“Building a New Way of Learning” is a four-part series on Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute, a premier accredited trade school in Adrian, Michigan, where traditional techniques meet contemporary practice. Through the perspectives of the founder, a student, an instructor, and a weekend learner, this series explores the ways a school can radically transform the community around it.
Persais Gabeheart noticed that when she walked through the doors of the Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute, time didn’t follow her inside. “You’ll be working, and then you look up, and the sun’s gone down,” she says.
Persais Gabehart carves the legs of a walnut desk to be part of the new SBWI campus
During the 9 months that she participated in the school’s Furniture Design program, Persais says the shop held her in “a kind of vortex.” Her days were no longer measured by hours, but by sawdust catching the light, the low music of hand tools, the profiles of her fellow students as they bent over their benches, the focused refinement of a single joint.
Persais & student Shane Mooney working through design challenges in the Furniture Design program
Persais arrived at SBWI at 18, after being homeschooled, with an artistic sensibility and no woodworking experience at all. She was certain of one thing: She wanted a life made with her hands. She knew she would learn joinery and design. What she didn’t expect was how the curriculum would transform the way she looked at the world.
“Once I walked in the doors, I was like, ‘I’m in the right place. This is right.’ I just absolutely fell in love with it more and more.”
At SBWI, students begin with a shared set of plans, learning to read drawings and translate someone else’s design into wood. As their skills develop, the constraints gradually loosen. They move from prescribed projects to broader guidelines, making more of the decisions themselves and eventually developing their own plans. By the time they reach the final case piece, the design is entirely their own.
“People are so beautiful in how they create, and they’re all so different,” Persais says. “It was interesting to learn that, more than I’ve ever realized.”
She found herself looking at the world outside of the shop differently, too. In the woods around campus, she would be drawn to a fallen leaf or a tree that she once would have walked past. “I’m thrilled about different types of bark now,” she says.
Perhaps the most profound transformation has been in how she sees herself: “Sometimes you look at yourself and think, ‘I need to be perfect, I need to be the standard,’” she explains. “And then you work with wood and realize it’s never perfect, and it is still effortlessly gorgeous.”
After graduating this past May, Persais stayed on at SBWI as an artist-in-residence, continuing to build furniture for the new campus while working alongside the next cohort of students. When asked about her plans beyond that, Persais smiles. “I haven’t looked that far forward,” she says. “I’m totally living in the now.” It’s an apt place to be for someone who has learned to pay such close attention to the present.
Persais & her piece titled A minha flor silvestre
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Persais drafting furniture designs for the new SBWI campus
Read Part 1 of this series
The Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute offers accredited programs in Furniture Design, Timber Framing, and Architectural Carpentry & Preservation as well as weekend and week-long classes that are open to anyone. You can learn more on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube or online at sbwi.edu.
As seen in Craftsmanship Magazine