Sawhorse Revolution

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Sawhorse Revolution

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Sawhorse brings together diverse youth, professional builders, and engaged volunteers to build inspiring structures for their local communities.

09/15/2026

Trees are a wonderful gift that keep on giving. They can stabilize soil and protect water. They provide shade and improve native biodiversity. Being around trees can lower blood pressure, reduce stress and
improve mental health. A tree is a home, a food source or a childhood memory. The Rainier Valley Food Bank (RVFB) Donor Tree is a different kind of tree, but it is a sapling with some common objectives rooted in sweetness and light.

Months ago, we met with Rainier Valley Food Bank to understand what their unique concept was. They wanted a colorful monument that showed their appreciation of their community. A pillar of commitment. Etched into the roots of the donor tree, the longest standing Rainier Valley Food Bank donors. The names of more recent donors can be found in the tree’s colorful branches and leaves. The branches were geometrically designed with interwoven and overlapping shapes. The roots appear topographical because of the sanding and carving of plywood with tight laminations.

A very committed group of students helped design and build this tree. There was 100% attendance during the charette and program days. Everyone was ready and willing to learn. The students drew the leaves by hand before they were laser cut out of colorful acrylic by LMN’s laser cutter and CNC machine. It was a very nontraditional build program.

The Rainier Valley Food Bank Donor Tree is the physical representation of time, commitment and a belief in the mission of Rainier Valley Food Bank. Jen Wood and LMN Architects have given invaluable contributions to this project. They should be applauded for their work and flexibility. This project wouldn’t have been completed without them. Also, a huge shoutout to Adam Hunter who took some incredible photographs of the donor tree.

If you haven’t been to the new Rainier Valley Food Bank, be sure to check out the fruits of their successful capital campaign. While you’re checking out the space, be sure to stop and sit under the donor tree. Take a moment to gaze at the names of RVFB community members, the intricate details of the sapling and create a memory of your own.

09/11/2026

Attention Revolutionaries! Thursday, October 15th at 5pm! Mark your calendars for a memorable evening. Our good pals at LMN Architects are hosting our fall cocktail party fundraiser the The Shop. There will be an abundance of delicious appetizers, a variety of delicious cocktails and the perfect opportunity for community, connection and conversation. Food and drinks are free with admission. Our goal is to raise $13,000 for our Community Leadership Lab programming. Our CLL students are badass. Swipe to the second slide where you can see them seated as conquering heroes on the functional cubbies they designed and built! The link for tickets are in the bio! 🥳

“But, with each new project and each new swing of the hammer, they are in a steady movement toward true freedom by building atop the reminders….”

08/06/2026

We just wrapped up our 2-day flash build of some cedar benches with King County Parks Youth Conservation Corps 🪵 Both skyway and white center cohorts were an honor and privilege to have in our shop—they filled the space with amazing energy, from the moment they walked in, they were locked in, ready to engage, and build! We’re still thinking about their amazing leadership skills and care towards each other. We can’t wait to see these benches out in the community! Bench design by Rogue Engineer 👀

07/28/2026

Could not be more proud of all the students and their hard work on this project for United Indians of All Tribes 🪵🎉🎊🥳 Look at how beautifully the Doug fir glistens in the Seattle summer sunshine! Fun fact, all of the benches and tables were repurposed and reclaimed from the original buttresses donated from the Colville tribes in 1970

07/24/2026

After 16 years…. treehouse done!

Much longer reflections coming with more videos, photos, and stories - but for now, for all those people and students who worked on this… thank you 💛

07/08/2026

This week, Sawhorse is celebrating the power of youth using power tools! Here, building a project that opens this summer - an incredible explosion of rainbows embodied in a sculptural donor tree for Rainier Valley Food Bank (RVFB) ’s incredible new building in Rainier Beach. Our students learned about the incredible work that RVFB does feeding the community through grocery deliveries and pickup, to-go lunches, a free grocery store with appointments to get food, and wraparound support.

Pictured here, a student installing the background wall, which is painted with natural pigments mixed into Osk.

The rainbow color streaks evoke music and movement, two of the celebratory and vibrant values that RVFB holds!

More photos to come to tell more stories about this incredible build!

06/23/2026

“Let it be known, Hip Hop recognizes its duty, responsibility, and power to change our current environment in order to align ourselves in perfect balance with nature.” Keith Tucker

Yesterday was such a special day for the Central District and for us all. Hip Hop is Green™ celebrated the opening of the Cherry Street Hydroponic Farm and Kitchen, and truly so much more. There’s nothing but praise to be said about all of the community members, students, volunteers, and staff hands and hearts that brought the dream to life. Every single minute poured in mattered. Thank you CD for showing up yesterday with us and we will see you back there this Saturday, June 27th! ✊🏾

Swipe through to see some early days of the project!

06/17/2026

Sawhorse and Hip Hop is Green™ are in the final push to open the Cherry Street Farm Kitchen, and we need YOUR help on Saturday, June 20th to finish staining the fence!

10am - 4pm, show up in clothes you don’t mind getting dirty - and bring sun protection - sunhat, long sleeves, breathable clothes, sunglasses!! We are using pine tar, a natural, nontoxic substance that is also basically impossible to wash out of clothing…

We will order pizza and have cold NA beverages on hand

You are welcome any time in that window!

cya at 10am!! 1911 E. Cherry Street, Seattle 91822

06/09/2026

Following the lead of new staff, longtime staff have also agreed to come out of the digital shadows to reintroduce themselves! First up, Sarah Smith, Executive Director and Co-founder:

Born in the year of the Fire Tiger, Sarah grew up in Boulder, Colorado, where she was a good student and big sister to many siblings – one whole, one half-, and a revolving door of step- and ex-step siblings. Sarah grew up reading voraciously and doing theater; in the world of theater, she learned the transformative and healing power of creative collaboration, of community over a shared project, and of the importance of stepping into someone else’s shoes.

Sarah left Colorado to attend college at the University of Puget Sound. A student of 18th Century Poetry, with an additional emphasis in Religion and Philosophy, Sarah graduated in 2008 - straight into the Great Recession, low on job skills but full up with a new group of comrades and ideas.

With not much for job skills or prospects to speak of, Sarah and friends started to ask what they might be able to learn that they hadn’t in their educations to date. The crew went into various crafts – and in their spare time started to dream up education programs that might equip youth with skills earlier than they had gotten them.

After a series of education model experiments, Sawhorse Revolution was born: a creative, communal response to the profound apathy, callousness, and cruelty of life in racialized late capitalism.

Sarah has grown up with Sawhorse – and Sawhorse with her - but beyond this massive commitment, she enjoys being a dabbler: spinning fiber, sewing, all kinds of building, cooking, gardening, piano, fly fishing, surfing, Vedic astrology, and on and on.

She is grateful for the chance to engage with questions of liberation for all beings, of repair, of meaning and search. Searching for what? As thse 18th Century poets indicated so many years ago – to search the infinite in the particular, for meaning in the every-day… meaning which is community, service, friendship, struggle,
love, creation, compassion, possibility, and wonder - the great Whatever and the great perhaps 💛

05/13/2026

It’s been a busy month for our build cohort! Students got to create a sample board of finishes for the larger collective to vote on—so of course this meant we *had* to try shou sugi ban 🔥

Address

Seattle, WA

Telephone

+12068199121

Website

http://www.sawhorserevolution.org/

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