Uxbridge Library Exhibition

Liesl and I are having a joint exhibition at the Uxbridge library .  The opening reception is on Thursday April 11th.  The exhibition will take place on the third floor of the library.  We will transform the beautiful historic room into a temporary gallery.

North Bennet Street School

Last week I visited the North Bennet Street School in Boston's north end.  I was given a tour of the facilities and met some of the faculty.  The school is so steeped in tradition and history. North Bennet offers classes in cabinetmaking, preservation carpentry, piano technology, jewelry making, violin making, bookbinding and locksmithing.  When I was there the students of the two year full-time cabinet making program were busy working on windsor chairs.

North Bennet Street School was incorporated in 1885 in Boston's North End as North Bennet Street Industrial School.

The school's founding mission was to enable immigrants to adjust to their new country by learning the skills needed for gainful employment. Pauline Agassiz Shaw, the school's founder, was committed to teaching the wide variety of skills needed for immigrants to succeed. Through various social services, such as educating children in the kindergarten, recreational activities and prevocational and trade training, the school helped generations of Boston's immigrants make productive lives in their new homeland. Over the years, vocational training classes were offered in pottery, printing, sewing, sheet metal work and watch repair as well as the carpentry, cabinet making and jewelry making classes that remain today.

North Bennet Street School has evolved over its more than one hundred year history while retaining its core commitment to train individuals for employment using time-honored methods and skills.

North Bennet teaches and upholds the principles and practices of the craftsmanship tradition — including skillful use of hand tools and power equipment, informed choice of materials, creative problem-solving grounded in knowledge of the best practices of the craft and a dedication to the highest quality work. 

Students in the cabinet and furniture making program learn the fundamental skills needed to make the full range of furniture types. Projects are typically based on traditional 18th- and 19th-century furniture designs because traditional models require the hand-skills and woodworking techniques that are the foundation of the NBSS curriculum.

This photo shows instructor Steve Brown with a student.

The Eliot School

Last week I visited The Eliot School in Jamaica Plain.  The Eliot School offers classes in crafts and fine arts for all ages.  The school has been around since 1676 when thirty-eight residents of Jamaica plain donated land to support a school.  For two centuries the school educated Africans, Native Americans and colonial children from John Eliot, local farmer and Apostle to the Indians. 

In the late 19th century the school turned its focus to the arts.  " Manual Arts," traditionally practiced at home, were disappearing in modern cities.  Called on to supplement Boston's public school offerings, the Eliot School taught woodworking, cooking and more.  Manual training schoolteachers followed, then instruction for adults, then children's after - school.

Today the school is well known for teaching a variety of diverse classes to all age groups and it's historic site.

I'll be teaching as a substitute teacher for the very beginners woodworking class.  I'll be teaching Jan 28, Feb 4 and Feb 11.  I can't wait' 

Museum Seating

I saw these walnut benches  on the main floor of the Worcester Art Museum.  These quirky benches are fantastic.  Sculptural and functional with a sense of whimsy.  My hats off to the museum for having a sense of humour.  Museum climates can be a little stuffy, these benches are a nice edition to the surroundings.

Art Museums' Contemporary Gallery

Since the 1980's American born artist Willie Cole has explored the iron as a form.  It is symbolic of the domestic labor of his African - american female fore bearers. 

Deeply affected by the protracted violence and civil war in her native Colombia, Colombian born artist Doris Salcedo began a series of narrative sculptures in 1992 built around found doors and based on first hand evidence from victims' families and loved ones

Below is a piece of work from my favorite artist Louise Nevelson

Her work has so mush power and movement in it.  The sculpture below is displayed as a two dimensional work yet it is three dimensional.  The work is painted black,  a stark contrast against the galleries white wall

Museum continued

I love the variety in this collection.  The inlay and veneer work in some of the pieces below are awesome.  The museum also has an Eames DCM chair.

 

Worcester Art Museum

Yesterday Liesl, Quinn and myself went to the Worcester Art Museum.  Admission is free from 10 am - 12 am the first Saturday of each month.  Below  are a few images of some great pieces of furniture.  

The museum has a great collection ranging from period pieces, arts and crafts and modern.

Black and White

I'm not going to be in the studio much lately.  I'm back at working on the book.  I have to finish a bread side table for inventory.  The white bread box is going to look great against the black legs.

Call and Response Opening Reception

This past Friday evening Liesl and I attended the opening reception of the 'Call and Response' exhibition at Arts Worcester.  The opening was well attended.  Liesl and I have a piece in the exhibition.

The curator of the Fitchburg Art Museum in Fitchburg, MA was in attendance.  He is choosing a few pieces from this exhibition to travel to the Fitchburg Art Museum where they will be put on display alongside their African collection.

