Torqued & Twisted

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Margaret Polcawich

Torqued & Twisted
Center for Craft, Creativity & Design
Hendersonville, NC
February 13 – June 29, 2012

"Pinch" by Matthias Pleissnig.

Torqued & Twisted, a new exhibition at UNC Asheville’s Center for Craft, Creativity & Design, explores the work of nine furniture makers and sculptors from the United States who use the technique of bending wood in innovative, unusual and eloquent ways.

Co-curators Tom Loeser, an artist and professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Katie Lee, Center for Craft, Creativity & Design assistant director and curator, look at how this specific technique of bending wood is used by these artists/designers who both borrow from and build upon various historical traditions. Continue reading →

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WOOD, A Furniture Show III

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Margaret Polcawich

WOOD, A Furniture Show III
Escondido Municipal Gallery
Escondido, CA
January 13 – February 3th, 2012

Cabinet by Craig Thibodeau

The Escondido Arts Partnership will exhibit its third presentation of “WOOD: A Furniture Show,” hosted by Brian Murphy of Murphy’s Fine Woodworking, at the Escondido Municipal Gallery. The event will feature 25 pieces by a gathering of some of the very best furniture makers in Southern California.  Artists include Murphy, Craig Thibodeau, Del Cover, Brian Carnett, Bob Stevenson, Jerry Beaudry, Patrick Edwards, Patrice Lejeune, Dick Ugoretz, and Amal and Shem McNew. Continue reading →

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Duncan Phyfe: Master Cabinetmaker in New York

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Margaret Polcawich

Duncan Phyfe: Master Cabinetmaker in New York
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York, NY
December 20, 2011–May 6, 2012

Side Chair by Duncan Phyfe

In the early 1800s, furniture from the workshop of New York City cabinetmaker Duncan Phyfe (1770–1854) was in such demand that he was referred to as the “United States Rage.” This exhibition—the first retrospective on Phyfe in ninety years—re-introduces this artistic and influential master cabinetmaker to a contemporary audience.

The full chronological sweep of Phyfe’s distinguished career is featured in this new exhibit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, including examples of his best-known furniture based on the English Regency designs of Thomas Sheraton, work from the middle and later stages of his career when he adopted the richer “archaeological” antique style of the 1820s, and a highly refined, plain Grecian style based on French Restauration prototypes. The exhibition brings together nearly one hundred works from private and public collections throughout the United States. Highlights of the exhibition include some never-before-seen documented masterpieces and furniture descended directly in the Phyfe family, as well as the cabinetmaker’s own tool chest. Continue reading →

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Tributaries: Sarah Perkins

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Margaret Polcawich

Tributaries: Sarah Perkins
National Ornamental Metal Museum
Memphis, TN
December 9, 2011 – February 19, 2012

detail of collaboration by Sarah Perkins and Charles Radtke

As a maker of hollowware, Sarah Perkins uses properties of the metal: the plasticity, the permanence and the dimensionality. As an enameler, she uses the properties of the glass: the preciousness, the texture and the color. In her work these properties function together to make a whole, with the two materials complementing and completing each other, rather than one being visually more important than the other.

Perkins’ exhibition will consist of small, lidded containers made of enameled metal. She is interested in the social implications and uses of forms. Subtle differences in shape affect the meaning of the piece dramatically: an open form is generous and a tighter one more austere and self-sufficient. Continue reading →

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Maine Wood 2012

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Margaret Polcawich

Maine Wood 2012
Messler Gallery
Center for Furniture Craftsmanship
Rockport, ME
December 2, 2011 – April 6, 2012

"Drop Front Riding Desk" by Tom Dahlke

New at the Messler Gallery is Maine Wood 2012. This is the third juried Maine Wood biennial hosted by the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, to showcase the breadth, creativity, and excellence of wood craftsmanship in the state of Maine.

