The Art of Marquetry

JIM MACDONALD is spending his life in play clothes, happily creating in wood for over 40 years now. He began woodworking professionally in 1981, and before starting his own business in 1988 spent time working in various shops as a moldmaker, guitarmaker, cabinetmaker, ship's carpenter, and boatbuilder. Upon opening his own place, Jim began building custom furniture which features inlay work. In the early 1990s he was taught the double-bevel cutting style of marquetry by Silas Kopf, and has gone on to teach this technique, also using it to create art and embellish electric guitar designs. Clients have included the Gibson Custom Shop, Petros Guitars, Circa Guitars, and Hinckley Yachts. His Allman Brothers Tribute Guitar is in the collection of their Big House Museum in Macon, Georgia. He teaches marquetry at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, Maine, and has also taught workshops at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, the Carpenter's Boat Shop, WoodenBoat School, and the Anderson Ranch Arts Center. An avowed lake sailor, Jim sails at home on Unity Pond and has enjoyed sail-camping on Moosehead Lake and Lake Champlain. He has had a string of interesting wooden boats--a 1970s owner-built 22' Wharram Hina catamaran, a 1957 23' AR True Rocket centerboard sloop, and currently a 1948 Rhodes 18 centerboard sloop. He also, on a day-to-day basis, likes to explore all surroundings for their imagined possibilities, and can't help but get his hands working with tools and materials to create just for the joy of it.