Art Blumenkron

Art has been dabbling with wood working since he was a teen. He used to find old speaker drivers at Goodwill and make his own cabinets. Never having the right tools, he grew frustrated with the quality of his work and gave up, except for the odd home improvement projects.

While looking for a new business to pursue, he found Goby Walnut in 2006 and purchased the company in 2007. This enabled Art to finally set up a “proper” woodworking shop in Portland. Most of his time at Goby was spent processing wood for sale instead of making things. He never seemed to have the time to create anything.

Click on any image below to see an enlarged view.

In 2016, Art and his wife Anna and moved to Sisters and began semi-retirement. Art how has an excellent wood shop and he is dedicating himself to creating fine furniture from beautiful Northwest hardwoods. “I like to bring nature indoors and enjoy using urban salvage, live edge walnut, white oak, big leaf maple, madrone, ash, elm and myrtle,” Art says. “I am constantly amazed by the beauty found in these hardwoods and how they express patterns found in nature.”

The new shop is called Sisters Fine Woodworking and Hardwoods. In addition to Anna, Art works with two friends who are both luthiers and woodworkers: Mitch Paulson and Greg Davidge. The shop is creates items for sale at Hood Avenue Art, and takes commissions for special pieces.

Visit Art’s studio Facebook page for more information.