Are you power tool curious, but don’t know where to start?
With just a few basic power tools, you can make repairs around the house, install shelves and fixtures, and even make your own bookcase, stool, and planter boxes. It’s pretty easy to get going, and doing it all yourself is empowering!
In this workshop, we will cover the safety and basics of using clamps, a drill, and a circular saw. You will learn how to use the tools as well as the names of the parts, what they do, and where to put your hands and body during operation. The instructor will demonstrate how to use all three, with plenty of time for questions from our students.
This class will prepare you to either go make that power tool purchase, or dust off those tools you weren’t quite sure how to use.
All skill levels welcome. No prerequisites. All you need is a computer and a good internet connection!
WOO is a non-profit safe space for training underrepresented genders in our field. As such, enrollment is limited to women, non-binary, and trans folks over the age of 18.
Amanda N. Simons is a visual artist, writer, educator, and safety advocate whose interdisciplinary art practice currently explores the intersections of queer identity, and experience-based learning. This visual art practice takes the form of many things -- painting, print, small scale sculpture, performance, and video -- and often features an interactive component or direct reference to the body -- how we are taught to act or live or move, and what happens when we push against that?
Amanda specializes in making technical and conceptual education more accessible for queer kids, folks with learning challenges, English Language Learners, and humans pursuing skills in socially or culturally challenging fields -- and has taught these equity strategies to educators both nationally and internationally. Amanda has taught at San Francisco State University, San Francisco Art Institute, California College of the Arts, Girls Garage, Tinkering School, Brightworks, Southern Exposure, Mott College College, and University of Michigan Flint, and through many, many other organizations.
Amanda holds dual degrees in English (BA) and painting (BFA) from the University of Michigan Flint, as well as dual advanced degrees in interdisciplinary studio art (MFA) and visual and critical studies (MA) from California College of the Arts, and currently lives in a forest amidst the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and works as the Studio Operations Manager of the sixteen studios of Penland School of Craft.
You can see more images of Amanda's work by following @amandansimons on instagram.