Call and Response Statement

The most well known and highly sought after mask of the Songye tribe is the Kifwebe mask.  These masks are typically associated with shapes as well as beautiful textured lines and linear scarifications.  The lines are usually painted with alternating black and white stripes, which give an almost hallucinating effect.  Kifwebe masks can be male or female, with crested comb structures identifying male masks, the higher the crest the more powerful the mask as well as the greater spiritual power of the dancer.
Male and female masks are danced together, with each dancer encouraging the desired qualities of the sexes.

For this exhibition I created a pair of tea lights based on the artistic qualities of the Songye Kifwebe mask.  I based the height of the candle towers on the elongated mouth of the mask.  The candle towers are made out of Baltic birch plywood.  I cut strips of plywood and then turned them on their side to expose the many layers and dark lines of the veneers.  I laminated the strips together to create solid panels that I then used to make the towers.  The lines of the plywood represent the lines of the mask. The candle bases are made from reclaimed pieces of African padouk wood.  The two walnut wedges piercing the top of the candle towers represent the male and female masks dancing together.

Call and Response Candles

I really like how these candles worked out.  The black and white lines of the laminated plywood stripes are bold and striking.  I cut and glued up four pieces to make the candle towers.  I then cut a rabbet around the  bottom to accommodate the base.  I use some reclaimed African padauk wood for the bases.  I used an 1 1/2" forstener bit to drill a partial hole for to house the tea light.  I cut a couple of notches into the top to hold two walnut wedges.

I'm really happy with how these turned out.  I feel they respond to my chosen piece ( the mask) very well, while representing me and my aesthetic.

Plywood Candle Blanks

Once the plywood strips are laminated I rip and crosscut them to size so they'll fit into the jigs I use to create the patterns.  The patterns are made by cutting dadoes and grooves into the boards.  I have three jigs that I use.  The boards fit into the jig and the jig is ran over the dado blades at different measures.  I then use the second jig, turn the board over and pass it over the dado blades at different measures, creating a perforated look.  I then use the third jig to help me cut a miter on both sides.  

Plywood strips

I'm working on my Call and Response piece for Arts Worcester.  I'm using Baltic birch plywood for the lamp tower.  The mask I'm using as my inspiration piece is highly textured with lines and striations.  To mimic the mask I ripped strips of plywood on the table saw and then turned them on their side to expose the veneers (layers) of plywood.  I then laminated the strips together to form panels.

Songye Kifwebe Mask

Liesl and I are participating in an exhibition titled 'Call and Response" at the Aurora gallery of Arts Worcester.  

  'Call and Response' is a collaboration between the Fitchburg Art Museum and the members of ArtsWorcester.  Since late September, ten works of African art from the Fitchburg Art Museum has been on display at ArtsWorcester.  While only a glimpse of the vast diversity of African art, the loan includes the artwork of several African peoples—Songye, Kru, and Ife, among others—and different social functions, including masks, weapons, textiles, and portraiture. 

ArtsWorcester members are taking inspiration from these pieces in several ways: some respond to the artistic qualities of the pieces, their composition, or media.  Others are creating works inspired by their cultural uses (for example, as gifts, or currency).

Below is a Songye mask, similar to the one that I am using as inspiration to create my piece from.  I love the lines and striations in the texture of the mask.

For more infromation about the exhibition visit www.artsworcester.org

A  tribal people located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Songye are best known for their distinctive statuaries and masks, which for centuries have been used to protect villages, ward off enemies, and bring fertility and wealth. The Songye often named their statues and decorated them with horns, skins, beads, tacks, shells, and bits of cloth. As a result, each item displays a singular, impressive identity. Considered to be imbued with magical energy and used only by village shamans, these statues have enormous cultural and historical significance, and they are also powerful works of art in their own right.

African Chair

While doing some research on African art and artifacts for an exhibition I'm involved in at Arts Worcester titled 'Call and Response'  I came across this beautiful chair.  Below is a description of the chair and the people who decorated it.  I found it very interesting.  I hope you do as well.  

Chair, 19th–20th century
Chokwe peoples; Angola
Wood, brass, tacks, leather

H. 39 in. (99.1 cm)
The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Purchase, Nelson A. Rockefeller Gift, 1970 (1978.412.619)

In many societies of Central Africa, such as the Chokwe and related peoples like the Songo and the Ovimbundu, functional artifacts are transformed into prestige objects that commemorate the power and status of the chief. Chokwe chiefs possess many elaborately carved articles, including ceremonial weapons, staffs of office, tobacco pipes, and seats of office like this example in the Museum's collection.

