Alf and his shop assis­tant spend time in the moun­tains of Guatemala to help build a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

This presen­ta­tion was held during the Amer­i­can Craft Coun­cil’s confer­ence in Minneapo­lis, MN, Septem­ber 4 – 6, 2026

Alexan­dra Mavrikis is a multi­dis­ci­pli­nary artist, furni­ture maker, and visual arts educa­tor. She received her MFA in Wood­work­ing and Furni­ture Design at the San Diego State Univer­sity. Her work incor­po­rates mixed media, with a focus on wood and ceramic, and has been exhib­ited nation­ally. She addresses the body, gender, and spatial rela­tions while also ques­tion­ing the neces­sity of func­tion­al­ity for furni­ture objects in the home.

John Spivey is a furni­ture maker and writer in Santa Barbara, CA.

Diana Beltran Mejia is an Indus­trial Design student with a Furni­ture Design concen­tra­tion at Appalachian State Univer­sity. In 2024 she made her first piece of furni­ture,​“Entre­Laza­dos,” a walnut coffee table, which got selected as final­ist for Atlanta’s IWF Design Empha­sis Student Furni­ture Compe­ti­tion. This year, her jewelry cabinet​“Monarca” will also be featured in the 2026 IWF show, as a final­ist for the case goods cate­gory. Her work ranges from wooden furni­ture pieces to concep­tual proto­types and visual art.

Wills is a North Carolina based furni­ture maker. Study­ing furni­ture design has allowed him the oppor­tu­nity to create furni­ture that inves­ti­gates personal rela­tion­ships through mate­r­ial, form and func­tion. Primar­ily working in wood and metal, this summer Wills is a wood and sculp­ture intern at Ander­son Ranch Arts Center.

The Furni­ture Society is excited to share news of our part­ner­ships with the Schooner Foun­da­tion, the Edelman Family Foun­da­tion, Sara Little Turn­bull Foun­da­tion, the Maxwell Hanra­han Foun­da­tion, the Bresler Family Foun­da­tion, the Moeller Family Foun­da­tion, Jenrette Foun­da­tion, the John D. Mineck Foun­da­tion and Rob Ketterson.

The Furni­ture Society is honored to announce its stew­ard­ship of the $25,000 unre­stricted John D. Mineck Fellow­ship support­ing emerg­ing and early-career furniture makers.

Sean Mcken­zie is a wood­worker special­iz­ing in the produc­tion of hand­made luxury custom furni­ture for resi­den­tial and commer­cial use. He lives and works in Society Hill, SC.

Ernie Conover, who describes himself as a cabi­net­maker with a wood­turn­ing problem, is a veteran wood­work­ing author with 11 books, myriad videos, and hundreds of arti­cles to his credit. His most recent book is the 3rd Edition of The Lathe Book, published by Taunton Press in Febru­ary 2020. He served on the found­ing board of The Amer­i­can Asso­ci­a­tion of Wood­turn­ers and holds Member­ship Number 004. 

For over 30 years Arrow­mont has welcomed Artists-in-Resi­dence (AIRs) to campus for an 11-month, self-directed resi­dency. This unique program provides 5 early-career artists the time, space and support needed to create new work, while actively partic­i­pat­ing in our robust commu­nity of artists, students and staff. 

TFS member Talia Drury was fortu­nate to be a part of this resi­dency oppor­tu­nity for the 2025 – 2026 season..

Archivi­sion is the capstone exhi­bi­tion of the Arrow­mont School of Craft’s 2025 – 2026 AIR cohort.

Nathaniel Newcomb is a wood­worker and current MFA student at Virginia Common­wealth Univer­sity. He lives and works in Rich­mond, VA.