Michael Oates

I was born in Central California when rock and roll was a new thing!  My father was an artist and I was raised to appreciate fine art from an early age.  We hung out a lot in the art museums and galleries of San Francisco.  

I have always enjoyed working with my hands and became fascinated with the craftwork and art of the 18th and 19th centuries.  

I realized after doing this for a while that working as the crafts men and women of the colonial period did was becoming a lost art.