Jon Brooks' Open House

Last summer Jon Brooks held an open house for his home and studio so, being a big fan of his work, I made sure to schedule a trip. Though it has been over 30 years since I've read any of the hobbit books, and I haven't seen any of the movies, approaching Jon's home made me feel like I was entering Middle-earth, probably because the structure seems so mythical. It is a timeless design that can't be assigned to a particular architectural style. It seems to be more influenced by the forest that surrounds it more than any particular person or age. To me, it looks as if a giant mushroom sprouting out a forest floor.

Jon Brooks' Home

Here is a close-up of one of the chimneys, an irregularly-shaped polyp-like structure encrusted with ceramic shards.

Jon Brooks' Chimney (close-up)

These entrance stairs into Jon's home are fantastic and fantastically impractical. As if you are entering a tree house, you need to be sure footed to get to the "first" floor. It is so not ADA as to be laughable. His home makes a statement the minute you enter it, "live for the moment, future be damned," because, clearly, Jon hasn't built his home with worries about what he'll do later in life when his footing isn't so steady. Note the face carved into the floor joist -- not only is every part of this house hand-made, extra care has obviously been taken to turn every piece of construction into a work of art.

Entrance Stairs

Here is a downward view of the entrance. That first step, from the threshold to the stairs, is particularly precarious/funny -- but at least there is a hand rail.

Entrance Stairs (looking down)

Here is a view through the living room toward the top of the entrance stairs. I love the "stairs" going to the second level loft (that thin bone-line structure beyond the couch). Note, there is no hand rail, but at least there is a sculptural banister to keep guests from falling out of bed into the living room. Also note that the wall studs curve into ceiling joists. 

Living Room and Loft

Here is a view of the dining room. I have a good idea who designed and build the chairs and table (I've seen similar things in museums). Also note the spot where the two levels meet, this might be the only location in the house having a right angle .

Dining Room

One of Jon's many dog sculptures (titled Marcel). To emphasis the other-worldliness of Jon's work, this one has five legs. And to put an exclamation point on his impracticality, note that none of us living in this dimension would be able to "use" his chair (titled Apparition) -- the piece seems to be welcoming all beings into the home, regardless of their level of physicality (just because you can't been seen doesn't mean you don't need a seat).

Marcel (dog) with Apparition (chair)

Another wonderful canine playfully polka dotted.

Diminutive Canine Sculpture (unknown title)

Leaving Jon's home and heading to his studio one passes these dancing feminine-form spirals. They are unfinished and unprotected from the elements, but because of their shiny gray patina, I'm assuming they are made with white cedar. As such, they should maintain their timeless beauty for many years to come.

Spiral Scupltures (unknown title)

Here is a close-up. I love how they spring from the earth and appear to be natural growths in spite of the human intervention that was involved with their creation. Simple, elegant,  and skillfully made.

Jon's original studio tragically burnt down a couple of years ago due to an ice storm that broke a electric line running to the building. I believe the design was similar to his home, and having now seen that, I have a greater understanding of how much of a lose his studio was. I'm sure it was a very special place. Fortunately, he has been able to rebuild, and below is an image of the three buildings that now make up his studio.

Jon Brooks' Studio (circa 2012)

Here is an image of Jon, talking to visitors, in his primary studio space. For all the woodworkers of the world that lament the size, quality, or quantity of their equipment please note Jon's band saw, which most makers would consider less-than-professional grade. I also noted that I didn't see a table saw. His studio is a great example of how, with a little imagination, an artist can create museum quality work without top of the line equipment.

Below, Jon is talking with visitors about his then recently completed Ball Chair. He demonstrated how a dowel fits into the hole, I believe to help move it around. I like its very playful design, the natural form, and its simple, unassuming, presence.

Here is a commission Jon was working on at the time. I believe it was to be called Out Of The Closet and is to be used as a beautiful place for the client to hang cloths (so much more attractive and original than a boring closet).

Out Of The Closet (in progress)

And, finally, this is another piece in progress. In seeing his unpainted sculptures, I found it interesting to note how he pieces them together in a way that makes multiple branches look like a single form.

