November Issue 2001
Artists Discuss Their Work in Chair Show 4 at Folk Art Center in Asheville, NC
The Folk Art Center in Asheville, NC, will
feature a new furniture exhibition entitled Furniture Makers
of the Southern Highland Craft Guild, in the Center's Interpretive
Gallery, from Nov. 10 through Apr. 7, 2002. Accompanying the Main
Gallery's Chair Show 4 exhibition, twenty members of the
Guild who work in furniture will offer examples of their work
in an overall theme of handmade American furniture. In addition,
several of the exhibitors will meet the public in an informal
gallery talk from 2-4pm on Dec. 1. This free discussion, open
to the general public, gives studio artists from the Furniture
Makers exhibition as well as the Chair Show 4 an opportunity
to share their interpretation of the various works displayed in
each show. From the clearly "sittable" to the boldly
conceptual, chairs of varied purposes and styles will be discussed,
along with other furniture pieces such as tables and cabinets.
In Furniture Makers of the Southern Highland Craft Guild,
twenty furniture makers, representing six states in the Southern
mountain region, will have pieces on display, showing the range
of styles found within Guild membership. Some chairs carry on
the traditions of Southern mountain furniture making like Arval
and Max Woody's ladderback chairs (Spruce Pine and Marion, NC)
or the Shaker chairs of Charles Harvey (Berea, KY). Guild members
work from a broad range of influences, and visitors will also
see Art and Craft style influences in Gary Peterson's cabinetry
(Asheville, NC), the exotic woods in David Scott's contemporary
furniture (Clyde, NC), and the Swedish influences in Drew Langsner's
simple, but elegant Hearth Chair (Marshall, NC). The famous
Windsor chair, in true traditional form, can be one of the most
time-consuming furniture pieces to make, especially when made
with hand tools. The Guild's William Showalter (Greeneville, TN)
presents one of his historically accurate examples of this well-loved
chair, his early American Jefferson Signature Chair.
Brad Warstler (Floyd, VA), Michael T. Maxwell (Bedford, VA), and Bibi Harris (Marietta, SC) are furniture designers who excel in both creative innovations and craftsmanship. Each present a piece in this show that represents their considerable talents. Tim Hintz (Smithville, TN) and Tom Donahey (Marshall, NC) have a deep understanding of hand chair-making techniques native to the region. Their submissions in this show, Hintz's chair with a woven bark seat, and Donahey's rocker with a rush bottom, are examples of designs from a continuing evolution of mountain "thumb back" or "bent back" chairs. Don Bundrick (Talullah Falls, GA) and Dominick Ferullo (Saluda, NC) are experts in the field of rustic furniture making. Ferullo's rustic end table and Bundrick's Copper Snake Chair are delightful examples of practical rustic furniture designs, with bark of the wood still intact.
These pieces and those in Chair Show 4 will be discussed on Dec. 1 by a panel of exhibiting furniture makers. This show remains open daily until Apr. 7, 2002. Chair Show 4 will continue through Jan. 13, 2002.
For more information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings or call the center at 828/298-7928.
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