“Wood is always a fun adventure, is always a fun challenge, and is always a fun surprise,” says Professor Wendell Shank. At EMU, Shank is most known for teaching various Spanish classes for students with different levels of experience and for his work in the Language and Literature Department, but in the community he is also known as a woodworking artist. His passion for woodworking began from a need. “I could not afford to buy a bookshelf,” said Shank of the beginning of his journey with wood. After a year in Mexico, Shank returned to Harrisonburg where, although he did not have a full-time job, he did have a lot of books that needed to be placed. Conveniently, an acquaintance from church had a woodshop, where he instructed Shank on the correct use of different tools needed for woodwork, while giving him one-on-one feedback on how to build a bookshelf. According to Shank, the rest is history: “From there I just started building things in his shop as often as I could.”
All the things he did at the beginning were for his personal use, as he was just learning. “The first year or two I made Christmas presents for everybody,” said Shank. After a couple of years of using his acquaintance’s shop, he bought his own lathe, which is a tool used to shape wood into cylindrical profiles, and began his own woodshop, which now has four lathes. In 2014, the lathe he owned needed to be repaired so he began an Etsy store: “the idea was that the work made with the lathe would provide the funds needed to pay for its own repair,” he explained.
This idea soon became something permanent that would provide some extra income for his household and inspired Shank’s children to start their own business: The ten year old and the eight year old followed their dad’s entrepreneurial steps, starting a balloon animals business in their neighborhood. Soon after, they found a space to sell their balloons in a craft fair. “In over two days, [they] brought in 396 dollars on balloon animals,” said Shank proudly.
To be able to balance the different areas in his life, Shank sells the work he has previously worked on. “The beauty of the lathe is that you can walk out with a piece you made the same day, compared to making a big piece of furniture,” he said. This way, he avoids stressful deadlines to follow. He does not take many custom orders for pieces, he rather expresses what he is feeling through his woodwork—but as every artist he finds inspiration in different areas. Traveling, TV shows, and famous woodworkers have all inspired Shank’s wooden art. Taking pictures in Spain’s streets was one of his inspirations: “by the older cities, they have this very gothic style front doors, or medieval style front doors,” he explained. Another inspiration for Shank is Green and Green furniture designs, which make their designs based on the following statement: “when you go from one piece of wood to another, there should be a difference in thickness.” Furthermore, his most recent piece was inspired by a 50’s show called “Aladdin and His Lamp,” for which Shank used 247 pieces of wood to give life to a sketch first made in paper.
Making a full-time job out of his passion is not going to happen anytime soon. “I think there is a quote by Robert Frost that says ‘Don’t let your vacation become your vocation’” declared Shank, who believes that if he made his woodwork his full-time job it would become an obligation, taking away the enjoyment of the process. However, people can still enjoy and support his art in craft fairs and in his Etsy store. If you are interested in looking at more of Shank’s wood pieces and supporting his business you can visit his Etsy page ATurnofBeauty.etsy.com.
