Our Mascot
The story of the beloved woodchuck turner and its creator, Ed Koren
The Vermont Woodturners Guild, originally known as the Woodchuck Turners of Northern Vermont, has used the illustration of a woodchuck at a lathe drawn by internationally acclaimed cartoonist, illustrator and author Ed Koren since its founding. It's used in our very first newsletter in March 2004. An early member of our group, Haviland Smith, was a good friend of Ed Koren and asked him to draw one of his critters at a lathe. We've carried the standard proudly ever since.
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Koren's whimsical, friendly style suits the group wonderfully and it speaks to the nature of community in Vermont when such an acclaimed professional shares his talent with an upstart group of woodcrafters.
While not a native Vermonter, Ed became a truly indelible part of the community, from supporting local and statewide organizations (as a volunteer firefighter in his home town of Brookfield for more than three decades, among other pursuits) to incorporating the characters and qualities of his adopted home into his cartooning, often juxtaposing the rural lifestyle of Vermont with more urban elements from his time in New York City. The state recognized Ed’s contributions to cartooning and Vermont through his appointment as Vermont’s second Cartoonist Laureate in 2014.
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While best known for the more than 1,000 cartoons published in The New Yorker, he also contributed to many other publications, including The New York Times, Newsweek, Time, G.Q., Esquire, Sports Illustrated, Vogue, Fortune, Vanity Fair, The Nation and The Boston Globe.
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Born in New York City, Koren attended the Horace Mann School and Columbia University. He did graduate work in etching and engraving in Paris, and received an MFA degree from Pratt Institute. He was on the faculty of Brown University for many years. But then he chose to live in Vermont.
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As David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, said in an interview after Ed’s Passing, “There’s an immense sweetness to his personality that radiates through his work.”
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