“The number and quality of submissions were off the scale this year,” says Peter Korn, Executive Director of the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship. “I only regret that we have exhibition space for just 21 pieces out of the 113 entries. The excellence of the work is a powerful confirmation of the vitality of woodworking in Maine.” Continue reading →

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The Abstract Forms of Pablo Picasso and Wendell Castle

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Margaret Polcawich

The Abstract Forms of Pablo Picasso and Wendell Castle
Wexler Gallery
Philadelphia, PA
December 2, 2011 – February 25, 2012

Pable Picasso and Wendell Castle

The newest exhibition at Wexler Gallery will feature important prints by Pablo Picasso, and new work by innovative designer and furniture maker Wendell Castle.

Spanish born painter, sculptor, printmaker, and ceramicist, Pablo Picasso is widely recognized as one of the most brilliant and influential artists of the 20th century. The exhibition will feature a selection of important prints by Picasso, focusing on the master artist’s portraits of woman: his muses, models, wives, and mistresses. Throughout his life’s work, Picasso’s female subjects inspired a range of stylistic inventions and experimental techniques in portraiture. In these intimate works, the artist’s own complicated desires, fears, hopes and anxieties are exposed. Continue reading →

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Craft Forms 2011

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Margaret Polcawich

Craft Forms 2011
Wayne Art Center
Wayne, PA
December 2, 2011 – January 21, 2012

"Figured Out" by Mike Korsak

Wayne Art Center is pleased to announce the opening of Craft Forms 2011, the 17th annual international juried exhibition dedicated to enhancing the public’s awareness of contemporary craft, while providing a venue for established and emerging artists alike to share their functional and sculptural creative endeavors. Craft Forms continues to earn a rapidly growing reputation as one of the nation’s most recognized craft exhibitions. Selected by juror Elisabeth Agro, the Nancy M. McNeil Curator of American modern and Contemporary Crafts and Decorative Arts at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, this year’s exhibit features 126 pieces of the finest works of ceramics, wood, fiber, metal, glass, and mixed media, chosen from over 900 submissions. Continue reading →

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Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Margaret Polcawich

Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show
Pennsylvania Convention Center
Philadelphia, PA
November 10-13, 2011

"Philly Club Chair" by Damian Velasquez

The 35th annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show is a premier show and sale of contemporary craft including 195 of the finest and most dynamic craft artists in the United States, chosen from more than 1,400 applicants.  This year artists from Scotland will also be featured.  This show is presented each November by the Museum’s Women’s Committee and the Craft Show Committee for the benefit of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Continue reading →

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Bradley Fesmire, Yuri Kobayashi, and David Richardson

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Margaret Polcawich

Bradley Fesmire, Yuri Kobayashi, and David Richardson
Grimshaw-Gudewicz Art Gallery
Bristol Community College
Fall River, MA
November 3 – December 15, 2011

detail of "Black Rain Table" by David Richardson

Opening soon at the Grimshaw-Gudewicz Art Gallery, is a three-person show of artists working in wood. Exhibiting their diverse styles and talents will be Bradley Fesmire, Yuri Kobayashi, and David Richardson.

Painting, drawing, color, texture, and wood, are explored in the work of Bradley Fesmire. Yuri Kobayashi explores the traditional material of wood through repetitive processes that are a comforting ritual, yet symbolize and embrace change and growth. Multifaceted experience as both an active painter and restorer of antique furniture bring a balance of artistry and craftsmanship to the studio furniture of David Richardson. Continue reading →

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Fred Baier: The Right Angle

Posted on October 29, 2011 by Margaret Polcawich

Fred Baier: The Right Angle
Crafts Study Centre
University for the Creative Arts
Farnham, Surrey, United Kingdom
October 11, 2011 – January 7, 2012

This show focuses on the remarkable work of Fred Baier. Baier has redefined contemporary furniture with a combination of mercurial intelligence, a playful sense of maths, engineering and colour, and the will to take furniture in directions that hardly seem possible. His work has been recently acquired for the permanent collections of the V&A and he is artist-in-residence for the House of Lords. The exhibition will show new work as well as pieces from his long and radical career, and will make the case for his significance as an artist. This is the second of two exhibitions by leading furniture designer-makers curated in partnership with the Ruthin Craft Centre. Continue reading →

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