ACBA-American College of the Building Arts

Listen in as Lindy, a Stone Carving senior, discusses her Medusa project. ⚒️

A place where millimeters make the difference. 🔨📏 Swipe to see our Architectural Carpentry seniors work on a project for their own HQ: a new door for the Timber workshop!

Peek in on plaster students as they work on a new capital, which will be going on a scagliola column at the front of the school. Seen here, they're working on the silicone and mother mold.

Join us for a discussion with Anne Bujold, Assistant Professor of Sculpture at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette. With topics ranging from operating a custom metal fabrication business to pursuing academic research, Bujold will discuss her unique career path from practitioner to professor and all that's in between. The event is free and open to the public! 📍ACBA 🗓️ November 23 at 6 P.M.

When you attend school in Charleston, inspiration is—quite literally—all around. ACBA students recently swapped out their textbooks and coveralls for an inspiring evening with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. 🎶

Watch as ACBA Plaster juniors Olivia Maybank, Robert Mason, and Kristen Lowe get their hands on the plaster wreath project that's part of the department's work for @laurelacollective. Seen here, they're prepping the mother mold and silicone the plaster will be poured into.

Join us for a discussion with James Dawson Tyler III, founder of Down East Preservation, a successful preservation, construction, and design company based in North Carolina. His lecture will focus on preservation and restoration work in historic Edenton, which has become a laboratory for the study of the “Dead Trades." Tyler will also spend time discussing the organic growth within the youth community of Chowan County, and how working with the next generation can foster growth and excitement within the larger preservation community. The event is free and open to the public. 🕕 Reception 6-6:30 🕡 Lecture 6:30-7:30 We hope to see you there!

Olivia Maybank is on the mic for an update on the Plaster department's Courier Square project. 🏛️ A junior plaster student here at ACBA, Olivia is outlining the large arch she and her classmates are finishing up for @laurelacollective. Listen in!

Steve Kester, chair of the Plaster department, is giving the play-by-play on how student work typically progresses from freshman to senior year. Listen in to learn more. 🏛️

When the Timber Framing workshop needs a new door, we don't have to venture far for the hands that will complete it. 🪵 Our Architectural Carpentry seniors did a great job crafting and installing our newest addition.

When the Historic Charleston Foundation discovered that the iron gates of the Nathaniel Russell House needed restoration work, they turned to ACBA's Professor Matthew Garton (Blacksmithing) for help preserving this piece of local history. Swipe for a closer look at the details. Photography: @historiccharlestonfoundation

Want to experience ACBA in person? Save the date for our October Open House! 🗓️ Saturday, October 24 🕥 8:45 A.M.–12:30 P.M. Find more information and register to attend on our website.

Ever wonder about the educational journey of our woodworkers? Professor Davies is walking through the progression from underclassman to senior in his department, and what the real-life application looks like. 🪵🪚

Join us for an enlightening lecture by master carpenter and ACBA Professor Emeritus of Architectural Carpentry Markus Damwerth. Using real-life examples from his long career, he'll explore how the built environment of the past can—and should—inform contemporary designers and craftspeople. The event is free and open to the public. We hope to see you there!

Some things just need two hands and a beating heart behind them.

Two populations sit inside one college: students arriving straight from secondary school, and adults embarking on new careers. Although the majority of our students fall in the traditional undergraduate age range (19-25), we are proud that nearly 10% are over 30. No matter your age, your perspective is valued here.

Architectural Carpentry seniors are replacing an exterior door in our timber shop, and senior Braden Crutchmer is here to break down the process a bit more. 🪚

Alumni Feature 🌟 James Jisa, ACBA grad with a focus in plaster. Take a look at his extensive plaster repair work at Ingleside Plantation, built in 1817 in Iron Station, North Carolina. Once the baseboards came off, the true cause of the cracking showed up—and James knew what needed to happen next. “ACBA did not just teach me how to put plaster on a wall. The history and material-science classes are why I could read that house. Modern pipe and wire had been cut through 1817 brick with nothing put back to carry the load. A three-coat lime repair over that would have cracked again. School trained me to find the structure under the finish and to use lime where lime belongs, not a modern substitute because it is easier.”

On the mic is Professor Davies of our Architectural Carpentry department. Today, he's giving you the run-down on the senior class' project: replacing the exterior door in the timber frame shop. 🪚 Stay tuned to see how it all turns out!

Slide 1: Summertime as a stone carver. ⚒️ Sophomore Bryce Owens completed a summer externship in Ballyknockan, Ireland, under the tutelage of Killian O’Flaherty. Swipe for closer look! ➡️ (Images 2-4) "My main project with Killian was a cluster column that we made with a grinder on local Ballyknockan granite." (Images 5-8) "We were given the fantastic opportunity to remake a few finials that were originally attached to urns on the main building of Ireland's great 18th-century Palladian Mansion. We were allowed to design the finials that we would fit and place." (Images 9-10) "One of my main personal projects was a sculpture of hands. Before touching the stone, I made a drawing and a clay model."