Calvo Wood Carving Classes & WorkshopsCelebrating Over 30 Years of Teaching Wood Carving |
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Wood Carving School • 2024 Workshop Schedule I make a real effort to teach wood carving in an easily understood way and you are assured to have continuous one-on-one attention. It is my goal and hopeful intention to get you to move beyond your personal expectations and carve with more confidence and intent. In all my years of teaching and to my delight, it is usually the student who is pleasantly surprised with their own results. I have been teaching for over 30 years and have refined my classes to be clear and concise. All I ask of a student is to bring their enthusiasm, as the teacher, it's my assignment to figure out how to individually teach you wood carving. My approach is to teach you with the simplest of words. I build on them using clear, specfic exercises so your hands learn through "muscle memory" with the hopeful intention that you walk away with the most information and skills gained. So take a deep breath, relax and let's enjoy learning the skill of woodcarving. The short and simple is... I am 68 years old. I have been a woodcarver for a long time, it has been my only career. Hence, I know what I am doing and I consider myself to be a very good teacher. If you want more information on my courses please click the link here "Course Descriptions". All two, three and five-day workshops start at 9:00am and run until 5:00pm. Pre-registration is required. The Wood Carving School is in easy driving range from New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio. I have had students drive all the way from Texas. Students have also come from Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee, Maryland and now Alaska too. Since I am on a roll I will keep going. Students have also come from California, New Mexico, Oregon, Illinois, North Carolina, Washington, Utah, Arizona, Oklahoma, Nevada, Alabama, and Florida. And did I say we have had students from Hawaii as well as Canada, Mexico, Austria, Chile and two from South Korea. They have come from all over the world. From Logan Airport, we are a 50 minute drive north and we also have a commuter train to Gloucester as well. 
Gloucester, MA has become a great tourist destination point. It was the location for the true story and filming of "The Perfect Storm" in 2000 and the more recent 2021 movie called "Coda". This is also the home of "Wicked Tuna" the National Geographic hit cable TV series. In fact, some of the tuna boats in the show are right outside my studio window. When the show starts filming every season, often the video camera helicopter is right above my studio. So this is a fun area to live and work. Gloucester has a commercial fishing harbor. It also maintains artist studios, galleries, museums, many beaches, salt marshes for kayakers and natural preservation areas for walkers. There is shore line fishing, off shore fishing and deep sea tuna charters. There are schooner sails, scenic boat rides around Cape Ann as well as half-day whale watching boats which are popular too. We have great restaurants, evening music venues, theater productions, shopping boutiques, Massachusetts State Cultural Art Districts, historic landmarks and more. Frankly, it's just a great vacation spot to live and you know... I just never leave. Click Links below for Facebook or Instagram accounts Updated: November 20, 2024 Fall Schedule Clear your browser to get the lastest updates Email Address: david@calvostudio.com For more info: 978-283-0231 ACCOMMODATIONS IN GLOUCESTER • Here are some places I suggest in the area. (names are linked to websites and mention my school for a discount) • As a beginning point, I live alone and have one extra bedroom available in my home for students during your stay here. I am in walking distance to the schoolso it is convenient. • Colonial Inn 978-281-1953 Talk to Tom for class discount
• Vista Motel 978-281-3410. They will give you a discount and upgrade you too.
