Meet Lumber Club Marfa, An All-Girls Woodworking Group in West Texas

With artist supervision, a group of girls ages seven to 14 craft three-legged stools whose proceeds go towards their college funds
a group of girls posing in a field
Lumber Club Marfa, an all-girls woodworking group in West Texas.Photo by Douglas Friedman.

Every Friday a group of girls, ages seven to 14, assembles in a woodshop in Marfa, Texas. Supervised by artist Larry Bamburg, they don masks and goggles, taking turns on the machinery to craft three-legged stools out of walnut, mahogany, and the like. Proceeds from the simple but sculptural pieces (available for purchase, with a three-month wait list) go to the girls’ college funds. It all began six years ago, when Bamburg and his wife, curator Jenny Moore, moved to Marfa with their two young daughters. “I remember trying to find something with a sense of place to get the girls involved in,” recalls Moore, the director of the local Chinati Foundation. What was initially an informal family activity has now grown into Lumber Club Marfa, a proper collective with two-hour sessions followed by pizza dinners and games of tag. If the program isn’t quite a formal production shop, it is an incredible confidence-builder. “Watching a little girl take on a sander is powerful,” says Moore. “I’ve seen them push through their comfort zone, wipe away tears and sawdust, and get back at it.” From $300; lumberclubmarfa.com

A vignette of finished pieces.

Photo by Douglas Friedman.

Members at work on the machinery.

Photo by Douglas Friedman.

The club's signature on the underside of a stool.

Photo by Douglas Friedman.