Mar Beck

I am a queer, trans early-career furni­ture maker and artist based in Port­land, Oregon. I grew up around wood­work­ing: our neigh­bor had a shop in the base­ment, taught my mom, and even­tu­ally she set up shop in our garage. She never felt the desire to do more than build furni­ture for our home, but I wish I had cared enough as a kid to spend more time helping her.

I have been working with my hands and making things my whole life, in a number of differ­ent craft mediums. After grad­u­at­ing college, I redis­cov­ered wood­work­ing as I started modi­fy­ing second­hand furni­ture and creat­ing a few of my own.

During my time in the Port Townsend School of Wood­work­ing Nine-Month Furni­ture Inten­sive Program, I had the oppor­tu­nity to learn from a number of incred­i­ble wood­work­ers. Two of the most influ­en­tial were furni­ture makers and sculp­tors Seth Rolland and Kevin Reiswig, both of whom contin­u­ally encour­aged my wacky designs and were instru­men­tal in helping me turn them into reality.

Currently working part-time as a fine gardener, I am constantly inspired by the forms and move­ment I see in branches, plants, stones, even animals. I regu­larly volun­teer at the Guild of Oregon Wood­work­ers, assist­ing with classes and running Open Shop sessions. I am always happy to help someone learn some­thing new and do what I can to spread the knowl­edge and love I have for wood­work­ing, espe­cially others who don’t see them­selves tradi­tion­ally repre­sented in woodworking.