Exceptional Wood Art @ Art Hop

This year's Art Hop in Burlington, VT was another successful event, perhaps the best yet. I'm amazed that in a such a small state, someone can organize an art event that includes well over 500 artists, over 100 studios and make-shift galleries, and draw tens of thousands art enthusiasts. I also love how it seems to be such a Vermont-ish event in that it is so egalitarian, everyone one is welcome and can find a space to display work. And artist of all levels do, successful professional artists can be seen right next to novices (many of whom are also very good). You know you won't like everything, in fact, you might not like most of what you see, but you never know what to expect and there are so many surprising gems, works by artists you've never heard of, that it is worth it to endure the marathon march it takes to see a majority of the work (seeing everything is not realistic for normal human beings).

I started on Friday, September 9, at 2:30 (two hours before the start) and finished at 10:00 and still hadn't seen close to everything but, coincidentally, I found the best wood art at both the beginning and end (I returned on Saturday and looked for a couple more hours but still didn't get to every venue, although, I have to admit, seeing all the venues would be infinitely easier if I didn't know anybody).

One of my first stops was Select Design, a brand development company, which always has high quality work in their space. I hadn't checked the show guide because it is too overwhelming to look through so I was completely surprised and very pleased to find that BigTown Gallery, of Rochester, VT, was exhibiting a number of their artists there, including Hugh Townley and Duncan Johnson.

Townleyberrybush

cedar threaded on metal
1960-62
Hugh Townley

Mrs. Crowlady
mahogany on painted base
1998-2006
Hugh Townley

I had previously seen this piece, A Brief History of Haley's Comet, at Hugh's retrospective show at the Fleming Museum a couple of years ago but this viewing gave me a chance to look at it more closely and seen how he constructed it. There are a lot of things I like about this piece, but what I really love is the wormy mahogany at the bottom which I assume plays the role of stars in this composition. The holes are so large that they look like they were drilled out but the lack of tear out along with some horizontal borings make me think that it could only have been done by some very large bugs.

A Brief History of Haley's Comet
mahogany relief
1984
Hugh Townley

There was also this plywood tondo that seems to be some kind of hieroglyphic story which I find indecipherable but I like the contrast between the commonness of the material and the fine craft that was used to construct it. (my image of this piece isn't great because of the lighting but you can view a professional version here).

Tondo 8
plywood relief
2000
Hugh Townley

With Michigan Avenue, it again seems that Hugh is telling a story that I can't decipher, but from the title I can hazard a guess it has something to do with a trip to Chicago.(Again, my image isn't great but you can find a better one here.)

Michigan Avenue
plywood relief
1999
Hugh Townley

Like Hugh, Duncan Johnson's paintings combine inexpensive (actually free) materials with fine craft. As I mentioned in a previous post, Duncan finds discarded wood at his local landfill or nearby construction sites.

What I love most about his work is looking at the wonderful colors people have used in their homes and how it generates so many questions. I wish they all came with a story -- the history of the house, the painter, where the color was used, the families that selected or lived with it -- but with a complete lack of information, my mind is left to wonder/wander all on its own. The colors in this one, Pilot House, I find exceptional, the range of blues, the pink, peach, reds, and then that one lime/yellow below the pink and green blue -- it seems like it was destined for art because I can't believe it ever made any sense inside or outside a house.

Pilot House
found wood, nails, and graphite
Duncan Johnson

Duncan also uses a lot of different size nails in his pieces, meticulously placed along vertical and diagonal lines. There are many more nails than could conceivably be needed to hold the piece together so that they become a form of decoration, bejeweling the wood. By using a range in sizes (I believe including 17, 18, 20, 21 and 23 gauge) they have the effect of giving the pieces a starry quality, especially on a darker piece like this one.

Shepards Gate
found wood, nails, and graphite
Duncan Johnson

With Winter's Weight, and a number of his other paintings, there is an interesting play between background colors and the dynamic, surprising ones. I find that my eyes spend a lot of time on specific colors, jumping around looking for the ones I like best. In this one, I really focus on the pinks and blues. (I had to photograph this one from an angle because of a barrier, you can see a professional image on Duncan's website here.)

Winter's Weight

found wood, nails, and graphite
Duncan Johnson

Filter Fall is a newer piece in which he didn't use any nails (a profession image of this piece is here.)

Filter Fall
found wood
Duncan Johnson

There were also a number of furniture artists in the same show. Lars Larsen and Rolf Kielman, a studio furniture maker and architect team, displayed a few of their production prototypes, with models of the design process, first with paper, then cardboard, then plywood. There chair and table are supposed to assemble without any hardware and can be shipped flat. Very elegant and economical designs.

