Steven Cooper has been the Woodworking Teacher at St. Christopher’s School since the program’s inception in 1982 and has been responsible for the development of the curriculum as well as the facility. The Woodworking program is part of the Fine Arts Department. The emphasis is as much on design as on woodworking and the students design the things they make in response to specific design problems. Steven has also held classes for interested adults from the community since 1983 and has designed and made furniture pieces by commission since 1974. Steven has shown his work at the Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC, The Sansar Gallery in Bethesda, MD, and The Society of Arts and Crafts in Boston, MA as well as galleries in the Pittsburg and Richmond areas.

Steven took a two year sabbatical in 1994 when he and his family moved to Rochester, NY where Steven earned a Master’s Degree in Woodworking and Furniture Design from RIT’s School for American Craftsmen. He was also awarded the Aaron Rosenstreich Award upon graduation for being the outstanding Graduate Student for 1996. While at RIT, he was invited to be the foreman of a team of craftsmen that renovated the woodworking in the Blue Room of the White House early in 1995.

Steven resumed his teaching at St. Christopher’s in 1996 where he continues to refine the program and pursue related interests. In the last several years he has undertaken the complete redesign and renovation of a home for himself and his wife, Catherine, a local Real Estate agent.