Featured Member: Kate Davidson
Kate Davidson is a woodworker, craftsperson, and educator whose work ranges from functional furniture to sculptural play. She initially discovered woodworking after finding a job as a carpenter on the coast of Maine, eventually enrolling in the Vermont Woodworking School’s immersion program in 2017 and graduating from UW Madison with an MFA in Woodworking and Furniture in 2024. Using wood, textiles, paper, and drawing, her work is a study in architecture and the ways light and water change our built environment, from fleeting and unexpected effects to long-term material shifts.
In Kate’s words: “I love the problem solving part of woodworking, of figuring out how to do something. As someone whose mind is always buzzing, making slows me down, and makes me really look at the questions right in front of me. I love using machines for the same reason — I get to really focus.”
What she’s listening to right now: “When I need pump up music, at the end of the day, or if I’m feeling sort of low in a project, I’ll turn on Chappell Roan and it always gives me this huge burst of energy to keep going.”
Who she’s looking at: “There are SO MANY great woodworkers and furniture makers out there right now! I feel like the whole field is just exploding with ideas. Here in woodworking, I’m really into both Talia Drury and Sarah Martin, and farther afield I’m obsessed with the kite-maker Anna Rubin.”