Over the course of numerous encounters with European traders as early as the seventeenth century, Chokwe chiefs appropriated the design of certain types of Western artifacts. The seats of office, or "thrones," of Chokwe chiefs, with backs, leather-covered seats, and decorative brass tacks, are modeled upon European chairs. The decoration of the chair, however, remains distinctly Chokwe in style. The elaborate figurative scenes depicted on this and other seats of office are designed as symbolic microcosms of life and represent the breadth of a leader's concerns and responsibilities. The back uprights contain scenes from the spiritual aspect of life, including depictions of ancestors or chiefs. The dance figures along the bottom and the masked figures along the second rung refer to Chokwe initiation rites. The conical masks, known as cikunza, promote fertility and are used during the circumcision rituals of Chokwe adolescents. The topmost rung features two ngungu birds. The ngungu bird is the largest bird known to the Chokwe and is associated with hunting—a vocation with which Chokwe leaders closely identify. It is also a good omen, a sign of success in the hunt and therefore a sign of power. In addition, the ngungu serves as a mediator between the spiritual and earthly realms, and is often displayed with other symbols of chiefly power.

The rows of figures along the stretchers at the base of the chair are carved representations of scenes from everyday life. Images of hunting or trading are common, as illustrated on the front and back rungs, which feature men tending to cattle. In this piece, domestic activities like food preparation are depicted on the side rungs. The proper left rung features women tending to their children and pounding grain, while the proper right rung depicts men at work. These quotidian scenes are universally identifiable to the king's constituency and serve as a juxtaposition to the ritual events depicted at the summit of the chair. The overall organization of these scenes creates a united visual narrative emphasizing the social harmony and continuity that is ultimately achieved through following the enlightened leadership of the chair's owner, namely, the chief.

The Chokwe kingdom rose to power during the late nineteenth century in the broad expanse of open savanna in the southern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo and northern Angola. As the Chokwe population expanded, they eventually conquered the previously dominant Lunda empire, which declined after the abolition of the slave trade in the 1830s. The Chokwe peoples thrived primarily because of the profitable trade of ivory, wax, and rubber with the Portuguese. Chokwe chairs are among the few African objects not carved from a single piece of wood, but are instead assembled in parts.

Although this artwork appears on the 20th-century segment of the Timeline, it is ascribed a date of 19th–20th century.

Making Call and Response

Liesl and I are participating in an open members exhibition at Arts Worcester titled 'Call and Response'.

On loan to Arts Worcester is a collection of African artifacts from the Fitchburg Art Museum in Fitchburg, MA.  I am creating a candle lamp using a mask in the collection as inspiration. The lamp is based on my modern tea lights I make.  I'm using plywood for the lamp tower and African padauk for the base.
My response piece is the second artifact in the video,a mask,  which can be viewed above or at the Arts Worcester website www.artsworcester.org and click on the 'call and response' link.

'Gottasay'

Liesl and I were recently interviewed by our writer friend Melissa Macdonald.  Her article is below as well as on her new blog 'Gottasay' which can be found on my blog links.

Uxbridge crafters share life, gallery space and love of community

When ArtsWorcester put out a call last spring for proposals for its next season of exhibits, Uxbridge, Massachusetts, furniture maker Steve Butler and his wife, jewelry maker Liesl Carlson, both got to work on individual proposals. After all, their respective crafts are about as dissimilar as they could be.

A five-member panel, comprised of local artists, art history professors, appraisers and museum curators, reviewed the artists' submissions on their merits alone with no information about the artists. Butler's proposal made the cut out of more than 30 applicants.

Then, in the process of mapping out his show, ArtsWorcester'sAurora Gallery, where his work was to be featured, had a dilemma. Accustomed to having the walls hung with art, the gallery staff wondered what to do to fill them, as Butler's work was not, for the most part, wall-friendly. One of the gallery staffers said, “How about Liesl's jewelry?” And a husband-and-wife show was born. “Co-Habitat: The Studio Work of Steve Butler and Liesl Carlson” is at ArtsWorcester's Aurora Gallery through November 30.

Craft as art

Juliet Feibel, executive director for ArtsWorcester, says, “Steve Butler's half of 'Co-Habitat' is ArtsWorcester's first exhibit of studio furniture. We're thrilled to have it, and equally excited to show Liesl Carlson's jewelry alongside it. This exhibit allows viewers to see how craft can and should be viewed as art, and how the divisions between the two are often meaningless.  

“That Carlson and Butler are also married gives us an unusual glimpse into the shared world of two artists,” adds Feibel.

Cynthia Woehrle, manager of the Aurora Gallery, says, “This show is fun and funky, and it's touchable, which not all fine art is.”

The differences in the couple's work extend beyond their materials, Woehrle notes. “They are very yin and yang. Liesl says she couldn't draw or cut a straight line if her life depended on it, and Steve's work is, of necessity, so precise.”

Because this was the Aurora Gallery's first 3D show, Butler built all the pedestals on which his work is displayed, and also made the cabinets where Carlson's jewelry is hung.

