Casting Convention Aside: Bart Niswonger @ Gallery NAGA

Having seen Bart Niswonger's work a number of times, I've known he was an innovative furniture maker, but his first solo show at Gallery NAGA is surprising in just how dramatically he has been able to innovate. Bart is clearly the type of artist that can't repeat himself. Though his previous work is good enough that he could spend a lifetime turning out variations of his existing designs, and I wouldn't begrudge him at all for doing it - any reasonable person would, instead he has used his previous work as just a starting point.


In this first piece, he has cast urethane in his trademark carved ash molds for the base, and created an ash top that he also used as a mold for two other pieces in the show. Though not over-powering in scale or design, I consider it, and its sister piece below, two of the most unconventional and innovative pieces of furniture I've ever seen. Conventionally, one would expect a table top to be flat (I don't remember ever seeing one that wasn't -- or at least wasn't supposed to be), but these have obstacles on them, creators that create a risk for someone placing a drink down on them without paying attention, it may spill. Though I have no idea what Bart's intention with this design was, I think the result is brilliant. It forces the user to pay attention to their actions. With these, you can't just blindly proceed through life, out of habit, not knowing what you are doing, rather, you are forced to think and be aware of your surroundings. The result is a mindful piece that I believe the Buddha would be appreciate. Though using them may not lead to enlightenment, I'm sure they can help move the user in that direction. Perhaps the world would be a better place if all tables came with such features. Maybe this will start a movement that Ikea will eventually catch on to -- we can only hope.

Black Side Table

ash, cast urethane, paint

2012

Black Side Table (closeup)

The simple base on this piece along with its understated opaque white top is in complete contrast to the radically unconventional design. 

Coffee Table

ash, cast urethane

2012

In this image you can see that the cast urethane picks up the ash grain pattern perfectly.

Coffee Table (closeup)

Given the pattern of the mounds in this medicine cabinet, I'm pretty certain it was also cast from the first piece. I like how the addition of yellow in the circles creates a complementary color that, along with the circle grain pattern, results in a nice, unique, polka dot effect. 

Medicine Cabinet
ash, cast urethane, paint
2012

Though Bart envisioned it as a medicine cabinet, I noticed on his website that he has a very broad understanding of "medicine" such that I wouldn't be surprised to see it holding Scotch in his own household. 

Medicine Cabinet (inside)

I'm not sure how the Buddha would feel about Bart's Ball Side Table but, aesthetically, it is my favorite piece in the show. I've seen him use this wave pattern (on the carcass) a number of times before but this time he decorated the peaks with random sized spheres, creating a very playful effect. But the really great thing he did with the piece is in casting a urethane (removable) top to provide a beautiful and interesting flat surface.

Ball Side Table

ash, maple, cast urethane, paint

2012

Aside from the obvious aesthetics, the reason I think this piece is so interesting is that he first cast the urethane on ash (you can see the grain pattern below, the imprint is on the underside) then, before the urethane fully hardened, he was able to imprint the spheres into it so that there is a perfect alignment between the two. 

Ball Side Table (closeup)

Remarkably, he was able to maintain the ash grain pattern in the urethane even as it was distorted by the spheres (you can barely see this below).

Ball Side Table (closeup)

In this final piece, Bart appears to have decorated the cabinet with cast flowers, but he actually used winter squash to create the molds.

Red Yellow Cabinet

ash, cherry, cast urethane, paint

2012

With the door open, you can see that though his work is conceptually radical, he still uses the finest traditional craftsmanship in his construction. 

Red Yellow Cabinet (inside)

By the way, in case you are interested in how Bart cuts the circle/holes in these pieces, as I learned in writing an earlier post, he uses a custom build vertical mill (a tool typically used for drilling in metal) that he modified for woodworking. A reasonable person would never consider going to the trouble but, thankfully, Bart is completely unreasonable. 

More Coverage of the Furniture Society Conference Exhibits

Belatedly, I've finally found the time to post the final reviews of the exhibits on view at the Furniture Society Conference in Cambridge, MA a few of months ago. In addition to the Jenna Goldberg, Society of Arts and Crafts, and Historical Woods exhibits I've already written about, this post covers a juried show of New England artists, Six Degrees of Separation, and a juried outdoor furniture exhibit. The next and final post covers the members exhibit and a couple of silent auction donations. I have to thank the Furniture Society for giving me a press pass for the event. Having a blog does has its advantages every now and then; and getting to the conference was a good chance to meet a number of great artists and see a broad range of work by people I was not familiar with.

