Jennifer Anderson

On a sturdy ring, furniture maker Jennifer Anderson carries keys to half the college woodshops in southern California. Anderson, who studied with James Krenov at College of the Redwoods and Wendy Maruyama at San Diego State University, is a dedicated teacher. She leads classes across the region in art, design, and woodworking. Anderson builds furniture in a small shop near SDSU, where she is also the artist in residence. This fall, after 15 years of strictly one-of-a-kind work, she was designing and prototyping several pieces for production. Working either way, she says, the payoff is the same: the gratifying moment when an idea takes shape as a tangible object. This January, Anderson will teach a three-week intensive woodworking course at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, Colo.

Favorite recent project? “Made a camera obscura with laser-cut joinery in a limited production run for a San Diego children’s museum.”