OLYMPIA, Wash. — Where iron meets fire and wool becomes yarn, the lost art of making useful things with human hands finds new life at Olympia’s Arbutus Folk School.
From leatherworking to stone carving, the school offers people of all ages the chance to reconnect with the ways of a simpler time.
Pottery apprentice Zibby Zickuhr said, “I can’t express how much throwing mud around makes me happy.”
“It’s really special because there aren’t a lot of places you can do something like that,” said Executive Director Hillary Tully, “The demand for experiences like this just went through the roof. We’ve hardly been able to have enough seats in the classes for everyone that wants to take them.”
Many of the nonprofit’s instructors stepped away from big business and found a home here among the ancient arts.
“I was a project manager in software,” said pottery teacher Elizabeth Mauro.
Rowan Green began spinning yarn after getting laid off years ago.
“I was working in the tech industry,” Green said.
Woodworking instructor Allie Robins was a manager at the Department of Defense.
“There’s something really therapeutic about working with your hands,” Robins said.
Many of her students are unplugging from daily distractions to plug away at building something beautiful.
“You’re not staring at a screen,” Robins said, “You’re really focused on what you’re doing. I get a lot of comments from students saying that they really appreciated that they had three, or six, or nine hours away from their phones, and were still entertained.”
Here, true beauty is perfectly imperfect.
“I find that I’m almost hesitant to make things too perfect when I’m doing stuff by hand,” said leatherworking instructor Davey Stevenson, “You don’t want it to look like something that came out of a factory.”
This work of many hands makes a village.
“The whole reason I wanted to start teaching was I liked it so much I wanted to be able to have other people give it a try,” said weaving instructor Joan Hoffmeyer.
Stevenson said, “If you can just give people a chance to try something new and actually show them that it’s actually not that scary, a lot of people will fall in love with stuff and really have a great time making something themselves.”
Could be the most beautiful thing they build at Arbutus Folk School is a community.
Mauro said, “We’re all cheering each other on. We’re all helping. We’re all sharing. I think that’s really special and I’m honored to be a part of it.”
Arbutus Folk School has classes for adults and youth ages six and up. It’s located at 705 4th Avenue E in Olympia.
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