About Our Presenters:​

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Christopher M. Swan

Senior Conservator, Wooden Artifacts

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Williamsburg, Virginia, USA​

 

Chris is a furniture and wooden artifacts Conservator at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Virginia where he has been since February 1999, and where he also completed his third-year graduate internship, and a Getty post-graduate internship from 1994-1996. In between positions in Williamsburg, he served two years as the Mellon Fellow and then as Assistant Conservator in Furniture Conservation at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Chris is a 1985 graduate of the University of Dallas, and a 1995 graduate of the Buffalo State College Art Conservation Master’s Degree Program.

 

Among other subjects, he has lectured on: “Silvering, A Lost Baroque Style,” “The Art and Materials of Japanning,” Photo-documentation of Furniture, Handling, Packing and Crating Furniture for Collectors, Caring for Wooden Artifacts, Wood Identification for Collectors, Common 18th Century Painted Furniture, and The Making and Use of Reproductions at Colonial Williamsburg, Picture Frames: Style, Materials, and Conservation, and Minimally Invasive Upholstery Systems. He is an Associate Member of the American Institute for Conservation, and of the Virginia Conservation Association

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​​Mark Cawthorn

Mark Cawthon is a retired U S Navy Chief 1976-1997. I was stationed on ships down in Norfolk (D & S Piers). At first I was a cane puller at a very young age and then started weaving at 13 years of age. My mother was a Master Weaver in South Georgia for 50 years. 

I have not experienced everything but am open to new challenges constantly. I reside in King George Va and am known there as County Weaver. I have 57 years at the Art of Seat Weaving and Caning. 

"Just Raisin' Cane"

Countyweaver@gmail.com

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​Jennifer Cardwell

My name is Jennifer Cardwell and I am the sole owner of JC Caning, LLC in New Kent, VA. I am truly blessed in my career as the art of seat weaving provides me the opportunity to work independently from home.

 

I graduated from the Department of Communication Arts and Design at Virginia Commonwealth University in 1994, with a degree in graphic design and photography. I worked for many years managing design departments at trade show exhibit and museum exhibit companies. After we moved to a rural area, building a freelance clientele proved impossible. Blessedly, seat weaving was brought to my attention by a friend and I jumped right in. I am self taught learning from books, YouTube, and members of The Cane and Wicker Restoration Facebook group.

 

Confident in this business endeavor, I incorporated in May of 2017. A steady flow of work comes from local furniture repair and upholstery businesses. I designed my website, have been mentioned in local newspapers, 

and business has increased and I am running a continual waitlist that is staying around 12-18 months out.

 

I have been fortunate to have worked on some beautiful and expensive pieces; a Brumby rocker, a Thonet chair circa 1890, a pair of Hunter rockers, a pair of Ebert Wels Yugoslavian folding chairs, a S. Karen & Bros. chair from the late 1800s, a pair of Hans Wegner JH-501, a full set Klismos dining chairs by Baker, a Hitchcock sofa, a 1670’s King Charles II chase lounge, and a full restoration of a 1930’s porch swing.

 

Jen Cardwell, Treasurer, TSWG

jen@jccaning.com

www.jccaning.com​

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Lynn Phillips

 

Lynn is a former bookstore general manager now satisfying her personal creative passions through chair weaving as owner and operator of Hank’s Cane & Rush Restoration.  Predominantly self-taught, Lynn has mastered many of the weave patterns and knowledge of materials necessary to sustain a dying art form – cane and rush restoration. Lynn is a mother and grandmother dedicated to her family and friends.  It is her commitment to relationships and family traditions that fosters her desire to preserve generational memories; as Lynn likes to say “Every chair has a story to tell”.

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Wyndham Radcliff

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Sue Muldoon

Sue owns Redux For You, She is a seatweaver, basketmaker, broom-maker , graphic designer, and webmaster. She is currently teaching up and down the East Coast. Author of "Weaving Step-by-Step" published in 2014

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