This piece, Tray, by Rich Tannen is my favorite from all the shows I saw as part of the conference. It is very minimalistic but at the same time fascinating in its technical difficulty. The form has the subtlety of being hand-made while having a fine repetitive pattern that, although appearing machine made, doesn't have the clunkiness that one would expect from a machine. It is a perfect combination man and machine to create something that appears impossible. I also like how he has taken a common piece of maple and created an extraordinary grain pattern. Because of its subtlety, I had a real hard time capturing a good image of it so check out Rich's website for better pictures here and here.

Tray
maple
2" x 28" x 6"
Rich Tannen

James Sagui's piece, Until Next Summer, is a great piece of trompe l'oeil sculpture. I often find that trompe l'oeil work looks better in photographs then in person but this one looks better when you are in front of it. Impeccably constructed, it requires very close inspection to find evidence that it is not what it appears to be.

Until Next Season
handcarved bleached basswood
James Sagui

After looking it over a while, I finally found evidence of wood by looking inside the mug and seeing that it was turned on a lathe.

Until Next Season (close-up)

The embossing on the book was also impeccable.

Until Next Season (close-up)

I have seen images of Mario Messina's Cephlapod lamp a number of times and found it to be every bit as impressive in person, although I was struck by how much bigger it was than I imagined. It is almost 4' long and without something to scale the image, the measurements can be easily overlooked. I placed my keys on the stand to help but because of how it was placed in the exhibit, I wasn't able to take a good image. It was actually pretty disappointing that it was placed in a tight space that didn't allow me, or anyone, to get a good look at it from the side. For a better image, look here.

Cephlapod
hickory, bamboo, uuryu paper
26" x 47" x 21"
Mario Messina

This was also the second time I've seen, and now the second time I've mentioned, Bart Niswonger's Textured Sideboard. It is a great piece so it deserves a second mention, but it is also interesting to see it next to Rich Tannen's Tray as they are both using common lumber to create extraordinary grain patterns rather than searching for lumber with extraordinary figure.

Textured Sideboard
cherry, ash, paint
Bart Niswonger

I also enjoyed seeing Thomas Shields' sculpture Support. Constructed with nine(?) found chairs, it creates an interesting contrast between the junky/rickety look of the materials and the fine craftsmanship that it took to assemble them into one piece. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find any links to his work on the Internet so his background is still a mystery to me. (Update April 29, 2011 - I've learned that Tom Shields now has a website, see it here. It shows an interesting perspective on using furniture as sculptural subjects as opposed to functional objects.)

Support
found chairs
Thomas Shields

The Conference also included an outdoor exhibit. I really enjoyed the playful/fun nature of this seemingly children's block inspired chair by Xiaoyu Bia. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any more links to Xiaoyu's work on the Internet either.

Colour Blocks
Xiaoyu Bia

This Knit Hammock and Knitting Needle Stand by three artists -- Stephan Iino, Carol Sibley, and Janet Lord -- reminds me of Claes Oldenberg's work. Pretty cool. It really has the sense of having been created by giants.

Knit Hammock and Knitting Needle Stand
Stephan Iino, Carol Sibley, Janet Lord

Dave Barresi's Pivoting Garden Bench looks to be a lot of fun also. Coincidentally, Reagan Furqueron had a similarly designed piece, Coffee Table w/Boot on view at the Society of Arts and Crafts at the same time.

Pivoting Garden Bench
Dave Barresi

I also enjoyed Robert Rickard's inviting Conversation Bench. The way they lean back but are attached in the middle seem to give a sculptural interpretation of the push/pull nature of a good conversation.

Conversation Bench
Robert Rickard

And finally, these hay bail chairs, titled Lazy Hay and made by John Tagiuri, are fun but not particularly comfortable unless you are between 10 and 15 feet tall. You also end up smelling like hay after sitting in them for a few minutes. Not that I'm not complaining, someone aught to market a cologne, Eau de Hay. (warning: I'm suing anyone who manufactures it without giving me a cut of the sales.) I like his sense of humor and large scale design sense, especially as with this table an chair set.

