Excerpted from CCARE Newsletter, May 2019

Ken Guenter: Furniture Maker/Designer/Teacher

Soon after my retirement, two years ago, I
realized that I was doing pretty much the
same thing I was doing before I started
working at the college - building furniture in
my studio! That is probably no surprise,
as my furniture making career has been
very much intertwined with my connection
to Camosun College, and continues to be
so.

My very first Camosun College

experience was in the late ’70’s, in a
meeting room at Tillicum Lodge
(Interurban Campus). I was attending
an apprenticeship seminar as part of
the Benchwork and Joinery program I
was taking through Pacific Vocational
Institute in Vancouver (later part of
BCIT). That weekend I met Don
Proudlove, one of the instructors in
Camosun’s Carpentry program and, for
many years after, he was the face of
Camosun College for me. I began
Ken

teaching in the Fine Furniture Program

in 2000, the same year Don retired from
Camosun.

I first worked for Camosun College in

1983. An older woodworking colleague
had been teaching basic cabinet making
through Community Education and was
moving away. It was a body of work I
was very familiar with, so I agreed to
replace him. I also pitched an all-day
course entitled How to Use Your
Router as part of the CE woodworking
courses.

I should mention at this point that my

Ken in the late 1970’s
selling small wooden “wishes”
 Excerpted from CCARE Newsletter, May 2019

prior experiences in public speaking had never been very successful. With these
memories, I headed off early one Saturday morning to the Interurban Carpentry
shop, where I’d never been, to present the all-day workshop. My van was loaded
with tools and wood to teach the class. En route, I thought several times about
turning around and going home. Despite my nervousness, I made it through the
day and for many years after I taught four to five classes a year through
Community Education.

The opportunity to join Cam Russell in the Fine Furniture Program came in 2000.
I had filled in for Cam in 1998 for a month and for another couple of months in
1999, a welcome respite from self-employment. My wife, Patty, and I had been
living in the Comox Valley for five years when the teaching opportunity came up.
We both were keen to return to Victoria and so began my 17 years in Camosun
College’s Fine Furniture Program. For a furniture maker/designer, teaching in the
program was a dream job. My studio practice became a part-time pursuit which
enhanced my teaching as I was able to take many of my studio experiences into
the classroom.

Cam Russell (middle) and Ken being recognized for their contributions to the
Vancouver Island Woodworkers Guild by Guild president Neil Bosdet (left)

When I started in the program, Cam and I developed our process of team
teaching. Drawing upon our individual strengths, we each took responsibility for
 Excerpted from CCARE Newsletter, May 2019

half of the curriculum and we split the weeks into alternating three and two-day
teaching sessions. One teacher would spend the whole day with the same group
of students. Changing instructors mid-week may have been a blessing for all
involved.

In many academic teaching environments, the days are split into office hours and
contact hours. Our relationship with Fine Furniture students was all contact time,
whether in the class or the studio. Because of the quantity and nature of the
material, Cam and I were always in one another’s realm of expertise. It was the
most perfect teaching and learning scenario. There was always lots for Cam and
me to talk about at the end of each teaching session and talk we did, usually by
telephone on our change-over day.

One of the great joys of the Fine Furniture Program was the year-end exhibition.
Camosun was always very supportive of this event. We held it in many galleries
over the years and these days it happens every June at the Art Centre at Cedar
Hill Recreation Centre. Students and their families love the event and it always
serves to raise the profile of the program. Many of my students from my days as
a CE instructor as well as former Fine Furniture program graduates would come
to the exhibitions and regale me with their woodworking stories.

To ease the transition from teaching to retirement, Cam and I decided that we
needed a project and what better project than to celebrate the Fine Furniture
Program’s 30 years. Making It: a celebration of 30 years of the Camosun
College Fine Furniture program was the culmination of two years of planning.

Poster for the Making It show at the Legacy Gallery

 Excerpted from CCARE Newsletter, May 2019

It was our hope that we would present

contemporary work of graduates from each of
the program’s 30 years - a difficult task to say
the least. We wanted all graduates of the Fine
Furniture program to take pride in the fact that
their participation was foundational to the
exhibition. For the most part that is what we
were able to do, although there are a few
years that were not represented and a couple
of years that were over represented. The
exhibition was dedicated to all who are still
The Fine Furniture 30 year Celebration at
“making it”. The program, now in its 33rd year, is Legacy Gallery
taught by Sandra Carr, a graduate of 1996-97 and a
par>cipant in the
exhibi>on.
Nowadays, I have my
furniture studio running
at slow speed and I
have promised myself I
will not build anything I
cannot lift. At present I
am working on a couple
of lounge chairs and an
ottoman. I will be
participating in the
Fernwood Art Stroll on

Above: Ken in his home studio making a tiered

lamp table for a One Tree Show

Right: Tansu Tree designed for stereo

components to be featured at the
Fernwood Art Stroll

June 8-9 (www.fernwoodartstroll.ca) and have

many preparations for that event. One of the
 Excerpted from CCARE Newsletter, May 2019

projects I must undertake soon is the transformation of my working studio into a show
room to feature furniture, furnishings and some sculptural pieces.

If I could ramble on, I would tell about the travels

that Patty and I have been taking. I must admit I
broke up my last year of work into two sections:
“before India” and “after India”. In February of
2017 Patty and I went to India for a dear friend’s
birthday party. It was a long way to go for just a
weekend so we stayed for seven weeks. In
September 2017, when I had officially retired, we

One of the local monkeys in Hampi,

India, having a snack

rented a Boler trailer and took a trip

into the interior of British Columbia.
We live in such a beautiful place - it is
easily as exotic as India (without the
monkeys). Other travels since
retirement have included Amsterdam,
Haarlem, Copenhagen, Berlin, Bruges
and Eindhoven. Next stop Crete.

Teaching at Camosun College was

great, but retirement is good too. I
even managed to go golfing on Salt
Spring Island a few weeks ago … I
think I need more practice.

Patty and Ken enjoying retirement in Berlin