BARN Shapes the Future of Art and Innovation on Bainbridge
By QUINN PROPST
Ward Media Staff Reporter
On a sun-dappled morning on Bainbridge Island, the hum of creativity is palpable inside the Bainbridge Artisan Resource Network—better known as BARN.
In the sprawling 25,000-square-foot facility, the air is alive with the sounds of saws in the woodshop, the rhythmic clatter of looms in the fiber studio, and the quiet focus of artists, makers, and learners of all ages. But BARN is more than just a collection of studios and tools; it is a living, breathing community where craft, learning, and service come together to foster connection and innovation.
A Vision Rooted in Community
BARN’s story begins with a simple need: a group of woodworkers on Bainbridge Island searching for a shared space.
“We got started as the Bainbridge Community Woodshop,” BARN’s Executive Director Grae Drake said. “We spent several years looking for a space to create a community wood shop, and we struggled. We identified a space that was much larger than we could handle just for a wood shop, and so invited some other folks in to say, ‘Hey, maybe we could share the rent and tackle this thing altogether.’”
That spirit of collaboration proved transformative. What began as a quest for a woodshop soon blossomed into something much more ambitious—a community center that would bring together artists, craftspeople, and makers from across disciplines.
“Out of that meeting came the idea of something that was more ambitious in scope than just a community wood shop. It was really a community center,” Drake said.
After testing the concept in a leased space in Rolling Bay, where woodworking, jewelry making, and even 3D printing and laser cutting all happened in close quarters, the BARN team set their sights higher.
“We really figured out what the operating model was, how to do classes, how to handle registrations, all the boring operational stuff,” he said. “At that same time, we were fundraising for designing and then building this place, which is 10 times that size.”
Today, BARN’s purpose-built facility is a testament to the power of community vision and determination.
A Place for Every Maker
Step inside BARN, and you’ll find a dizzying array of studios: wood, glass, fiber, culinary, tech, metal fabrication, jewelry, print and book arts, and more. Each is equipped with professional-grade tools and staffed by passionate volunteers.
The studios are open to both members and the public, with a $20 drop-in fee for non-members and free access for those with memberships. But the real value, Drake insists, is not just in the equipment, but in the people.
“Even if you have a table saw in your garage, you’re often limited in what you can do for yourself by the equipment that you have or have access to, and so having shared equipment here lets us offer the kind of scale and quality that people can’t get to on their own,” he said. “But even more important than the equipment is the brain trust of skills and knowledge and expertise that congregates and then grows here.”
Passing Knowledge Across Generations
BARN’s mission is clear: to foster community through craft, learning, and service.
“We teach a lot here,” he said. “We’re really focused on passing knowledge along intergenerationally, and things that people have learned and want to make sure continues in the world.”
Classes range from beginner workshops to advanced masterclasses, and the studios buzz with activity as people of all ages and backgrounds come together to learn, create, and share.
The organization is also deeply committed to community service.
“We do a lot of community service projects,” he said. “The library right now has about three or four of BARN’s projects. We repaired and replaced one of the foot bridges there, the large Japanese gate. And then, most recently, we redid their sign. I guess they had chronically had a problem with high school students walking by the sign and creatively rearranging the letters, so we built them a new sign.”
A Unique Model of Ownership and Engagement
What truly sets BARN apart from other maker spaces or craft schools is its unique operating model.
“At every other institution that I’m familiar with, there’s a studio tech who is organizing the programming and caring for the equipment and kind of handling the day-to-day operations,” he said. “Here at BARN, we do have a staff, but the staff is handling the boring details about insurance and state or corporate filings and fundraising events. The business of the studios is really run almost entirely by and for the people that are using the studios.”
This model fosters a sense of ownership and investment among members.
“There’s about 30,000 hours a year of volunteer time,” Drake said. “It’s people who are already invested in that area, and then they have ownership over it.”
Impact That Reaches Far and Wide
BARN’s influence extends well beyond Bainbridge Island.
