Born and raised in Georgia, Kenneth Kortemeier first started woodworking in art school while making sculpture with wood, mostly with power tools. He began traveling after receiving his degree, searching for education in traditional crafts and handwork. As an intern at Country Workshops in Marshall, NC, he gathered more information about green woodworking and hand tools. He learned primitive skills and handwork through his friendship with Cherokee elder Martha Owl, who also lived in North Carolina. In 1997 he sought out an apprenticeship with Welsh stick chair maker John Brown in Wales, UK. The next year he came to Maine to learn wooden boat building.
He has worked as a cabinet maker, done custom commercial woodworking, built chairs and furniture on commission and worked as an EMT in an ER, but his overarching calling has been in education. |
From teaching sailing and seamanship along the coast of Maine with the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School, to overseeing the sculpture facility at the Atlanta College of Art, to leading outdoor education courses in NC, to teaching wooden boat building and furniture making at the Carpenter’s Boat Shop for the past ten years, Kenneth is an educator at heart. He continues to be an avid student, artist, designer, woodworker and over-all maker. He is currently most interested in tool making, building yurts and saunas (saunas in yurts?), carving green wood bowls and spoons, timber frame construction, and vintage motorcycle mechanics. |