In every iteration, the arts engage our senses. While my professional life as a musician and music educator placed a great deal of emphasis on sound, my work as a composer of music for ballet and as a marching band director required keen consideration of the visual aspects of performance as well, and expanded my understanding of and curiosity about all the ways we experience art. Woodworking engages multiple senses, with the feel of various woods and the scent of the turned woods adding to the appeal of the process. Gardening provides yet another avenue for various sensate experiences. Whether I am creating a sonata, a turned vessel, a garden structure, or a piece of furniture, I find creativity in design to be a continual process of discovery and self-expression.
David Martynuik
Welcome!
My Story
I grew up in New Jersey and through education and career lived in Maryland, Michigan, Florida and Pennsylvania. Each of my homes, from the smallest apartment to my current home on 6 acres, required plants and meaningful objects to make the space calm, orderly, and appealing. I’ve always enjoyed making living spaces better than I found them, and with years of experience helping my dad work on my parents’ historic home, I gained carpentry and restoration skills which further fueled my interests.
My mother encouraged us to play outside as kids, and spent time helping us to understand and appreciate the natural world as well as to value and protect the history of our area. I went to auctions and antique markets with my mom, and learned about craftsmanship and quality. These experiences guided me to summer jobs in a restored village and as a historical interpreter.
Other powerful influences included a neighbor who was a skilled carpenter and woodworker, who patiently showed me as an adolescent how to carve and turn my first pieces; and time spent with my grandparents at their beloved summer cottage at Lake Ariel.
I found the crossroads of curiosity and reading as I was guided by some excellent teachers, and through the years discovered that alongside the music and performance practices I had studied, there was a world of art, architecture, history, and culture that was equally fascinating.
My wife and I now find ourselves, after years of public school and university teaching, the custodians of an historic house which on our most satisfying days is filled with music, a project underway, something fresh from the garden, a meal we’ve made together, and lively conversation with each other, or with the friends that enrich our world.