Lazy Hay
John Tagiuri

Modes of Making @ Society of Arts and Crafts

The Society of Arts and Crafts curated an inspiring furniture show that also coincided with the Furniture Society Conference in Boston, titled Modes of Making, and exhibited June 5 to August 14. It features a wide range of art, some functional, some not; some contemporary, some traditional; mostly made of wood, but also some metal.

My favorite piece is, again, one made by Bart Niswonger. His F.O.M. Cabinet, which very much resembles Swiss cheese, is very inventive. I couldn't figure out how he cut the holes so I asked. It turns out he used a vertical mill, a tool I hadn't been familiar with but which is essentially a drill press on steroids used primarily for metal work. Bart made custom cutters for this piece.

FOM Cabinet
Bart Niswonger

I like how SAC painted the wall behind it green, making the piece really stand out. The rest of the gallery was painted off white. They must have thought a lot of it as well since they gave it the prime spot at the entrance.

I also really like this this table by Reagan Furqueron. It is a nice blend of functional and sculptural work with a little bit of humor.

Coffee Table w/Boot
Reagan Furqueron

Another piece with humor is My Casket by Shaun Bullens. The piece includes a video that you can see through a small peep hole on the right side. It shows Shaun pulling the coffin through city streets for about 30 minutes (I didn't watch the whole thing). I was told that the work was inspired by Herman Melville's Moby Dick. It combines fine woodworking, rough carpentry, video art, and conceptual art. The veneer of the base has a fiery motif on the far side as well. I think it is funny that someone would create a casket titled, My Casket, and have offer it for sale. If someone buys it, do you ask for it back when you need it?

My Casket
Shaun Bullens

This sculpture by Sylvie Rosenthal is also conceptual. Titled, Equilibrium: Balance III, it includes sixteen metal cubes engraved with words of emotion -- grief, love, fury, chaos, regret, temptation, joy, terror, compassion, loving kindness, vice, desire, clarity, greed, passion, forgiveness -- below a balance. It entices one to play and find out if these words really create an equilibrium. At least in her sculptural world, they do.

Equilibrium: Balance III
Sylvie Rosenthal

One of the more traditionally designed pieces is this finely crafted chair by Paula Garbarino. The design is original and with the narrow back rest and three legs, it has foot in the contemporary furniture world as well.

Begonia Tripod Chair
Paula Garbarino

Yuri Kobayashi created this purely sculptural piece, Believing. I'm not sure what the title refers to but it reminds me of early Wright Brothers airplanes, perhaps it has something to do with believing and accomplishing the impossible. It is certainly a very complicated construction, looking simultaneously fragile and strong.

Believing
Yuri Kobayashi

I had read on-line that it was made of ash and sterling silver before seeing it in person but couldn't figure out where the silver was so I made a point of looking closely when I got there -- she used silver pins to hold the through tenons in place.
Finally, Will Tracey created these cool Japanesque Flat Head Stools with cherry, poplar, and paint. Seeing them in person once again reminded me how different work looks in photographs. They were chosen for the show post card which somehow gave me the impression that they were much larger. At 18" high, they are actually a good stool height, but they have a very diminutive look that made me double check the dimensions.

Will Tracey
Flat Head Stools

CraftBoston Debrief

I just got back from the CraftBoston show over the weekend. I was very impressed with the quality of the show. The vast majority of artists also participated in the most competitive juried shows in the country, including the Smithsonian and Philadelphia Museum shows. Unfortunately, the majority of people I talked with (but certainly not all) were disappointed with sales. As a wall art artist I almost feel like the entertainment between jewelery and clothing booths (where the majority of sales occur). After two really poor show sales (Paradise City - Marlborough was only slightly better than the goose egg laid at this one) I have to wonder if these shows are the best venue for my work. The truth is that I really don't think it is, but I'm not sure what the alternative is either. The shows offer a massive amount of exposure that I can't get any other way and I can only hope that the exposure pays off at some point. With larger work on the higher end and nothing inexpensive for sale, one has to expect that people have to think about it and that sales will happen down the road. I don't really find the lack of sales depressing, rather, I find it confusing. I wonder if the Boston area isn't the right place for my work, are the people too conservative? (I seemed to get a better response at the Northampton shows that have much more of a NY audience). Is it the economy? (Some people are selling alright so I can't blame everything on the economy). Some artists talk about the changing demographics with an aging population that has enough stuff already. Whatever it is, I am sure wall art is a tougher sell right now, maybe for the indefinite future.