Lars Larsen and Rolf Kielman

Lars Larsen and Rolf Kielman

When I first saw this display from Modern Vermont, I thought the plywood sheet behind the chairs was the art and was actually a little disappointed to realize it was the CNC cutouts for the chairs in the front of the display. Again, a very economical design that is jazzed up with the colorful side panels.

Lincoln Brown
Modern Vermont

In stark contrast to the production furniture on display, there was also this intelligently minimalist hand-made curly birch table by Eyrich Stauffer.

curly birch
Eyrich Stauffer

My final stop of the night was RL Photo, where I found Clark Derbes' wonderful wood sculptures. He doesn't use any expensive equipment or elaborate techniques to make them. They are intentionally primitive in their construction (his primary tool is a chain saw) which may result in casual observers overlooking their playful sophistication.

Time Traveler
wood and paint
Clark Derbes

I needed to include a lot of images of each piece because one would be pointless. You really need to see them from multiple angles to get a sense of what is going on.

Time Traveler
wood and paint
Clark Derbes

This sculpture, Time Traveler, has twelve sides, cut at random angles, that, along with the recurring geometric paintings, results in an optical effect that dramatically changes the piece as the viewer moves around it. It actually seems to jump between two and three dimensions, and, unlike most sculpture, it gives a sense of being a completely different work when looked at from even a slightly different angle.

Time Traveler
wood and paint
Clark Derbes

In addition to being optically surprising, the primitive nature of their construction adds to their playfulness.

The Three R's
wood and paint
Clark Derbes

Although cleaned up a bit with a palm sander, the chainsaw leaves deep gouges and, to ensure an informality, he rubs dirt in them between coats of paint. The effect is to make them approachable and joyful.

The Three R's
wood and paint
Clark Derbes

Standing Room (left) and Elbow Room (right)
wood and paint
Clark Derbes

Standing Room (left) and Elbow Room (right)
wood and paint
Clark Derbes

Clark's unpainted Solid Box could probably be mistaken for a bench but given the amount of fun and informality that he imbues in his work, I'd guess that he wouldn't mind if it were used that way. Being that it is made of ash, I doubt you would hurt it and he'd probably like the effects wear would have on the wood (not that I'm recommending you sit on it, I'm a firm believer in the policy of always asking before touching the art).

Solid Box
ash
Clark Derbes

Solid Box
ash
Clark Derbes

This final piece, Hollow Red Form 2011, doesn't create the same optical effects as the others but it is also clearly made with a playful spirit. It makes me think of a child's toy, but not one of those boringly perfect factory-made toys, rather something constructed by a child in a time when imagination and spirit was all that was need to have fun.

Hollow Red Form 2011

carved and polychrome pine
Clark Derbes

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get this post up early enough to encourage people to make it to this year's Art Hop (most of the work comes down at the end of September) but I strongly recommend it as a future destination. It is a truly great art event in being so open and welcoming to all kinds of people whatever their level of art sophistication or financial means. Anyone, from a child with a tooth fairy's bank roll to a serious collector with a corporate credit card, can find art that they can afford and appreciate for a lifetime.

Wood Artist Profile: David Hurwitz (Part I)

Of all the artist/craft careers, studio furniture maker has to be the hardest. The combined struggles of mastering the craft of woodworking, developing original designs, maintaining a fully equipped studio, and marketing a product that will cost many times other similarly functioning objects are at least as great than any other discipline. Having made furniture as a hobbyist, I have a good sense of what goes into making furniture with traditional joinery and I know that the artists are lucky to be making a living wage. There just isn't any way around the fact that making fine furniture takes an enormous amount of time. On top of this, just about every schmuck with a table saw has a romantic dream of living in the woods and making furniture for a living; as a result, the competition is extremely stiff.

With the knowledge of these difficulties, I always appreciate seeing someone getting recognition and being on the cusp of making a name for themselves, perhaps even being able to make a reasonable income. Randolph, Vermont artist David Hurwitz is just such a person. As a professional furniture maker since 1988 and self-employed since 1993, David recently had two of his solo piece, along with two collaborations with stone sculptor Kerry Furlani, featured in Lark Books new publication "500 Tables":

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©David Hurwitz 2009

(this little table - bird's-eye maple top, maple legs- actually looks to be dancing)

©David Hurwitz 2009
(Kerry made the top and told David to make a table with it, I think he did a great job of integrating the two components together)

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©David Hurwitz 2009
(this one they designed the components together)

and a writing desk that is also featured in Fine Woodworking's Design Book Eight:

©David Hurwitz 2009
(I really like the use of ash for the legs on this one. The bold lines really work well with the strong curved legs; and the asymmetry of the legs really gives it a sense of being alive. It looks like a bull ready to charge.)

