movement within tradition
At one point in my career, I figured furnituremaking fell into different silos. There was traditonal furniture or contemporary work. Art or craft. Chair making vs benchwork. Industry vs amatuer. Rural work vs that created in centers of fashion. I envisioned clear differences between each group (mostly stereotypes I put on the work….stereotypes of both the work I understood and the work I didn’t [the art world being one]). There are differences between these groups, both in motives and objectives and intentions. But as I approach somewhere in the middle of my career as a furnituremaker, I’m finding this paradigm inaccurate. These categories overlap at times, and I find interesting work being done in that overlap.
The basketry of Jennifer Zurick comes to mind. Traditon. Art. Contemporary. Craft. I don’t know how to define it….nor should I try to. I’m simply thankful it exists, and that I, at times, get to experience and learn from it (I came across it more frequently when we lived in Berea, KY…..now I hope it comes to exhibitions at the Messler Gallery from time-to-time).
I also think of the work of one of my teachers from my training at the North Bennet Street School- Lance Patterson. His work is within tradition but is not a copy. It has his thoughtfulness, his touches, and his choices throughout. It’s a new object, even if the form is familiar.
I think of that approach frequently as I work within the green woodworking tradition. I’m not breaking new ground as I woodwork- nor am I attempting to. I’m focused on good work and making the few different chairs that are stuck in my head and wanting to be made. The lounge chair is one of these chairs. I see the Appalachian chairmaking tradition in it (hickory bark and shaved octagons). I’ve spent the last five years immersed in that impressive traditon while working on ‘Backwoods Chairmaker,’ though I’m not an Appalachain chairmaker myself, so it is only fitting that it flavors my work. I’m excited with how this first version of the lounge chair turned out and I have parts ready to bend for the next one (something just a smidge wider and lower on version 2.0). This is what excites me in the morning and gets me into the shop before I eat a breakfast.