“We have had an enormous number of people reach out to us because they heard about or saw firsthand BARN’s model, and they’d like to have something like this in their community,” he said. “Close to 100 different communities have reached out to me just in the three years that I have been director here.”
One particularly meaningful moment came when a woodworker from Tucson, Arizona, called to say they were building a 30,000-square-foot space inspired by BARN.
“We have stepped into that role of showing people what is possible to do, and so I am thrilled about that,” he said.
Innovation at the Intersection of Tradition and Technology
BARN is a place where traditional craftsmanship meets modern digital tools.
“There is a big push to retain those traditions, and that’s relatively recent, even going back 70 years, I think there was much less of an awareness that you’re losing those traditions,” Drake said.
The fiber studio, for example, is named after Marguerite Porter Davidson, a fiber artist who published a book in the 1950s documenting weaving traditions so that they would not be lost to time—a resource still revered today.
At the same time, BARN embraces new technologies.
“The things that you can accomplish with a CNC wood router, right? You can create inlays with an extraordinary amount of detail that are impossible by hand, no matter how skilled you are,” he said. “We have traditional looms… but we also have the machines that allow for new modes of expression, not because they create production work more quickly, but because they unlock new techniques and kind of expand the palette of what it’s available to work with.”
Stories of Success and Transformation
BARN has been the launchpad for countless personal and professional journeys. One standout story is that of a local registered nurse who used BARN’s tech lab to design and prototype a device that makes administering slow injections easier and more comfortable for both patients and healthcare providers.
Some chemo patients need an injection administered slowly, over the course of about eight minutes. The nurse administering the injection has to very slowly push the depressor the entire length of time, which is exhausting for the nurse. She knew there had to be a better way.
“She designed in the tech lab and then prototyped, over several iterations, a device that would allow the nurse or other healthcare provider to slowly, just kind of screw down this thing to take the pressure off of those muscles and to make it really simple to consistently administer over that time window,” Drake said. “It’s more comfortable for the patient, it’s much more comfortable for the medical provider, and it’s more accurate, and that was a thing that came out of the tech lab.”
Jewelry artist Robin Callahan, now nationally recognized, honed her craft in BARN’s jewelry studio.
“She did a lot of her early learning in jewelry design and fabrication here at BARN,” he said. “So she really came out of the jewelry studio.”
Looking to the Future
BARN is not resting on its laurels. Plans are underway to expand the facility, add new studios, and bring in more regional and national talent.
“More and more, we are bringing distinguished artists to Bainbridge Island to share what they know with this community,” he said. “Part of our strategic plan is to be very deliberate in reaching beyond Bainbridge Island with our impact, like our community service projects, and having more of those and a higher proportion of those happen off of Bainbridge Island is a specific goal in our strategic plan.”
A major upcoming event is Handwork: Celebrating American Craft 2026, a nationwide celebration of American craft organized by Craft in America.
“Our participation will be a week of intensive workshops offered by distinguished artists in April of 2026,” he said. “We have never done an event like this where we filled up the entire building with intensive workshops at the same time. I am very excited about some of the artists who are going to be coming, and I’m very interested to see what the energy is like when we’ve got that kind of intense work happening throughout the building.”
A Place for All
Perhaps the most important message BARN wants to share is that its doors are open to everyone.
“One of the things that continues to surprise me when I talk to people out beyond Bainbridge Island about BARN, one of the questions I get is like, ‘Oh, are non-Bainbridge Islanders allowed to participate?’ And it shocks me that that’s even a question,” he said. “If you would be excited to do any of the creative work that happens here, please come in and do it. We love to have you here.”
A Lasting Impact
As BARN looks to the future, its mission remains steadfast: to build community through creativity, expand its reach, and inspire others to do the same.
“I hope people walk away with contact information for some of the people that they met here, so they can keep those relationships going,” Drake said. “And I hope their mind is churning with opportunities to come back and do some creative work.”
In a world that often feels disconnected, BARN stands as a beacon of what’s possible when people come together to create, learn, and serve. On Bainbridge Island and beyond, its impact is felt in every project, every class, and every connection made within its welcoming walls.
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