Opening

The opening of the exhibition was a great success. A lot of people came through the gallery that evening, unfortunately nothing sold but I did get a lot of press. Thanks again to Jennie at Traillworks for all of her help and effort in making the event possible.

Here are a few images from the evening. My son Quinn enjoyed all of the people. Here we are with my friend Bruce Dehnert. Bruce heads up the ceramics department at Peters Valley. The top image is of myself and gallery owner Jennie Traill Schaeffer who did a painting of the bread boxes.

Traillworks Gallery Exhibition

September 1st was the start of my collaborative exhibition with Jennie Traill Schaeffer at her gallery in Newton, NJ. The exhibition coicides with the 2nd Saturday Tour of Art on Spring Street. On display are eleven of my tables I call " Bread Side Tables" along with Jennies vibrant paintings. Jennie set up the exhibition and it looks great'. The official opening is on Saturday the 12th at 5PM.

Woodturning for BeginnersI

This past week Lee Alexander taught a beginners woodturning class at Pters Valley. Seven students signed up for this five day class. The class was a great success, students learned to turn spindles, goblets, bowls and more.

The exhibition at Traillworks opened on the first of September. The official opening is on the 12th. I'll have more imgaes then. These images are of the bread side tables in production. Here are the tables getting their bases and legs attached. A row of finished tables waiting to be delivered to the gallery,

Last month rustic chairmaker Wayne Hall taught a five day workshop in Rustic Furniture Making. This was Waynes first visit to Peters Valley. Waynes' class was a huge success, selling out quickly. The eleven students made incredible chairs, all unique in style and design. Wayne who originally hails from North Carolina now calls Maine home. As well as being a full time rustic furniture maker Wayne teaches part time at the University of Maine.

The image above is of a room full of red maple sticks. Gary McNabb shows off his almost completed chair. I'm envious of all of the students, they went home with a great chair sure to be passed down from generatio to generation.

My Favorite'

Often when I'm teaching a class I am asked "what is my favorite thing I love to build"? I love making tables. Tables can be traditional, sculptural, whatever. They don't have to fit exact measuremants like a kitchen cabinet does. I find them very freeing as a designer and maker.

My favorite piece of furniture I have ever made has to be my two old Adirondack chairs. I was given a bunch of old pine floor boards that came out of an 1800's house on Cap Cod. The boards were thin and were various thicknesses and widths, varnished on one side and were stained from where the square nails once were. The boards were beautiful. I had them sitting around for a long time and finally made myself a couple of Adirondack chairs. I love the chairs, not so much for the look of them, though they do look beautiful, varnish flaking and stained, but more for what they represent. They are meant to relax in. Forget your troubles for a moment and just sit and take it easy. I also think about the gentleman who gave me the boards. His name escapes me but he was moving his family from Cap Cod to Austin Texas. I have the chairs sitting at the side of the house, facing west, so Liesl and I can watch the sun set.

Getting ready for Traillworks

Getting ready for the "Tour of Art" exhibition at the Traillworks Gallery.

Here are some of the bread boxes I have collected over the years, washed and ready to be assembled. I buy most of them at garage sales, thrift stores and on ebay. I also collect vintage ottomans from the same time period. I remove the legs and hardware and use them as the legs for the bread box tables.

The legs from the ottomans are a good height. The tables aren't to high. I like to use materials from the same time period, I could turn them myself but then I would have to buy the hardware separately. It is actually cheaper to buy the ottoman with the legs and the hardware. I now have a collection of vintage vinyl ottomans that I'll make something with. Some of the legs will stay as they are and some will get painted, depending on which bread box I use.

Tour of Art Exhibition at Trailworks Gallery

This September I have the privelage of being the guest Artist for the month at the Traillworks Gallery in Newton New Jersey. Artist and gallery owner Jennie Schaeffer has kindly invited me to show my line of work " Bread Side Tables". I will be showing my work along side Jennies' wonderful paintings. I feel our work will compliment eachother nicely. This exhibition will co-incide with Newtons Spring Street " Tour of Art", Second Saturday on Spring Street.

To learn more about the Traillworks Gallery and to learn more about Jennies' work visit her website and blog at www.traillworks.com and www.traillworks.blogspot.com.

Keep watch- I'll be assembling ten Bread Side Tables for the exhibition.

Thanks Jennie'

Alice, Angie and the chickens.

