Douglas Paul Finkel

Douglas Finkel graduated from college with a degree in creative writing, but turned to carpentry to support himself. A chance assignment changed his life and career. “While I was building houses I received a commission for a table, and it turned out so well, I decided to enroll in a two-year woodworking program to develop my skills,” a move he later described as “one of the best decisions I’ve made in my life.” Finkel received his master’s degree from the School for American Crafts at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, and has taught woodworking courses in middle school, high school, and adult education; he now teaches in the Studio Furniture/Wood Program at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Finkel experiments with lines, proportions, and surface decoration in his work, creating everything from African-inspired benches to his playfully witty “eyeball” boxes, which were inspired by cartoons. (Lydgate, The Art of Making Small Wood Boxes, 1997)