of pounding the legs in (which I was told was somewhat staged as he wasn’t that brutal with the legs). I remember many years ago asking you “who will now carry the torch?” Kinda neat, isn’t it? Hope all is well.
I just wish I had as much style as JB. The cool hat. The jacket from Old Town. The hand-rolled cigarette.
BTW, do check out Old Town. Chris Williams has a couple pieces from them: https://www.old-town.co.uk/
I’m hoping Chris can come over soon so he can stock up on Carhartt, it got expensive sending stuff over! And be careful what you ask for as we WILL find you a proper hat! Stay well and thanks for what you and Megan do for the community.
I enjoy and appreciate so much your writing and sharing of yourself. You often take us to a new level of understanding about how woodworking can interact and change who we are becoming.
I must say, your first announcement coming a couple days before the Pulitzers were announced had me very, very curious…
Hi Dan,
The award we received was from the city of Covington. You can read about it here if you like:
https://www.covingtonky.gov/news/2022/05/10/keepin-it-real-in-the-cov-lost-art-press
Congratulations on that one as well! The laudatio makes me want to buy a plane ticket and drop by (currently we have other priorities, which is OK, but still: I want to visit the Mekka of Hand Tools..)
Congrats. Now if we can change up Dr. Hook’s lyrics a little bit for woodworking and Quercus…
Excuse me, how are we NOT talking about Megan’s small chest? Double entendre be damned, that is some Marco Terenzi type stuff going on there.
Oh, and congrats on the cover, even if you didn’t have the same illustrator as Jessica Rabbit.
Congratulations, even if it made you grumpy. I love the front cover and the back cover is brilliant, a wonderful portrait of Megan and her micro-baby-Dutch toolchest.
Accomplished: To be celebrated on the cover for one’s oeuvre and not (just) one’s looks; to determine what to write (and not) at your pleasure; to go deeper into one’s work and not just repeat & tweak. Cool.