Alice, The wood studio cat finds a comfortable bed in the shavings from Beth Irelands class.

Angie, our dog at home shares a bowl of water with our chickens. We bought the chicks in April and they are now ready to lay eggs.

Introduction To Woodturning

On July 24th my friend Beth Ireland came to Peters Valley to teach a five day woodturning workshop titled " Introduction to Woodturning". Beth is an incredible woodturner and furniture maker. Check out beths work and her instructional DVD's at her website. Beth had five students and over the course of five days they turned spindles, made tools such as an awl and a small spindle gouge and turned lidded boxes and bowls.

Introduction to Cabinetmaking

On July 10th I started teaching a five day workshop titled " Introduction to Cabinetmaking"

I had two students for the five days which was great because we were able to spend more time on things like sharpening and making hand cut dovetails.

My studio assistant for the first part of the summer was Peter Hedstrom. Peter did a great job'

Bill and Ron worked hard and both completed the project , which was a wall hung tool box.

Art Allstate 2009

For the last five years I've been invited to the Worcester Art Museum to participate in an event called " Art Allstate". The Worcester Art Museum has been putting this event on for 25 years. The State of Massachusetts's best High School art students are juried in to this event. They are selected by a committee and for two days the convene at the Worcester Art Museum to create Art.

About a hundred and fifty students are broken down into groups of about 18 and are partnered with two artist/mentors. I was one of this years mentors. My partner this year was Meghan Burch, a multi media artist.

The idea is that the students are given a studio and limited supplies and materials. They use these limited materials to create an installation piece. It's awesome. The job of the artist/mentors is to act as facilitators, helping the students think about what they are going to create and how they are going to create it using the materials at hand. It is always a challenge to get them to work collaboratively, some take to it better than others. It is also a challenge to get them to work out of their comfort zones and to try something new. For example: Get the painters to sculpt, etc.

I love doing Art Allstate. I mostly work alone so it is great to see how energized the students are, it's very refreshing and at the end of a long two days of work I always come back jazzed. The pace is fast and furious, the music is playing and at the end of two days all eight studios have some pretty amazing works of art to show. This years Allstate took place on May 29 and 30 Th. It was great'

Our groups materials to use was cardboard, plastic bags and orange plastic construction tape. Out of this material developed a giant hand representing rebirth and taking control. The student were awesome and did a great job.

The workshop season officially began last weekend, May 16th and 17th. Harvey Fein lead off teaching a 2 day workshop titled " Turning for Lefties" The class was great' Harvey had his usual abundance of energy and taught a wonderful workshop.

Thanks again Harvey

May 3rd was the annual open house at Peters Valley. The weather wasn't the best but we still had a decent turn out. Woodturner/Artist Harvey Fein demonstrated turning on the lathe. Harvey turned 4o tops for kids during the course of the day. Harvey is like the ever ready bunny, he just keeps on ticking. Thanks Harvey.

The wood studio is ready for the new season. The bench room is equiped with Ten new benches for students to work on. The first workshop of the new season is a Two day class starting on May 16th titled " Turning for Lefties". This class is taught by Harvey Fein.

The ladies have a new home.

Well- The ladies have a new home. I finally finished the chicken coop. I'll probably have to build another one to accommodate the extra three hens we purchased. The coop was built using recycled materials. It all worked out well. There are a few leaks but nothing some duct tape won't cure.

The chicks are growing quickly. Angie, our lab, rottweiler mix stands guard. She's a big softy.

Last Friday I picked up our Hens. We originally were only going to get three but as you can see we have six hens. They are Rhode Island Reds. The ladies are growing quikly. Here is the coop half finished. I hope to finish the rest by the end of the weekend.

Coop

Yesterday I started building our chicken coop. It is a small 'A' Frame style coop designed to hold three hens comfortably. We can't wait to have the ladies providing a bounty of eggs for us'

Benches and Dust Collection

Preparing for the begining of the workshop season at Peters Valley Craft Center is always a busy time of year but this season is even busier. My friend Joe a I have been installing the new dust collection system for the wood studio. Hopefully we'll get it done for our annual open house on May 3rd.

We have also been busy assembling ten new work benches that were generously donated to the Wood Studio. The old ones are just a little too small. We are selling the old ones for $65 each to raise funds for the Wood Studio. If interested please contact me at www.sherwood_design@hotmail.com Alice, the studio cat is keeping a watchful eye on things.