Carlson says, “I'm really happy with how the show came out. It's really nice to see all my work on the walls. I've never seen it like that, and it looks fabulous.

“It's also great to see so much of Steve's work in one place,” she adds. “I can fit all my work in a box, but it takes a storage unit for Steve's,” she laughs.

Asked whether they subscribe to a particular school of art, Steve says, “I let other people define us. All I know is I have to make stuff.”

Meet cute

Butler and Carlson met while Carlson was a student in the professional crafts studies program at the Worcester Center for Crafts, where Butler taught. Butler was running the wood department, and as one of the program faculty, had to review Carlson's work.

“The wood department was down this corridor you had to go through to get to other places in the building,” Carlson recalls, smiling. “I made a lot of trips down that corridor.”

Says Butler, “She was very flirty.”

Today, the couple has been married six-and-a-half years and has a four-year-old son, Quinn. Butler's workspace is in their home's garage, while Carlson has a studio in the shed out back, outfitted in large part by Butler, and with a space set aside for Quinn to create alongside his mom.

The Aurora Gallery show marks the first time the duo have shown their work together, but not the last. “We will be showing together again at the Uxbridge Library in March,” Carlson reports.

Says Butler, “We might have found ourselves a husband-and-wife niche! But she still has her own path and identity. We still have our separate things. We don't compete.”

In fact, having a partner that understands the creative process makes for some synergy. “We constantly use each other as a sounding board,” Carlson says. “I'm always asking, 'What do you think of this piece? Are the proportions right?' Steve's sense of proportion is phenomenal; mine, not so much.”

Butler adds, “Sometimes you need to step back from what you're working on; you're too close to it. You need someone else to take a look and tell you what they see. And that's what Liesl brings to me.”

He notes that the fact that both are artisans also lends their household a flexibility not every family has.

“We both totally understand that creating is not 9-5, so if one of us has to follow that middle-of-the night inspiration, we get it. We're also very good at alternating our studio times. Plus, it lets us be very free to be there for Quinn.”

The art of economy

Of course, having a two-artist family, with all the accompanying vagaries of the economy and market for art, isn't always a picnic. “It's not like when one partner has a steady, high-income job and the other is free to create,” says Butler. Both teach to boost income, and Carlson also recently began working as a part-time realtor. Beyond that, the pair do everything in their power to live frugally, aided by Carlson's bargain-hunting: Butler points to a sparkling stainless steel coffee percolator which Carlson found “for a dollar!”

The drive to make ends meet while remaining free to work as artists has had a direct effect on the work both Butler and Carlson produce. “Much of Steve's work employs repurposed and upcycled wood and objects, and Liesl's silver is recycled as well,” notes ArtsWorcester's Feibel.

Butler observes, “Repurposing is a trend now, but it's something we've always been into. It's like in the Depression Era. We've never had any money, so we have to make things work. It's a kind of pioneer spirit. It requires problem solving.

“There's a greater sense of satisfaction than just making the object...that you did it under certain circumstances and you pulled it off. Sort of, 'Not only did we make art, but we did it without any money,'” says Butler.

Working within limited means, says Carlson, “is always giving a new direction to our work, so we're constantly evolving.”

Angling to bring artists together

Butler, who hails from Canada originally, and Carlson, who is from Mendon, came back to this area a couple of years ago after spending several years living and working in the Peters Valley Craft Center, a community of artisans, part of the Delaware Water Gap recreational area. Both Butler and Carlson speak glowingly of their time there, and it's where Quinn was born.

Driven by their first-hand experience of the benefits of living and working among a community of artists, Butler and Carlson hope to someday bring something akin to that to the Blackstone Valley.

Bernat Mills, which had been a local spot for artists and musicians to work and gather, burned down in 2007, Carlson recollects. Since then, she says, there's been no venue for artists to work as a community.

The pair have put a fair amount of personal effort into lobbying local officials for a craft center that would offer classes and bring people together. For now, the effort is on hold, but it's still a long-term goal.

Another effort close to Butler's heart is pulling together a juried show of furniture created by regional artisans. In fact, that was one of the proposals he submitted to the gallery call for ArtsWorcester, though the individual show proposal that became “Co-Habitat” ultimately won out.

“New England's got a long tradition of fine furniture crafting. With the furniture design programs at Rhode Island School of Design, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, and Maine College of Art and the Holy Cross sculpture department, there's a lot going on. So I'm looking for space to curate an exhibition.”

In the meantime, Carlson is preparing to teach her “Bangles, Rings and Things” class (note: that link will take you to a review of the class, which yours truly took at Carlson's studio last summer) as well as a class on hollow form silver jewelry at the Worcester Center for Crafts in January. Butler, who hosts a public-access cable show about creating called “The Garage with Steve Butler,” is preparing to form a production company and, if all goes well, take the show to the next level: PBS.