Cool Jobs: Sharon Que, sculptor and violin restorer

Welcome to Ann Arbor, home to U-M football, Zingerman's, the Ann Arbor Art Fairs…and violin makers? 

It may seem surprising, but the city's concentration of violin makers and restorers has earned it a national reputation. According to the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers, Ann Arbor boasts six registered members – more than major cities like Chicago and San Francisco. 

Sharon Que, a city resident of 34 years, learned the trade from two of the very best Ann Arborites in the business: Joseph Curtin and Gregg Alf. Que had attended art school at U-M and worked as a wood model-maker at General Motors (which she calls her “real education") before spending seven years with Curtin and Alf. After another five years working with Curtin, she opened her own violin restoration shop in Ann Arbor in 2001 while establishing a parallel career as a sculptor. Concentrate asked Que about the learning curve in her field and her insights on our local violin-making mecca.

What interested you in working with violins in the first place?
I had met Joe [Curtin] and Gregg [Alf] at a tepee on the Huron River [owned by artist friends Rick Burns and Nancy Stokes.] At that time I was thinking it would be nice to make a transition, leave GM and find something else. Then there was an article, oddly enough, about them in the Observer. In the article they said something like, ‘In the future, maybe we'll think of expanding.' There was a vague notion of expanding, so I thought I'd give them a call. It worked out well because I could take a leave of absence from GM. Neither of us had to commit right away, which was perfect.

Just how painstaking is the education process for this trade, and how long did that process take you?
I don't think of it as painstaking because I enjoyed every bit of it along the way. But first of all you have to learn hand tools. You just have to struggle through how to sharpen things, and it takes people years, typically, to get that down. But education is something that is still my main interest in life. It's completely ongoing. About two years ago I took this chemistry course, and guess what? I'm right at the beginning again and it is so fabulously interesting.

Where does most of your restoration work come from?
Most of my more involved jobs come from out-of-state or out of the country. I recently did some restoration on Henry Ford's collection. They're getting ready to display them, hopefully within the next year. They've got seven major instruments at the Henry Ford, and they're all Italian. Of course he [Ford] owned very few non-American objects, but he was an amateur violin player.

Why do you think we have so many violin makers and restorers here in Ann Arbor? 
For a large part, I think it has a lot to do with Shar. David Burgess, Jeffrey Holmes, Mark Norfleet all worked for Shar. And then Joe and Gregg were really attracted to the UMS, how they brought in the best musicians from all around the world. Myself, I just really like being surrounded by really good, smart people.

What appeals to you about staying here?
My husband bought this property, and it was a barn. We built our house without a mortgage, slowly, slowly, slowly. More than anything, something like that just ties you specifically to where you're at. And then in the bigger picture of Ann Arbor, I love Property Disposition. I love having the art museum nearby and different resources like Maker Works. And I don't think I'd be in business if it wasn't for Encore Recordings, because I still don't listen to Spotify or anything like that. I'm very specific about my music needs.

Is there anything you find challenging about working in Ann Arbor?
As a violin maker, not at all. It's a real asset all around, because I've got so many great colleagues all around. But as a sculptor, I really have to have Detroit. My whole art world life is centered around Detroit, not Ann Arbor. I do have a gallery in Detroit. That helps a lot.

Do you think a career in this field would be as accessible to a young person in Ann Arbor today as it was to you when you started?
Absolutely. Ann Arbor has so many shops. Curtin and Alf, Feng Jiang and David Burgess are world-class violin makers. There's a lot of super-talented people in this city. Some shops are run pretty much solo, but then people like David Orlin and Jeffrey Holmes teach at Oberlin. I think for anybody who's really dedicated to what they're doing it would be quite a great place to be.

Patrick Dunn is an Ann Arbor-based freelance writer and regular contributor to Metromode and Concentrate.

All photos by Doug Coombe

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