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Location:Pleasant Hill Adult Education, Room 209* 1 Santa Barbara Road, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523 Speaker: Jay Van Arsdale, Sensei Master Japanese-style woodworker Topic:Demo of Daike (Japanese carpentry) *NOTE: The meeting is NOT in the Multi-Purpose Room since Jay will be demonstrating techniques. Jay van Arsdale apprenticed early on in his family’s blacksmith shop in Kentucky. After college, Jay came to the SF Bay Area where he received an MFA in sculpture from Mills College in 1972. Things came into focus mid-1970 after seeing a demonstration by Japanese daiku Makoto Imai, a master temple carpenter, who Jay learned from for a few years. Jay has worked and taught in the Bay area since the early 80’s. He has given demos/lectures and other presentations for many organizations including museums, woodworking guilds and numerous national woodworking shows in the US and in Japan. Jay is also the author of a number of books and videos focused on Japanese woodworking and related subjects (ex. Shoji screens, Japanese joinery, etc). In addition to being a contractor focused on building Japanese structures, Jay’s long-term passion is teaching. He has trained students in Japanese hand tools carpentry (daiku dojo) in multiple East Bay locations, in particular Laney College, for about 26 years. He is pleased to have seen the student population grow and diversify. His students work on techniques and projects small and large, including building structures for parks and cultural centers, such as the Bonsai garden in Oakland or Hakone Gardens in Saratoga. Finally, Jay and some colleagues started a Kezurou-kai woodworking community about 10 years ago. Kezurou-kai translates to “shaving group” and originated in Japan in the early 2000s, as a way to better support a dwindling number of traditional woodworkers through community-building, competition and training. Jay is proud that their group is the only recognized Kezurou-kai outside of Japan. They held their most recent annual meeting in October, in nearby El Cerrito. Jay’s Discussion and Demonstration Jay will show us some elements of Japanese hand tools joinery works, by sharing some tools and techniques. He is considered a sensei in the community, having worked in his field for some 50 years, and taught for over 25. He is also a dynamic speaker and we won't often get the opportunity to see such a different style of woodworking, that not only follows centuries-old traditions, but also a very rigorous level of training. That said, Jay likes to point out that hand tools woodworking is very approachable, and that people can build skills and projects with just bare-bonesequipment.