Hidden Talents: Woodworking and Furniture Making Are Robotham's Gifts

Working alone in her shop in the woods for six years, with only the radio for company, Sarah Robotham began to feel cut off from the outside world. A talented woodworker and furniture maker, the future Frances Perkins scholar's work was in demand from clients wanting custom furniture for homes in the Berkshires and New York City. But the nagging sense that she wasn't participating in the larger world, coupled with repetitive-motion injuries, stimulated a growing interest in completing her education.

Robotham, who commutes from the small Berkshire town of Becket, has been a woodworker for twelve years. That career began when she took a sculpture class and was "consumed by carving a head out of a block of mahogany." Robotham's first furniture project was a high chair for a pregnant friend's child.

"The first things I made were very crude and I was amazed that people would buy them, but they did. Little by little, I got into woodworking seriously and found I could make some money at it." Robotham now enjoys mastery over fine woodworking techniques, allowing her to play with designs and woods. Some recent projects include a Shaker-style seed cabinet with writing desk for a garden writer, and reproduc- ing Biedermeier-style antiques. She and her husband built their timber-framed house by hand, using traditional mortise and tenon techniques.

Robotham, who is thirty-seven, had tried full-time college in the 1970s. Three years ago, she began taking courses at Berkshire Community College (BCC). When the Frances Perkins Program's associate director, Carolyn Dietel, made a presentation there, Robotham was struck by how "warm, organized, and lovely" she was. A quote in the FP program's brochure--"I knew that if I didn't apply, I'd always wonder"--hit a nerve, and Robotham decided to try full-time undergraduate work again.

Going back to college this time has been a good mix of "head and heart," she says. "I have a much better balance in my life now. I love getting a dose of culture in the Pioneer Valley, and writing papers draws on the intellectually oriented part of myself."

Although undecided, Robotham is considering science and health-care related majors. She still has woodworking projects, and will likely be teaching next summer in a woodworking program for women.

Going with the grain--Sarah Robotham created custom-made furniture, such as this sideboard of quartersawn and figured cherry, before joining the Frances Perkins Program this fall.