MTW Archive: Keith Gotschall

Keith Gotschall Interview:

Born in Chicago, Ill. in 1962, Keith lived in the midwest until 1980. In 1981 he moved to Boulder Co. and began a career in wood working. After an informal apprenticeship in several different wood shops Keith started his own design and fabrication studio in 1989. Building furniture mostly on a commission basis, Keith also stretched his talents by doing the occasional speculative piece that would be shown in art galleries or in fine art shows. He has won numerous awards around Colorado.
Keith is also a sculptor of stone. Using marble and alabaster from the area Keith has also won many awards for his sculpture. His work tends to be of a figurative nature, often abstracting the human form.
In 1998 Keith visited with a local wood turning friend who let him play around with some of his tools and showed him some of the more modern theory behind wood turning. Remembering that the lathe was the reason he became interested in woodworking in the first place, Keith was keen to pursue wood turning from that moment on. After studying with recognized masters like Richard Raffan, Mike Mahoney, and Stuart Batty, he now makes work for galleries and private clients.
Keith was the artist featured in a Discovery channel show hosted by Lynette Jennings. (episode 142) He has also been a featured demonstrator at the prestigious BYU Woodturning Symposium in Provo Utah in 2002 and 2008. A featured demonstrator for the 2005 AAW symposium in Kansas , Portland Oregon in 2007 , Hartford CT in 2010, Tampa FL in 2013, Again in Portland in 2018. He was asked to present for the impressive Australian symposium in 2018, and thoroughly enjoyed a visit down under! A visit to Saratoga Springs for the Totally Turning symposium was a first visit in 2019. He has taught classes at the John C Campbell folk school in North Carolina, Craft Supply woodturning school in Utah, the Anderson Ranch in Colorado, and also the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Maine. Keith continues to teach and demonstrate for many different clubs and organizations around the country as well. He has contributed to the AAW magazine American Woodturner, Woodturning Design, and the British magazine Woodturning. As well he has been asked to jury several competition/exhibitions of woodturning and furniture. Keith's work was shown at the 2004 BYU art museum show and the accompanying book "Beneath the Bark". His work is also found in the book "500 Bowls".
He now lives in the small mountain community of Salida,in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. His home and studio are at the base of the continental divide and he shares them with his wife Catherine. An avid rock climber, hiker, and moto rider, Keith is often found outdoors enjoying Colorados rugged beauty.
Website: http://keithgotschall.com/home