Monica Hampton has had a life­long inter­est in the arts and educa­tion. Her back­ground is a combi­na­tion of fine arts, art history, educa­tion, and public outreach, with an empha­sis on program devel­op­ment for museums and orga­ni­za­tions special­iz­ing in history, fine art, craft, and design. 

As an inde­pen­dent consul­tant, she produced the Amer­i­can Craft Coun­cil’s 2016 confer­ence. Monica served as the Direc­tor of Educa­tion at The Society of North Amer­i­can Gold­smiths (SNAG) and was formerly the Direc­tor of Educa­tion at the Amer­i­can Craft Council (ACC).

Past posi­tions include working with the Society for Envi­ron­men­tal Graphic Design (SEGD), Metrop­o­lis Maga­zine, and the Cooper-Hewitt.

She studied fine arts and art history at Bard College, received a dual fine arts/​art history BA degree from George Wash­ing­ton Univer­sity, and holds an MS in Museum Educa­tion from Bank Street.

Pam Robin­son is a Chicago-based Jeweler, Artist, Educa­tor, and Arts Administrator.

She was the Direc­tor of Educa­tion and the Jewelry & Glass depart­ments at a large art center in Chicago.

She is a member of The Society of North Amer­i­can Gold­smiths (SNAG) and served on their Board of Direc­tors. As their confer­ence liaison, she was instru­men­tal in orga­niz­ing, plan­ning, editing, and sched­ul­ing confer­ences. In 2019 she received the SNAG Volun­teer Recog­ni­tion Award for her service.

Pam is currently on the board of the Women’s Jeweler’s Asso­ci­a­tion (WJA) — Chicago chapter as their Program­ming VP and received their pres­ti­gious Shining Star Award for volun­teerism. She was also a found­ing member of The Chicago Metals Art Guild (CMAG).

Pam earned her BFA from The School of the Art Insti­tute of Chicago, minored in art history, and studied at The Gemo­log­i­cal Insti­tute of America. She is proud of her commu­nity outreach work, has exhib­ited her work nation­wide, published in books and maga­zines, and is happi­est when she’s in her studio creat­ing and sharing her passion with others.

Gher­mayn Baker is a woven furni­ture restora­tion special­ist and basketweaver based in Long Beach, Cali­for­nia. Together with his wife Christina, Gher­mayn founded Point by Point Studio, a studio focus­ing on the restora­tion of cane, rattan, wicker, and other woven furni­ture, in 2022. A life­long crafts­man and artist with a deep love for patterns, Ghermayn’s craft is rooted in the tradi­tion of natural mate­ri­als and the explo­ration of woven patterns from around the world. Gher­mayn is a 2023 recip­i­ent of The Furni­ture Society’s Educational Grant.

https://​furnsoc​.org/​d​i​r​e​c​tory/…

Justin R. Cockrell(b. 2002) is a craft artist and educa­tor born to freedom in Colum­bus, Ohio, now living, loving, and learn­ing in Rich­mond, Virginia. Syncretiz­ing tradi­tional craft tech­niques and objects with magical realism and quixotics, their work aims to create queered func­tional pieces that serve as records of human and mate­r­ial exis­tence in the Anthro­pocene. Their native language is fiber and textiles and they use the linear and geomet­ric logic of weaving, quilt­ing, and natural dye along with sustain­abil­ity forward design think­ing to work across the mediums of fiber, wood, and metal. They have exhib­ited work at The Virginia MOCA, The Appalachian Center for Craft, and The Ander­son Gallery in Rich­mond, Va and have partic­i­pated in work­shops in various capac­i­ties at Penland School of Craft, Ander­son Ranch Arts Center, Center for Furni­ture Crafts­man­ship, and The Craft­ing the Future Teen Takeover. They are pursu­ing a BFA in Craft/​Material studies and a BA in Spanish liter­a­ture at Virginia Common­wealth Univer­sity and an alumni of the Yale Norfolk School of Art, and Inter­lochen Center for the Arts.

IG: @Justin.rtc

https://​furnsoc​.org/​d​i​r​e​c​tory/…

Kate David­son is a wood­worker, craftsper­son, and educa­tor whose work ranges from func­tional furni­ture to sculp­tural play. Orig­i­nally from New England, she began working in histor­i­cal restora­tion carpen­try while living on the coast of Maine, even­tu­ally enrolling at the Vermont Wood­work­ing School and later grad­u­at­ing from UW Madison’s Wood­work­ing and Furni­ture MFA program. Her pieces have been exhib­ited nation­ally, includ­ing at the Esher­ick Museum and Museum for Art and Wood in Penn­syl­va­nia and through Craft Desert in San Diego, and she has partic­i­pated in resi­den­cies at Penland School of Craft and the Center for Furni­ture Crafts­man­ship. Most recently she spent the 2024 summer as the Wood­work­ing Studio Coor­di­na­tor at Peters Valley School of Craft, before begin­ning a new posi­tion at Contem­po­rary Craft, in Pitts­burgh. Besides creat­ing her own multi-media pieces, her work focuses on the impor­tance of collab­o­ra­tion and commu­nity in craft and woodworking spaces.

IG: @katekatecameron

Anas­ta­sia Woodruff has a design prac­tice based in Minneapo­lis that is rooted in her curios­ity of furni­ture and wooden form. Her previ­ous work includes provid­ing finan­cial and strate­gic support to Delterra’s Rethink­ing Recy­cling program and to opening a food co-op in an area of Minneapo­lis desig­nated as a food desert. Anas­ta­sia studied at the Center for Furni­ture Crafts­man­ship as well as completed a certifi­cate program at Yester­mor­row Design/​Build School. She holds a BS in Busi­ness from the Univer­sity of Minnesota.

IG: @anawoodruff

https://​furnsoc​.org/​d​i​r​e​c​tory/…

Alexan­der Zimmer­man is an artist, musi­cian, YouTu­ber, podcaster and father. He likes to define himself as a creative as he does not align with any one partic­u­lar form of creativ­ity. Currently he is a MFA candi­date at San Diego State Univer­sity school of Art and Design. When he is not working on a project you can find him watch­ing the Seattle Seahawks, watch­ing Marvel movies, hanging out with his kids, or taking naps.

Check out Alex’s work on:

His Website, YouTube, TikTok, Insta­gram, Face­book, Twitter