Gary Rogowski - "Handmade" - Steve Bogaerts

“Gary Rogowski leads us gently but surely upon the path to a type of success we may not have previously considered. (Hint: it involves blisters.)” —Nick Offerman, author of Paddle Your Own Canoe

Gary Rogowski discusses Handmade: Creative Focus in the Age of Distraction. He will be joined in conversation by Steve Bogaerts. A Q/A and signing will follow the discussion.

At 57th Street Books

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About the book: A new classic in the tradition of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Shop Class as Soulcraft, Handmade: Creative Focus in the Age of Distraction will help creative people in any field reconnect to the source of their creativity and revitalize their creative energy. In "Handmade," master craftsman Gary Rogowski confronts the greatest obstacles to creative focus in the modern age: distraction; pointless busyness; fear of failure; and the devil of self-doubt that tells you your work doesn’t matter." Handmade shows that the path around these obstacles is the act of creative work itself. The discipline of working with one’s hands, mind and heart to create unnecessarily beautiful things shapes the builder into a more complete human being. Handmade tells the story of how the young Rogowski, an intellectual college graduate with no formal training in woodworking, became a craftsman through years of persistent labor, which taught him patience, resilience, tolerance for failure, and a love of pursuing beauty and mastery for their own sakes. Rogowski punctuates the story of his growth as a craftsman with accounts of his hiking and mountaineering expeditions with his friend Wheaton, who taught him a different kind of perseverance and patience in the face of danger, discomfort, and the wild beauty of nature. In telling his stories, Rogowski reflects deeply on the lessons he has learned and presents a series of profound meditations on the eternal value of work, creativity, human fallibility, and the stubborn pursuit of quality. Part autobiography, part guide to creativity, and part guide to living an authentic life, Handmade is a book for craftspeople, artists and anyone who seeks clarity, purpose and creativity in their work.

About the author: Gary Rogowski is a designer, furniture maker, teacher, and author. He skidded off his presumed college path of gathering more degrees in literature to pursue something useless and beautiful building handmade furniture. He has been a non-fiction author since 1989, but is also a playwright, novelist, gardener, and once a proud Beagle owner. In 1997 he started The Northwest Woodworking Studio, A School for Woodworkers, in Portland, Oregon. Classes, workshops, and the Mastery Study Program atwww.northwestwoodworking.com.

About the interlocutor: Steve Bogaerts is a native Chicagoan. He spent most of his thirty-four year career teaching English at Proviso East High School. He worked for seven years as the school’s master instructional technologist, earning several State Board of Education awards for technology integration in the classroom. He also ran a portrait photography business for twenty years.  A graduate and classmate of Garys at St. Viator High School, they both attended the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana. Steve still works as a gardener, golfer, photographer, and now volunteers with the Citizens’ Climate Lobby.