About Kegan:
A native of the mountains of Western North Carolina, Kegan was born and raised in Asheville, NC. The shop at Asheville High School was Kegan's introduction to woodworking and where he fell in love with the craft, spending time in the shop when he should have been elsewhere on campus. After spending five years in Chapel Hill, NC discovering a traditional academic path wasn't right for him, Kegan moved to Winston-Salem, NC to be with his now wife Stephanie, also from Asheville, while she pursued her Doctorate in Physical Therapy. Following Stephanie's graduation from WSSU, the couple moved back home to Asheville so that Kegan could pursue his woodworking dream. Kegan enrolled at Haywood Community College as a Professional Crafts-Wood student and graduated in the spring of 2018 with awards for being the Outstanding Student in Professional Crafts-Wood and the President's Award Recognition of 4.0 GPA. Upon Graduation Kegan took a job managing fabrication for a local barnwood company. In 2021 Kegan and Stephanie welcomed their son Emory into the world. Kegan then decided that he was ready to start Elevation Woodworks LLC.
Artist Statement:
I live in a world of systems and structures. No matter what I'm doing, I cant help but notice the rules both physical and implemented that govern any task. I find joy in finding the limits of these systems and structures of rules, by tinkering and creating within them; this is where I function best and am truly happy. I fixate on on achieving optimal outcomes which should be both beautifully complex and elegantly simple. I find woodworking to be an elegantly simple system of multiple complex processes in an attempt to yield a beautiful result. In woodworking the optimal outcome is the creation of intriguing, functional, striking pieces that are built to be timeless.