Work in Progress (unknown title)

I'm not sure how often Jon opens his home and studio, or whether he will do it again, but I highly recommend "Liking" his Facebook page in order to get announcements about future events. His home is a large scale museum quality work of art, and getting a chance to see so many of his finished pieces, in their natural habitat, is a wonderful experience -- so much more informative than seeing the work in a museum; and getting a chance to talk with Jon and see pieces under construction is a huge bonus as well.

Jon Brooks Retrospective @ Currier Museum

Walking into the Currier Museum's Jon Brooks retrospective, A Collaboration With Nature, the first thing you see is this chair; it is a style that has made him famous in the studio furniture world -- light, natural tree-like forms recreated into functional and sculptural objects.

Abijah Crosses the Piscataqoug Dressing Chair

figured walnut, maple, enamel, color pencil
2001

But then you go back in time to the beginning of his career, starting with his work as a student at Rochester Institute of Technology's School for American Crafts where he was a studied under and worked for Wendell Castle. I found the process of looking at the evolution of Jon's art absolutely fascinating. I hadn't been familiar with his early work and was surprised to see how different it was from what I had known of his art.

Starting with these two pieces he made as a student in 1966 all the way up to 1984 there is a definite consistency in how he would make pieces.

Homage to Brancusi
elm
1966

With only a few exceptions, the work was sculpted from a single piece of lumber.

Blue Table

elm and acrylic

1969

Most all of this work also uses as much of the natural form as possible, like this Throne, cut from the base of an undulating and wild pine tree.

Throne

pine

1970

Or this chair, carved from a single piece of walnut.

Franklin Chair

walnut

1971

And especially this Pacik Chair that still incorporates a stone that lodged between the roots as the tree grew around it.

Pacik Chair

walnut tree root with stone inclusion

1977

In all cases, however, even when he would use multiple pieces of wood and combine multiple species, the work was very heavy. Thick boards, big bases, massive, almost immobile forms.

Full Moon Under Carolina Pine: Penland

Pine, walnut, ebony
1979

Although Jon wasn't using any of the stack laminate technique that Wendell Castle is famous for, the weight and size of his work reminds me of Wendell's and it is hard to believe that as a student and shop assistant of a great and famous studio furniture designer that Jon wasn't influenced by his work, as in this chair that seems to be a reinterpretation of Wendell's Molar Chair.

Greg Mill Elm Chair

Elm

1980

But, though I like this work, and he was obviously successful with the style, I don't think it is great.

Coat and Hat Rack

pine and oak

1980

Although each piece is definitely unique, an original design that wouldn't ever be replicated, I don't think the overall technique or style is particularly unique. Although I can't say where or by whom, it feels like I have seen others making similar things.

Connie's Piano Bench

walnut, pine, cherry

1982

While this work pays homage to the nature of trees and forests, their weight is somewhat inelegant. They are spiritual in concept but earth-bound in execution.

Dot and Jay Lamp

Hemlock, walnut, maple

1983

Ironically, one of the last of this part of Jon's career is this ladder, a form that in reoccurring through out his later work but in this incarnation, though it is trying to reach for the heavens, it is weighed down by gravity, dead-ending into a wall.

Pathless Resistance

sugar pine, walnut

1983

But then something really amazing happens. Jon had a few residencies in Australia and New Zealand in 1983 and 1984, and when he returned to New Hampshire his work changed dramatically. One of the earliest examples of this transformation was in these ladder-back chairs. With them, he is still using natural forms of the wood in the pieces but his work suddenly becomes much lighter. It reaches for the heavens in a way that gives a sense of being a path to the spirit world. It isn't vainly reaching upward any more.

Styx Ladder-back Chairs

maple

1985

He also began developing a unique method of joining lumber in both his sculptures and furniture. As with these dog sculptures, he started taking branches or saplings (probably harvested form his forest covered property in New Hampshire) and forming the pieces into natural looking forms re-envisioned into mythical creatures and designs. It is an interesting process because he is able to take scraps from a forest and create art that is both minimal and sturdy. The result is something that looks like it was plucked directly out of the woodlands while being minimally invasive to the ecology of the forest.

