Juneau instrument-maker George Gress is our featured Q&A artist this week. If you have someone you’d like to suggest, email maryc.martin@capweek.com.
CCW: Do you have any particular creative routines or habits — favorite spaces to work, times of day, materials you use, music you listen to, etc.?
Gress: I am in my studio overlooking our street almost every morning at 5 a.m., where I play guitar, research woods and woodworking techniques, and sketch the new designs that have come to me during the night.
CCW: How much of your art do you usually get done in a one-day period?
Gress: Making guitars involves a wide-ranging set of skills, which makes quantifying the art difficult. Making a neck from a maple plank into the playable heart of the instrument takes most of three days work time. Work time tends to be three to four hours a day. Making a body is a more extended process, partly because of drying and curing time for glues, stains, and finishes — and hours and hours of sanding.
CCW: How do you balance your creative life with your day job (if you have one?)
Gress: I am so fortunate to be able to work in my studio and woodshop at home and still be available for walks, bike rides, gardening, and cooking with Kris, my partner of 47 years. We are also the main workday caregivers for our grandson Easton, an almost 4-year-old whirlwind.
CCW: What do you find particularly inspiring?
Gress: When you work with wood, it begins to speak to you. Each plank, with its unique coloring, texture, and grain pattern leads me to refine my design to bring out the best combination. While it’s not technically inspiration, I get a great deal of guidance, support, and suggestions from Tyler, Shannon, Eric, Sara, and Kris- my creative family.
Again, not specifically inspiring but motivating, I have been surprised and gratified by the community connections and contributions that have come my way. Planks and chunks of unique woods have been given to me by generous friends to turn into beautiful and original guitars (thank you Brandon Howard, Will Murray, Jeremy Hansen, and Brent Curry) and local carvers Lance Cesar and Susan Smith have added their talent to my work. Tyler Gress built a beautiful website to showcase my work, Charlie and Bob at Valley Paint trained me in finish work, and Leo at Alaska Music One saved me many times with making stubborn guitars play.
CCW: What are you working on now, and when do you hope to finish it?
Gress: I have four pieces in various stages right now, but closest to being done is a beautiful spalted (colored by fungi) red alder from Prince of Wales Island with my original raven design laser-cut into the top. I’m also excited by a guitar I’m making from wormwood — the holes go through the entire body, allowing sunlight to show through — very unusual for any guitar. I’ll finish those this month.
CCW: What advice have you heard (either directly, from someone you know, or indirectly, from reading or otherwise learning about another artist) that’s been beneficial to you? Separately, do you have any advice for other artists?
Gress: Because I’ve only been practicing this art for 16 months, I can’t call myself a luthier, but I have learned a lot about building guitars — mostly to be patient and careful or I just end up making firewood. Also, I’ve learned to take chances and risk making mistakes — as a longtime writing teacher, I know that’s how you get better.
CCW: What inspired you to start doing this 16 months ago? Were you involved in another art form before that?
Gress: I began this phase of art work in the fall of 2015. My partner Kris bought a fine set of woodworking tools for me, hoping for some cabinets, which I did build. Then it occurred to me that I could combine my love of all things about guitar with woodworking by building guitars from the woods of our surrounding forests. Before that my main artistic expression had been writing poetry, and in another life, Kris and I had been professional musicians and singers for 26 years. In addition, I taught English for 30 years, which is a kind of art.
CCW: Where can people see your work in person?
Gress: Following the April exhibit at the Canvas, the only public place to see my guitars will be in the KTOO studio offices. One of my guitars will be on permanent display, and we might show more there. Because they tend to be shipped off soon after completion, especially the special orders, I don’t usually have guitars on hand in my home studio. The beautiful Tlingit and Northwest Coast themed guitars that I have made and Lance Cesar has carved can be seen and purchased anytime at the Mt. Juneau Trading Post. Information on my available guitars and information on how to get yours is at my website, www.ggress.com.
Juneau luthier-in-the-works (he makes instruments, but says he can’t call himself a luthier quite yet), George Gress.
Juneau artist Geoerge Gress works on a guitar.