CraftBoston Booth Shot

Although it is extremely hard to be objective about your own work, I think I'm producing the best art I have ever made and I still get a good response from enough people to make me think that I'm not completely off-base (aside from one women who wanted to know if my work was flooring), so all I know to do is to keep on going (I was delighted to learn that a glass artist couple actually voted for my booth for the Artist Choice Award, given the quality of work at this show, just getting one vote is a huge accomplishment.) Maybe I'll get into the other top shows (I've already applied for the Philadelphia museum show for the fall) and get better exposure (and maybe, just maybe, sales). My hope is to eventually get out of the show circuit, either though gallery representation and/or a network of commissions and collectors but that kind of wish is the holy grail of the arts community, attained by only a select few though some mysterious alchemy that combines hard work, luck, talent, drive, marketing and more work. These shows are painfully expensive, exhausting, and stressful. It is a hard way to make a living even if you are making a living from it. My fear is that the show circuit is a never ending loop that you enter with a plan to leave but can't get out once it starts to work for you. Some jewelery artists I've talked with do more than twenty shows a year.

Besides the exposure, these shows are a great opportunity to meet other artists and see their great work. Of the wood artists, I was particularly drawn to the intriguing sculptures of Bruce Chapin. His work is mysterious, thought provoking, and very soulful; seemingly generated from the unimpeded subconscious. I suspect Carl Jung would have a field day with it but it is probably more interesting to just leave them for wonderment.

The Philosopher

Billy Day Tart

Scarifier

Several of his pieces had doors that open to some other object inside. This is the only one that I was able to get a decent image of. Some are more evocative of a human form on the outside or more evocative of a soulful form on the inside.

Moon Boy Dreaming

unknown title

Gripped Beyond

I also got to meet Bart Niswonger whose work I had seen at Gallery NAGA a few weeks earlier.

In addition to the cast urethane cabinet that I wrote about for that show, I really like what he did with this wavy ash cabinet. Unfigured ash can be a boring choice for fine furniture but by adding the waves he has essentially created figured lumber and by adding the color he has found a great way to highlight the grain.
Here is a close-up. It is a technique that is both spectacular and distinctive.
I also met Bonnie Birshoff of the J.M. Syron and Bishoff duo and was very impressed by their tamo and polymer clay veneered cabinet.
This was my first encounter with tamo. It is a Japanese ash that can have spectacular figure similar to the highest quality quilted maple. Of course, I immediately wondered how I could get a hold of some of this as solid lumber, rather than veneer, but a quick Internet search indicates that money would have to be no object. Veneer like this could cost more than $7/sq foot so a board, 1 inch thick, if you could find it in the US (and I really doubt it) would likely cost more than $50/board ft. To get it I'm sure you would have to go to a Japanese mill and outbid the veneer buyers. I might as well stick with my local hardwoods, still, this is amazing stuff.

tamo close-up

In talking with other artists at shows, I find it amazing that anybody ever figures out how to make a living doing this. A lot of very talented people with top quality work are struggling. Still, I think there must be a way to make it work. Unfortunately, beyond winning ArtPrize, I'm at a bit of a loss for ideas.

North Bennet Street Benefit Show Full of Surprises

I stopped by Gallery NAGA last week after setting up for the Paradise City - Marlborough show in order to see For North Bennet Street, a benefit exhibition of studio furniture makers in which 50% of the sale price goes to the North Bennet Street School, Boston's 125 year old traditional craft school with prestigious programs in furniture making, bookbinding, violin making, among others.

