Search results for ""The Center for Art in Wood""

Initially, they were the waste product of wooden bowls turned in an ancient technique by Robin Wood of the United Kingdom, an expert pole-lathe turner and author. Known for his historical and functional objects made on a foot-powered lathe, Wood keeps the tradition of pole turning alive. The leg-powered process Wood uses results in thousands of solid, round chunks – Cores – that get broken out of the center of the bowl at the last moment. Wood donated 100 Cores, which ranged in size from 2 x 2” to 3 x 4” to The Center for Art in Wood in Philadelphia. The Center sent Cores to two-score artists who agreed to the challenge of reworking them into new pieces of art. These works, shown here in more than 240 color photos, formed the exhibition – Robin Wood’s CORES Recycled – by The Center for Art in Wood.

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In 1728 when he was 29 years old, John Bartram (1699–1777), a third generation Pennsylvania Quaker, bought a 102-acre site in the Philadelphia environs and started developing it into an arboretum that became known as Bartram’s Garden. He began sending seeds and plants to Peter Collinson, a London merchant, and many others after that, in wooden boxes he designed for the trans-Atlantic voyages. When a severe storm felled trees in the historic Garden in 2010, The Center for Art in Wood in Philadelphia challenged artists across the world to create works from the wood that expressed the botanist's voice and dedication. Forty artists responded with diverse projects that keep Bartram's spirit alive and celebrate nature, science, and design.

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“I am interested in your personal hang-ups: Not your lifetime neuroses but your (ideal) hat, coat and/or clothes tree or hanger, wall hooks, free standing pole, rack, stand or small wall system. With this invitation Gail M. Brown, an independent curator, challenged artists to create inventive forms for an exhibition at The Center for Art in Wood in Philadelphia. The resulting sculptures by 38 artists ranged from a straightforward coat rack to a four-foot apartment house riding on a fish, from a scepter-like paean to Joan Miro to a “four eyes nun-backed chair,” and from a bird house to a wall-mounted seat and desktop. The artists used a wide range of woods, from the ordinary to the exotic, as well as rubber, steel, and gold-plated brass. The works project grace, intelligence, whimsy, humor, and serious craft.

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In these pages, you'll find a celebration of the evolution of the Wood Turning Center's museum collection and its 25th anniversary of leading the growth, awareness, appreciation, and promotion of artists and their creation and design of art in wood and wood in combination with other materials. To better reflect the growing recognition and importance of wood artists and their contemporary works of fine art and craft, in 2011, the Center changed its name to The Center for Art in Wood. Here are more than 1,000 works of art in wood, including 100 from the Center's November 2011 to April 2012 exhibitions, and many others from its permanent collection. In addition, seven essayists offer their perspectives on the Center's past and future, its collection, and its contribution to the field of art in wood.

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Over 200 photos plus insightful essays from a variety of perspectives celebrate the chair—the centerpiece of furniture arts over the course of American furniture making—in this inspiring showcase of 45 works from 39 artists. These chairs, benches, and stools are sculptural, conceptual, functional (and occasionally dysfunctional) seating, reflecting the dramatic latest evolution since the storied history of chairmaking in Philadelphia. Statements by each of the artists offer their sources of inspiration and creativity. The chairs, set against the backdrop of the world's mass-production and petroleum-based materials, stand as a beacon to the vitality and critical importance of independent artisans and designers in raising the bar of excellence in the built world. A one-of-a-kind history of Philadelphia chair design, with full-page images of 40 historic chairs, is also featured. Compiled by Joshua Lane, the Lois F. and Henry S. McNeil Curator of Furniture, Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, it details their evolution and makers, and their significance in furniture history.

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