Calvo Wood Carving Classes & Workshops

Learn to Embrace your Creativity!

CALVO WOOD CARVING SCHOOL is dedicated to the art and skill of wood carving for the beginner and intermediate students. 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.

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, specific 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 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, five and six-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 one student 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.

• 2026 SCHOOL WELCOME LETTER

A FLIGHT FROM LONDON TO VALENCIA

I GOT AN INTERESTING text from a friend who lives not far from me in Gloucester, MA. He is now vacationing in Valencia, Spain. He told me that while on a flight from London to Valencia he started up a conversation with the fellow sitting next to him. During their getting acquainted he of course asked, "Where are you from?" The guy said he was from Maryland. My friend said his home was Gloucester, MA. In hearing that the Maryland traveler exclaimed, "I know Gloucester. I took a week long wood carving workshop at Calvo Woodcarving School." My friend could not believe what he had just heard and when he landed texted me immediately. YES, on a flight from London to Valencia, sitting in the seat right next to him was someone who had taken a workshop at my school! UNBELIEVABLE... I know I have taught a lot of people over thirty years but I didn't imagine some would be meeting my friends on international flights.

DAVID CALVO was one of Roy Underhill's first guests on his National PBS show "The Woodwright's Shop". The story goes... Roy was the guest celebrity at a major woodworking trade show many years ago. David was brought into the same trade show as the master woodcarver to demonstrate carving and run a few workshops along with other notable skilled craftsmen from the United States and Canada. At the end of the show, Roy came up to him and said, "I can't tell you how many people have come up to me and said that I should have the woodcarver (you) on my show." He continued, "I've been doing the show alone up to this point but I might have to rethink this and start bringing on guests." And so it happened, David was one of Roy's first guests on "The Woodwright's Shop" and ended up doing two episodes and his own pilot show. David was also on the PBS Television show "The American Woodshop" with Scott Phillips. He has also written articles on woodcarving for national woodworking publications and is presently working on a book on his approach to teaching woodcarving.

"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

Jason Chu came all the way from South Korea (a two-day flight) to take a workshop. His son contacted me and said my father has wanted to learn woodcarving from you but he can't speak English. He said, "is that going to be a problem?" I told him no, I don't need words to teach him. He said "okay, I will sign him up." So his father got his plane tickets and showed up on the first day of class. He did great in the workshop and he managed to learn everything through hand demonstrations. On his last day, he had a car service pick him up to drive him to the airport for his flight back to South Korea. As he was driving away, he stuck his head and hand out the window, looked back, waved and yelled "Bye Calvo" that was his English. He sent me this email I am sure was written by his son.

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 four years ago when I met you and 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

"I live as far north and as far west in the continental United States as you can get without coming back. For me, to travel this far for a class, it's got to be good. I flew over 3000 miles to David Calvo Studio and another 3000 miles back home. I would do it again in a heartbeat. What a great experience!"

Calvo Woodcarving School Location

Our school is in Gloucester, Massachusetts on Cape Ann. And yes... you can literally row a boat all the way around Cape Ann. It's called the Blackburn Challenge! Gloucester is a convenient driving commute from Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, New Jersey, Connecticut, Tennessee, New York and New York City area. I have had people drive from Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee, Virginia, Delaware, North Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, Florida and Texas too. For those flying in we are located 50 minutes north of Logan Airport in Boston. Some people have searched wood carving classes near me and found my school even though I am not in their area. They have called and spoken to me about my teaching approach and made the flight in from Arkansas, Indiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, Wisconsin, Colorado, South Carolina, Kansas, Wyoming, Idaho, Iowa Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, Nebraska, Missouri, Maryland, South Dakota, Montana, California and Alaska too. So with some assurance, I can say I have had someone from every State in the U.S.

Questions on Wood Carving Tools for Classes

If you have tools bring them. If you need tools, I have a very reasonable rental program. That said, I have a unique offer. If you rent tools and decide you want to buy any of the tools sets that I offer, I will put the rental fee towards the purchase of your tools. That's a good deal. For the Spoon Making Workshop tools are included. If you need more information please call.

View Course Descriptions

View 2026 Class Schedule & Price List