Georgia and Alfred
1991

I love the playful polka dots on Georgia and Alfred. I didn't see any other examples of this type of decoration on his other pieces but I think it abstractly captures the nature of the dogs he is sculpting.

Georgia or Alfred (close-up)

Conceptually, the new work is the same as his earlier pieces. They are natural looking forms seemingly cut, as is, from a single tree, but at this point in his career he started creating something absolutely original. Nobody looking at it would ever associate it with any other artist and any other artist who attempted to imitate it would be cursed with being constantly reminded of how it is derivative of Brooks. With this series, Jon was able to create a body of work that is defined by him, like Albers with squares; Serra with steel walls; and Mondrian with anything that is Mondrian-esque.

Dodge Hill Dressing Chair

sugar maple, walnut, acrylic, color pencil, lacquer, oil and varnish

1997

It also seems that his joining and sculpting technique led him to incorporate painting into his art, perhaps as a way to cover the joints and make the piece look like one whole, organic, object. And, by covering the joints with paint, he created a canvas to incorporate dots, scribbles, and symbols to the surfaces which in turn takes the work to another level, beyond furniture and into something that is as much fine art as it is fine craft.

Everglades Cloud Table
maple, curly maple, acrylic, color pencil, lacquer, oil and varnish
1998

Everglades Cloud Table (close-up)

This work is simply exquisite. Some of it is functional, some is purely sculptural, but it is all completely original fine art.

True Loves Blue

curly maple, acrylic, color pencil, lacquer, oil and varnish

2000

True Loves Blue (closeup)

Gallery View of True Loves Blue and two Ranfred Dining Set Chairs (2005)

But what I particularly like about his post 1984 work is how spiritual it is. It seems to come from a different place, that Jon is somehow channeling another world.

Angel Dog Table
maple, walnut, acrylic, color pencil
2004
photo credit: Bill Truslow

I find it just so interesting to see how an artist would suddenly go from good to great because of how he was able to find and incorporate a new influence. I think it is also very instructive in that artists need to look for new experiences and not be content with previous and preconceived concepts.

Citron Altar
(this piece was in the museum show but the photo was taken at Gallery NAGA in 2010)
curly maple, sugar maple, acrylic, stain, varnish, lacquer
2009

Citron Altar (close-up)

In 2010 Jon's work took another change in direction, though not as dramatic as in 1984. As a result of a tragic fire that engulfed his workshop and taking with it all his tools and much of his personal collection (I think I heard that some it had just been finished for this museum show), he seems to have incorporated scarification and burning, as with this new chair, Mouvinon (which looks like it might be a french word but I think is pronounced "Movin' On"), that was finished just as he began the installation of the show.

Mouvinon
Quilted maple, maple, black birch, yellow birch, and beech 2011

As with much of his work, this piece has a life of its own. It isn't just a chair, but a character that, in addition to sitting on, you could sit next to and have a conversation with. There is also a definite continuity with his Citron Altar, but Mouvinon has a heavier feel in its texture, color, and the flat-footedness of the legs. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to see that much priceless art, equipment, and personal history taken away; but as with any great artist, he is clearly channeling the experience into his art and using it as inspiration to take his work in new and interesting directions. I am anxious to see how Jon's work continues to evolve because, as tragic as the event was, I'm sure his work will ultimately benefit from it.

Mouvinon (close-up)

Photography Note: I should have contacted the museum ahead of time to get permission to photograph the show because halfway through the guards told me that I couldn't take pictures. I took a couple clandestinely anyway but was only able to get images of much of Jon's later work by having the museum email images to me later (I noted the photographer of the studio images when I had the information). Even though the professional photographs are great, I still prefer to use my own images because they seem to have more of the information I'm looking for. Oh well, now I know, get a press pass before going to a museum show and avoid paying the entrance fee as well.

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.