Michael Walker
Mike started his custom woodworking career at a very young age, raiding his dad’s supplies on the dairy farm. Although nothing he made at that time was museum quality, it stimulated his imagination and opened his “Mind’s Eye” to design.
During his high school years when his mother would receive a call from the office stating Mike was skipping class, she would respond with, “check the wood shop or the drafting room”.
His college career focused on industrial education but after three years he realized teaching was not his passion, so he took a semester off. Returning to college thirty-two years later he earned an associate degree in architectural design.
During those thirty-two years he didn’t just hang out in the basement playing video games; he and Jenny were married in 1978, their first born arrived in December 1980 and their second in July of ’82. Two weeks later Mike’s job closed the doors, so began Walker and Walker Arts and Crafts as a full-time endeavor. Two unemployed people raising two small children and a mortgage trying to sell their wares in a depressed economy with high unemployment; God, those were the good old days!
Jenny had displayed her paintings at a couple of shows in 1980-81 but the seriousness for Walker and Walker came in ’82. Mike would design and build items of wood and Jenny added her artistic talents with painting. Their first year they barely broke even financially but refused to give up “The Dream”. They continued to get juried into shows because of the uniqueness of their product line which they added to every year for 26 years until the economy would no longer support them and they were back to just barely breaking even. Even though they walked away from shows, they still do commission work and fine furniture.
Jumping back a little bit, while Mike was earning his architectural degree, he was designing their house for a rebuild. In 2013 he ran a saw up and over the roof cutting the house in half, at that point he was committed, and most people thought he should have been. It took nine years to complete but all the cabinets and trim work came out of Mike’s shop. Jenny put together stained glass, stone, and glass mosaics along with her artwork. The house is representative of their combined talents and their greatest show piece which they willingly show anytime they can.
Custom cabinets, paintings, or antiques in need of repair are all in their wheelhouse. Neither one is smart enough to say it can’t be done!