GeorGe Nakashima, WoodWorker The documeNTary The first Peace Altar under construction in the workshop, 1986 GeorGe Nakashima, WoodWorker The documeNTary he was born of emigrant parents in the Pacific Northwest, the grandson of the family’s last samurai. in the 1930s he journeyed around the world, a seeker who started out as a modern architect. in 1940 he re-started the focus of his life and began again, this time as a woodworker. he died in his eighties; many say the decade of his finest work. Today the popularity of his works continue to grow and his concepts are found throughout modern woodworking. George Nakashima (1905-1990) was on a quest to find his "reason for being" that began as a teenager exploring deep in the mountains and rainforests of the olympic Peninsula and lasted into his mid-thirties in asia on the eve of WWii. in college and grad school he immersed himself in the nascent modern architecture that had begun in europe. The Great depression offered him time to experience and search the world for answers. a $295 open-ended, around the world steamship ticket took him to extended experiences in Paris, then Japan, then india, where he found what he was looking for. his answer came from a great philosopher/guru, sri aurobindo. it was reveal to George that by devoting his life to creating and offering it up to God, it would be the same as a life of prayer and meditation. hoW do ideas, aesTheTics, aNd sPiriTual realizaTioN become The raW maTerials for creaTiNG fuNcTioNal, iNNovaTive WoodWorkiNG? GeorGe fouNd a Way. “To make a box is aN acT of creaTioN, for oNe is ProduciNG aN obJecT ThaT Never exisTed before, oNe is also makiNG someThiNG ThaT is useful. a box leads To a chair, a chair To a house, a house To a shriNe.” GeorGe Nakashima, soul of a Tree The craftsmanship of woodworking was first introduced to George by watching the daiku, the Japanese master carpenters, at work. his special feeling for trees deepened by learning the shinto and buddhist concepts of the world. adding this to his increasingly complex set of beliefs, George began to recognize a spiritual life force in trees. he probably wrote and spoke more about this single topic than any other. he wrote, "a mature tree has witnessed much... it is a moving experience to walk through the forest alone, to recognize each tree as a divine body, to pass in its presence day after day with a growing understanding." in finely milled, quality wood he said the grain, figuring, and weathering “tells a story, like a chinese scroll.” in another interview George said, "i know that with a tree you can read the whole history, if one has the eyes to see... you can tell when there’s a great happiness in a tree, that there’s joy and it expresses itself in its grain and its bark." This helps explain why he developed a way to design objects guided by what nature had already created—especially on his wood slab tabletops. he became known for his use of wood that mills and woodworkers rejected. he sought out the natural '"imperfections" in trees caused by the harshness of nature and the tree's patterns of growth over its life. he wanted trees that had the wounds that healed over, year after year of storms and ice and winds. Table tops that had cracks that might weaken the strength of the top George spanned with large ‘butterfly’ inlays, a technique that became associated with George’s work. he had his trees milled to include the bark edge, which would come to be known as a ‘free edge.’ he always worked exclusively with solid woods when his well-known contemporaries embraced modern materials—veneer, plywood, tubular steel, glass, molded fiberglass. his works have never fit neatly into any classification or as part of a movement. others might try to place him in a movement, but George did not agree. George divorced himself from anything that could be called fashion. he wrote : “There is acTually No ‘moderN’ aNd No ‘TradiTioNal,’ buT raTher hoNesTy aNd dishoNesTy of coNcePT... WhaTever sTyles aNd forms We have should evolve from The meThods aNd maTerials used.” This comprehensive documentary began production after his death, so George’s voice comes from three uncut video interviews, radio programs with studs Terkle and Terry Gross, a transcribed oral history, a wealth of correspondences and other writings, and his autobiography soul of a Tree. interviews were shot for this documentary in the u.s., Japan and india with his family, woodworkers, close acquaintances, historians and critics. George’s furniture, the buildings within the Nakashima compound, major collectors' homes, Nakashima woodworkers creating furniture, Golconde in india, the inspirations George experience in Japan were shot on super16mm film. This 90-minute documentary is being produced, directed, and edited by his nephew, John Nakashima, who has been a Pbs documentary producer in West virginia for 40 years. The documentary is targeted for national distribution on Pbs stations. JOHN NAKASHIMA broadcasting. he collaborated extensively with the late irene mckinney, Producer/Director/Editor