One would think that it would be hard to attract top quality talent for a show in which the artist only gets 25% of the sale price but this show is really a great mix of high quality work from both superstars in the studio furniture world and up-and-comers. Although Gallery NAGA selected the artists and pulled together the show, a good portion of the credit for the quality has to go to the schools executive director, Miguel Gómez-Ibáñez, whose personal relationships with with many of the artists surely influenced their decisions to participate. Here is a list of participating artists:

Garry Knox Bennett
Dale Broholm
Jon Brooks
John Eric Byers
Mark Del Guidice
John Dunnigan
Ben Fleis
Hank Gilpin
Miguel Gomez-Ibanez
Thomas Hucker
Silas Kopf
John Marcoux
Judy Kensley McKie
Bart Niswonger
Jere Osgood
Todd Partridge
Timothy Philbrick
Mitch Ryerson
James Schriber
Tommy Simpson
Rosanne Somerson
Jay Stranger
J.M. Syron and Bonnie Bishoff
Tim Wells
Steve Whittlesey
Lothar Windels
Rick Wrigley

Of all the pieces in the show, my favorite is Bart Niswonger's Green Cabinet made with ash, cast urethane, and paint. It shouldn't be surprising to see original work in a show of such talented artists, but this piece is really something different. Although I really liked it when I first saw it, it left me a little confused. I didn't realize that the ash he had carved for the panels was just used as a mold for the urethane. When the gallery director, Meg White, showed me that the panels were pure urethane, I liked it even more. On the doors and top he used the flat side of the cast on the outside, on the side panels the carved side is facing out. Ash was an excellent choice for making the mold because the grain pores are so open that it leaves a very visible grain pattern in the cast, thus the confusion on whether the doors are made of wood.

Beyond the originality of using wood as a panel mold, the patterns he carved play with the grain pattern but are not tied to it. The piece is an interesting contrast between the natural and synthetic that I felt worked really well.

Another pleasant surprise of the show is this Back of the Big House Table by Dale Broholm. I was absolutely fascinated by the simple beauty of the vertical grain fir he used for the table top.

It is hard to capture with a camera, but trust me, it is amazing.
Here is a close-up. I initially thought the top was quarter sawn ash but I checked with Dale and he corrected me. Still, this top inspires me to look for or mill myself some quarter sawn ash as well as vertical grain fir.

Another surprise of the show was seeing this table by Rosanne Somerson. From the image that the gallery used for their publicity (below) I thought it was typical coffee table size, but on entering the gallery and seeing the real thing, I found that the title, Small Table With Leaves, was really meant to emphasize the word small.

The real thing was much more unusual and powerful than I realized. In the way that a whisper demands quite to be heard, the small scale of this piece demands your attention.

17" x 15" x 15" (keys added for scale)

white oak and limestone

I also loved this table by Jon Brooks.
The curl on this table top is amazingly tight. It looks more like a wood grain print over textile than wood.
And the most fascinating thing about it is the underside. How often do you see a table that is at least as interesting to look at from underneath as from above? This piece, Citron Altar, was on loan from the collection of Mark and Juliana Phillips because Jon's entire studio, much of his personal collection of his work (including the piece he had made for this show), all his equipment, and a 40 year collection of special lumber, were tragically lost in a fire a couple of months ago. For more information, and any donations you would like to make to help him rebuild, check his site here.

Another surprise is this Scotch and a Cigar - Drink Cabinet by Ben Fleis which just gives a hint of its contents through the partial screen cabinet door.

Made with Swiss pear but also including 18 year old Glenlivet Scotch, two sipping glasses, and two Cuban cigars, the $2400 price seems more than reasonable.

I was also drawn to this off-the-wall small table, Trien, by John Marcoux, made with bass wood rulers, wing-nuts, and paint. It is a pleasant and jarring contrast to the fine furniture in the rest of the show, a little wake-up call to relax and just enjoy.
And finally, I found myself oddly drawn to these chairs by Lothar Windels. They are very austere and simple yet still well crafted. Very utilitarian but still unique. They simultaneously look like they were caringly constructed but could also be made a million more times. The contrasts make them hard to overlook.
With so many great artists in a show like this it is hard to do it justice and cover a fair percentage of it but these are the pieces that stood out the most for me. It is great to see studio furniture makers getting the attention they deserve and see the community supporting each other in making such a significant contribution to North Bennet Street School.