Katie Hudnall thinks wood is magical.

“The experience of working subtractively in wood to carve or to shape the material is just incredibly satisfying,” she told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “It is the most satisfying feeling in the world to just take shavings off of a board.”

It’s about the carve, the slow movement and the machines. During a project, she said her brain tunes out, leaving her hands and eyes alone to communicate. She calls it the “language of woodworking.”

As a child, Hudnall said she struggled as a student, with bad grades and a difficulty learning to read. But she was always an excellent artist. So when she moved to Wisconsin as a tenured professor to lead the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s artistic woodworking program, it was a pleasant surprise.

“Who thought I’d be the professor in my family?” she said at her studio at the Arts Loft.

As an artist, Hudnall’s work is featured around the country, most recently at the Museum for Art in Wood in Philadelphia.

She’s been running the woodworking program at UW-Madison since 2020.It is one of few art programs in the country dedicated to wood, combining the engineering and technical skills of carving and building with artistic creativity.

Hudnall uses reclaimed wood she often finds in dumpsters to create objects. Her pieces are funcional and can be recognized as maybe a cabinet or table. But there is always something unexpected about their form.