With the occasion of these accolades, and with the thought that I (and perhaps others) would be a lot more interested in this blog if it covered other wood artists, I interviewed David last week in order to get some insights about his work. For space considerations, I'll divide the profile into three posts.

As you can see from the above images, as well as this one, a wine cabinet that was published in Fine Woodworking a few years ago,

©David Hurwitz 2009
(It seems appropriate that waves/ripples would be a key element of a wine cabinet.)

David has a knack for creating lightness and movement with big, thick pieces of wood. He has developed a style that is unique and identifiable as his own -- an important trait in trying to make a name for oneself. The work also seems to be as much sculpture as it is furniture.

Here is David -- I suppose most photographers would take a picture of him pretending to make something but I think this impromptu image may be more insightful:And this is where he works, one of the more upscale industrial parks scattered around Randolph, VT:

Interestingly, as I was wandering around his shop he told me about scoring some mighty fine lumber from the estate of Hugh Townley. Hugh's son was recently looking to sell his remaining inventory of very rare mahogany and other mysterious woods and the rumor of the impending sale made its way to David by chance. Look at this stuff! wormy mahogany that looks like it was devoured by a small snake!

Neither of us could identify the lump of wood on the bottom left, David just thought it was interesting and is planning to polish one side for a small sculptural table.

And a plank of mahogany that is about 24 inches wide! They aren't cutting trees like this any more.

The HT below was labeled by Hugh himself!

David says he hasn't bought or used mahogany since the mid-90's, partly due to its endangered status, but since this stuff was cut long ago there didn't seem to be much harm by indulging. In addition, David was told that the next day someone was coming to buy the lot for trim molding! What a waste that would have been.

All designs and images Copyright 2009, David Hurwitz

Hugh Townley at the Fleming Museum

It has been too cold this week to work in the shop (morning temperatures have been -2, -8, -19, -27, and -17) so I went to the Fleming Museum in Burlington on Wednesday to see the Hugh Townley show. Hugh taught art at Brown for many years and retired to Bethel, VT in the late 90's. He died last year and the Fleming was kind enough to put together a retrospective show. I had seen his work a couple of years ago at the (VT) Governor's Office and was very impressed so I'm glad to get to a chance see more of it now.

His work is influenced by his many trips to India as well as other world travels and by native american culture. I'm not sure what all the symbols mean or what they represent, I just think they look cool. I also like how his work is simultaneously both primitive and refined. For the most part, he leaves saw marks on the wood, not bothering to sand and smooth the surfaces, and his shapes often look rough as well, like he was just winging it as he made them; but he combines a complicated series of shapes together and everything fits perfectly. It gives you the sense that there was a grand plan before he started but at the same time it is very playful, designed like a child's puzzles but with texture. They look like he had a lot of fun making them.

Upon entering the museum there is a sign that asks visitors to ask permission to take photographs, which I dutifully did. The permission giver wasn't available and I was told that someone would get back to me, which they never did, but since I followed the instructions (the sign didn't say I needed to receive permission) I figured it was okay to take some images. Here are a few, better images are on his website.


This one, above, is unusual in that it is made with obiche, an african wood. Most of his sculptures are made with mahogony, often with very large boards that you would have a very hard time getting these days. This one is also unusual in being pretty small, about 18 inches wide. I think it is one of the early ones of this style so it was probably a bit of an experiment. It is titled, "Dark Night - Tuba City." Why did he use a light wood if it represents a dark night? Don't know. What do the pieces mean? Don't know. He seemed to use arrows a lot, they must have meant something to him but I don't have a clue what it is.

These 3 are early pieces (1950's?). The one in the middle has the same "rounds" on the back side of the opposite half. They remind me of the two piece recliner chairs that are made in West Africa, only without the seat part. He did travel to Africa at some point but not sure when or how often; maybe he was familiar with those chairs.

This one was made after the death of Willem de Kooning and is named after him, "deK is Dead." There is a paint brush in the lower left corner, you can also make out a table and maybe a can of paint. It is an interesting 3-d monotonal painting made with wood rather than paint. Definitely more painterly than sculptural.
This one, "A Brief History of Haley's Comet," was completed in 1984, around the time of Haley's last visit to our section of the solar system. I like his use of wormy mahogany in the lower section.

The piece in the middle is also one of his early sculptures. A fun use for a big block of oak. Maybe it was designed as a handy storage space for salad forks? I especially like the plywood pieces seen in the background. They were part of a series done most recently. As he carved through the plywood you see the bold grain patterns and black glue lines. It gives you a new perspective on construction grade plywood. The painted wood piece to the right is also a relatively new piece. I wonder why he started experimenting with color, most of his work is very monotonal, maybe grandchildren?

If anybody has more information or thoughts about the work, please share.