A Master Craftsman Turns Wood into an Artform
By Morgan Hensley
On a front lawn near the intersection of Zulla Road and Route 55 just outside Marshall, you might spot a tiki, a totem pole, an octopus and owls whose eyes seem to follow your car down the road. They represent the latest creations of artisanal woodworker Joshua Paul Frederick. This is also the headquarters for his business, J.P. Woodworks.
Frederick opened in May, 2012. Before his relatively recent venture working with wood, he was operations manager at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Maine. He was always a high-level jack-of-all-trades, overseeing plumbing and electrical maintenance, and occasionally driving the Zamboni ice-making machine. Despite the variety his job offered him, he said, “I was tired of being on someone else’s time, and I wanted to do my own thing.”
Frederick grew up in Fairfax and returned to the area in 2011 in order to find a way to apply his diverse set of skills to a more individualized career. “Ever since I was a little kid I always enjoyed working with tools, but I was looking
to get into something different,” he said of his decision to experiment with woodworking.
It’s one of the oldest art forms, even predating Homo sapiens. The craft grew out of a need to construct shelters, canoes, tools and weapons, all rudimentary elements of intelligent life. Frederick pays homage to the primitivity of the art; many of his carvings feature tribal motifs or animals. That’s not to say his work is rough, underdeveloped or basic. Rather, his pieces capture humanity’s origins as well as its progress.
Frederick is entirely self-taught, with trial and error his primary mentor.
“It comes naturally to me,” he said. “I don’t know if I’d be able to teach anyone else. I just learn from my mistakes.”
He started by designing picture frames, quickly progressing to furniture construction and refinishing. Soon after, he opened the business in Marshall .
Curiosity and an instinctive flight from convention are at the heart of Frederick’s creative process. Woodworking is a bit of an umbrella term and includes carving, joinery and carpentry. The variety is what Frederick finds most appealing.
“Sometimes I start out with a hand
plane and sandpaper, sometimes I start with a chainsaw,” he said. “Actually, I start the designs on the computer,” referring to the computer numerical control (CNC) programming software used to ensure precision.
The carvings that decorate the shop’s lawn are Frederick’s favorite, for now.
“Carving is all new to me,” he said. “New techniques, new tools. Ask me in six months what my favorite thing to do is and I’ll probably tell you something different.”
Despite only carving for a short period of time, the pieces showcase his knack and artistic vision. They’re a customer favorite too, he said. “People like it, people dig it.”
In addition to carvings, Frederick builds salad bowls and slab, or “live edge” furniture. He’s recently been working on a headboard, a glistening cut of ambrosia maple that weighs several hundred pounds.
“There’s a variety of things to see,” he said. “Not just carvings and furniture, and especially not the same kind of furniture you’ll see everywhere else.”
Aside from his creative craft, Frederick has taught himself the business of marketing his creations. He operates under a simple yet effective strategy:
“Provide a good product and keep people happy. Do that and business takes care of itself.”
He doesn’t spend money on advertising, allowing his art, Facebook page, and website (http://www.jpwoodworks.co/) to attract clients to his creations.
Beginning in 2016, the shop will add a showroom to highlight pieces and give visitors a sense of Frederick’s talents and specialties. As for improving his craft, he said, “There’s no such thing as mastery. There will always be some new aspect or a different method to learn. I’m trying to constantly evolve and improve.”