Jennie Alexander

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Jennie Alexander (born December 8, 1930) in Baltimore, Maryland and is considered a pioneer in the woodworking world, "Instrumental in designing the now iconic two-slat post-and-rung shaving chair,". She also coined the term "greenwoodworking" as a single word in her book, Make a Chair from a Tree: An Introduction to Working Green Wood.

Video Jennie Alexander

Background

Jennie Alexander (born John Alexander) is a transgender woman. She spent her early childhood learning to play the piano and later became a Jazz musician. She was introduced to woodworking at the Baltimore polytechnic institute High School and would later go on to open up her own home shop in 1960.

Her mother grew up in Quincy Massachusetts and was part of the educational sloyd system. Because of this Jennie was always encouraged to explore woodworking and learning through doing.

Her father was a lawyer, and Jennie also attended law school at the university of Maryland, becoming a divorce lawyer for a period of her life before embracing greenwoodworking.

Her wife Joyce passed away in 1996. Jennie has three daughters, and currently lives alone in her home. She no longer teaches classes. In 2007, at the age of 77 and after 32 years of Alcoholics Anonymous Jennie transitioned from John Alexander to Jennie Alexander.

Maps Jennie Alexander

Career

in 1978 Jennie Alexander wrote, Make a Chair from a Tree: An Introduction to Working Green Wood, which was the first woodworking book published by Taunton Press. This book describes the process and tools required to construct a shaved two-slat post-and-rung chair without the use of a wood lathe.

She became a member of the Early American Industries Association (EAIA) which was a crucial step in her exploration of woodworking and chair making as it gave her access to collections of joined furniture. She also demonstrated how to make the shaved two-slat post-and-rung chair at an event hosted by EAIA. She later taught classes at Drew Langsner's Country Workshops in North Carolina and mentored many students.

At Country Workshops She met Peter Follansbee, and after years of corresponding, would go on to co write a book with him called, Make a joint stool from a tree, an introduction to 17th-century joinery.

Jennie spent her later years mentoring many in greenwoodworking techniques and joinery, but no longer teaches classes.

Two-slat post-and-rung shaving chair

Jennie Alexander contributes the success of the post-and-rung shaving chair to her wife, who after Jennie was told she could not wood turn in front of a live audience, encouraged Jennie to make the same chair by shaving all the parts close to round with out a lathe. Jennie says, "So the shaving, really, made the existence of the post-and-rung chair a reality in this country."

From her book, Make a Chair from a Tree: An Introduction to Working Green Wood:

A post and rung chair is a stick chair with a fiber seat. It has cylindrical mortises bored into vertical posts to receive the ends of horizontal rungs. Then the chair is first assembled, the posts contain more moisture than the rungs. The chair is held together by the shrinking of the posts around the dry rungs. It is one of the few things made today that depends on the shrinking actions of wood.

This chair differs from the Windsor chair because it does not have a solid carved seat.

Education

High School Baltimore City Polytechnic Institute
St. John's College
University of Maryland

Publications

Make a Chair from a Tree: An Introduction to Working Green Wood
Make a joint stool from a tree, an introduction to 17th-century joinery (co written with Peter Follansbee)