Abby Mechanic

Abby Mechanic is a passion­ate leader, admin­is­tra­tor, educa­tor + maker within the craft field. Mechanic received her BFA from the Maine College of Art with a concen­tra­tion in Wood­work­ing and Furni­ture Design. After grad­u­at­ing, she worked in various design studios, such as Luur Design, Nate Berkus, and Matter Prac­tice. Mechanic then spent seven years working at Parsons School of Design, where she began as a Part-Time Tech­ni­cian and later became the Asso­ciate Direc­tor of the Making Center. She now works at Peters Valley School of Craft as the Educa­tion Direc­tor, over­see­ing the school’s program­ming, studio spaces, and artis­tic team. Mechanic manages a wide range of shops, includ­ing Black­smithing, Ceram­ics, Fibers, Fine Metals, Glass, Print­mak­ing, Photog­ra­phy, and Wood­work­ing. She curates, plans, and executes 160+ work­shops a year with the help of a seasonal team that she recruits, hires, and manages on a yearly basis. In her down­time, she travels around the country teach­ing spoon carving and expand­ing the field of wood­work­ing at orga­ni­za­tions like North Bennet Street School, Arrow­mont School of Craft, Charleston School of Wood­work­ing, and more!

IG: @abbymechanic