Welcome to Craft Forum ;)
I’m Dawson Moore. I live and work in Harbor Springs, MI, a tiny northern town on the shores of Lake Michigan. I mostly make chairs, carve spoons, and do a bit of teaching. My work tends to be rooted in traditional craft methods, tools, and materials. I’ve been at it full time for about 7 years.
Working alone in my home-based shop has its charms, but carries with it a certain amount of isolation. I don’t have shop mates or a vibrant arts/craft scene in my small community to commiserate with. I’m thankful for the connections I’ve made with other craftspeople online, but they come in small doses.
The occasional phone conversations I have with far-flung craft buddies often leave me feeling energized and wishing that type of exchange had a larger role in my work. Talking ideas out loud pushes my thought so much further than the much more usual spacing out alone in my shop. Writing has a similar effect, but lacks the back and forth and community building of conversation.
That’s what has me intrigued by this medium of Substack. Can it be a place to refine my thoughts surrounding craft through writing while also opening points of conversation and feedback with a wider community?
If Instagram is the place I share the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of my work, then Substack might be the place to share the ‘whys’ (generally, loosely, adjacently). The emphasis will likely be more toward asking why, less toward answering why.
Points of inquiry might stem from a range of personal experiences: my process for designing new work, books I’m reading, podcasts I’m listening too, working with galleries, working with schools, sharing my work online, discussions with other makers, interviews, etc.
As for the title ‘Craft Forum ;)’, I can only say that when it popped into my mind, I had two thoughts: ‘just right’, and a quote from SNL’s Coffee Talk, “The Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire. Discuss”. Likewise, this blog may function as a forum concerning craft, while, at other times, may seem to have little to do with craft, nor function as a forum. A bit like how it feels to live as a craftsperson.
What’s in a name, anyway? Let’s see how this goes.