for George Nakashima, Woodworker poet laureate of West virginia, producing dozens of radio essays with her, a Senior Producer/Director, West Virginia Public Broadcasting video documentary and a theater multi-media performance piece. a few John Nakashima has produced, directed, shot, and edited documentaries Green leaves (1999) explored the diversity of thought among a group of and music programs for West virginia Public Television since 1977. his work high school seniors. mountaineer (1995) is a lyrical look at the culture of explores West virginia culture in the widest sense—including visual & West virginia and the persistent hillbilly stereotype, exploring the strength performing arts, traditional & modern culture, historical documentaries and and mystery of the ancient mountains of West virginia. Nakashima's contemporary issues. The first 1,000 days: investing in Wv children different drummer documentaries; your Public servant, a. James When it counts (2015) is his latest full length documentary, recently manchin (1989), dreams of Gesundheit, Patch adams, (1990), and The receiving a regional emmy. for that documentary he was also awarded the final accounting (1991) were distributed nationally, on bbc2 and in a Public cititzen of the year by the National association of social Workers of number of european countries. Nakashima was instrumental in this Pbs's West virginia. in 2013, he was awarded the West virginia filmmaker of the station's focus on the development of local documentaries. year award by the Wv filmmakers festival. Nakashima has edited five documentaries that have won regional emmies in a variety of documentary categories, including frank kearns: american correspondent, the story of CHIP HITCHCOCK a cbs foreign correspondent, later accused of working for the cia during Director of Photography for George Nakashima, Woodworker the cold War. he edited West virginia: road to statehood a history of the Producer/Director, West Virginia Public Broadcasting; Freelancer only state created during the civil War. he produced/directed/edited many chip hitchcock has been a West virginia Public broadcasting traditional music documentaries including cifftop, The vandalia Gathering, documentary filmmaker for over twenty-five years. his primary interest and blind alfred reed who was one of the artists recorded at the bristol since 2003 has been telling the stories of West virginia soldiers and their sessions. he produced contemporary music performance programs families. he made The last mission: establishing the rule of law in iraq including a series of early hd programs for the NPr americana music from an embed in anbar Province with a military police battalion in 2010. program mountain stage, the radio program also produced by Wv Public last mission aired on Pbs stations nationwide in 2011 and received a George Nakashima during his undergraduate years on the Olympic Peninsula, c.1925 regional emmy nomination. he also made bridgeport to baghdad: West documentary that helps parents of any income level learn how the first three virginia’s 459th at home and at War. The documentary is a three-part years shape a whole life. in addition to his active production work, he is series that tells the stories of West virginia army reserve soldiers as they currently the Production manager for Wv Public broadcasting/morgantown. travelled with the marines during the invasion of iraq, and of their families as they coped with the stresses of deployment. he was a key force behind Wv JACOB YOFFEE Public broadcasting adapting film lighting techniques for video. Lead Composer/Performer/Mixer for George Nakashima, Woodworker Composer, American Studio Orchestra Jacob yoffee is currently the resident composer for the american studio LARRY DOWLING orchestra and recently worked on the trailer campaign for star Wars: The Gaffer/Director of Photography for George Nakashima, Woodworker force awakens. he was awarded a 2016 ascaP screen music award for Production Manager, West Virginia Public Broadcasting; Freelancer his work on finding carter, a one-hour drama on mTv and his music has larry dowling has worked for 27 years as a director of Photography, been used in trailer campaigns for disney’s The Jungle book, kubo & the camera operator, Grip, and Gaffer for video, 16/35mm film productions, Two strings, The hobbit: desolation of smaug, x-men: days of future Past and multi-camera remotes. he is currently working as the Gaffer for an indie & The chronicles of riddick. yoffee’s scores include showtime’s award- feature film What the Night can do, being shot on location and starring winning Time of death series, the award-winning feature, into the mind, martin sheen. Prior to that, his recent major productions have been as Pawn starring forrest Whitaker & ray liotta, and the WiGs series blue, Gaffer for The mine Wars (2015), a two-hour nationally broadcast christine & celia, directed by rodrigo Garcia and starring Julia stiles, documentary on The american experience; Gaffer on Jay: a rockefeller’s dakota fanning & america ferrera.