• Cape Ann Motor Inn (978) 281-2900 Located right on a beach (no discount)
• Rocky Neck Accommodations 978-381-9848 -Ask for Mona for discount (seasonal-no heat)
• Cape Ann Campsite for campers or RVs 978-283-8683
WE ARE A TOURIST DESTINATION so it's good to hunt for the best prices. I have deals with the places above except Cape Ann Motor. AIRBNB is also a good starting point. All said, sometimes accommodations outside the city are more reasonable. If you are having trouble finding reasonable accommodations call me and I will see if I can help. Welcome to Calvo Woodcarving School
Intermediate Student's project 10/24
 "I was never one to sit still for too long. So I've spent quite a bit of time in one class or another. I think at this point in my life I'm a fairly good judge of a good teacher when I see one. Your teaching skills are remarkable but more importantly the class is well thought out and structured. The daily classes build on the previous day skill sets yet there is little pressure. Questions are answered with knowledge and patience. Technique and design are learned by actual hands on practice. In my experience it is rare that an accomplished artist is an equally talented Teacher. You are indeed that rare exception. As I mentioned to you at lunch one day I hope someday you write and publish a Bare Bones Wood Carving Book. It would be on every one of your student's workbench and unlike many others in that genre it would be well worn from use." Terry Gillespie- Chicago, Illinois "Your teaching technique had an amazing sense of balance. You have a unique insight that allows you to let us struggle enough to learn from our small mistakes but tells you when to be there to answer any questions and to provide right amount of guidance to prevent us from making big mistakes. I enjoyed your wonderful sense of humor." John Schnobrich- Redwood Falls, Minnesota
Dear Mr. Calvo, "I'm J. S. Chu in Korea. Very glad to see your message. Often I think your school and beautiful place there and miss it. It was 2015 when I met you and 4 years later, it is now 2019. I still enjoy carving here and like to show you my carving (dried fish) as attached (below). Your teaching is helping me a lot and appreciate it. I hope your school keeps running well and you are healthy. Good bye!" Jason Chu, South Korea 
Hello David, I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed — and how much I got out of — your "Five-day Bare Bones of Wood Carving” workshop. In addition to being an amazing artist and craftsman you’re a fantastic teacher! The class delivered even more than I expected and was well worth the trip from Seattle. Having zero experience in wood carving or wood working of any sort I left armed with the skills to work independently and explore my own projects. Better yet, I left inspired to do so. The experience of the five days was also just plain enjoyable. You did a great job of attending to the range of individual skills and backgrounds in our group while at the same time building a really fun group dynamic, which itself is truly a skill. I loved the daily play-list of music and ranging topics of discussion, which made the week feel like wonderful retreat from the usual demands of daily life. Thank you! I expect I’ll be back for further education once I have more practice under my belt… Very best, Sarah Doherty, Seattle, WA CLICK HERE TO READ MORE WHAT STUDENTS SAY...
Bench spot in a class is reserved with payment for the full amount on a first come first serve policy. Spaces are limited. Hotel accomodations are in easy walking distance to the studio. I get a discount rate at some places for my students to make it more affordable. I also have room in my home. The MBTA Commuter Rail from Boston has a train station here in Gloucester. Workshops are year round from Spring to Fall. Fall schedule below Five-Day Bare Bones of Wood Carving Workshops
Three-Day Weekend Carving Workshops
Two-Day Weekend Carving Classes
Intermediate Five-Day Carving Workshops
Five-Day Sign Carving Workshop
Decorative Keepsake Box Workshop with Dovetails
Blacksmithing your own Wood Carving Tools
One-Day Spoon Carving Workshops
Nine-Week Tuesday Evening Wood Carving Classes
CONTACT INFO: 978-283-0231 EMAIL: david@calvostudio.com
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Our philosophy is simple, to give you a very strong baseline in the essential fundamentals of carving. Then you can apply those skills to any style of wood carving design project. Our teaching is unique because we are a strong carving technique school. This is our focus for you as the student. We do projects as an exercise to help you learn a variety of different and important hand technique skills. We teach that you must incorporate body mechanics because wood carving is like a sport. For example, a baseball player at bat learns how to use his body to help his swing as he hits the ball. And over his career, he will continue to work on improving his technique. The same is true for a woodcarver with a carving tool in hand, there is a "tried and true" technique involved. We will also spend some time focusing on the carving tool design, yes- that means we will redesign your tools, because they don't come right out of the box and you will understand why. We will address sharpening your carving tools because sharpening is an art. I have had more students come to me and say "I have had these tools for a while and I still don't know how to sharpen them. Other aspects that we will study are the step by step approaches to a carving project, which includes both mechanics and visual mapping to get you to a finished project. We address the best woods to carve because the wood is your dancing partner in woodcarving and there are woods that lend themselves to carving better than others. We will study how to design a project and what elements are consistently important to create an attractive finished project. Finally, in my classes, I emphasize that I am training both your hands to carve and your eyes to see so that you can map your way through a carving design.
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