'State of Craft' ... Exploring the Studio Craft Movement in Vermont: 1960-2010. Runs from May 22nd to October 31st at
The Bennington Museum, Bennington, Vermont . Curated by Jamie Franklin and Anne Majusiak, it displays the work of 85 craftspersons, (is that how we call us?) 125 objects, oral histories, studio interviews .... I don't generally look for shows to be in, but this one found me and I'm glad it did .... Click the pictures to enlarge them ....
"Bridges", our piece, is a collaboration between Dan (b. 1947) , Sam (b. 1982) and Will (b. 1984) Inspired partly by
my grandfather, Irvin Seeders, a bridge riveter for Bethlehem Steel for 52 years (b. 1902), BS from 1916 to 1968. For the show, I thought it would be good if his generation, my generation and the next generation were represented. You know, a 100 years of craft or something .... just a thought ...
Our piece started as a couple of different ideas, based on
other designs we had created, but took on a life of its own. For a while it was going to be
gold leaf and bubinga, then high finish walnut and blued steel, but in the end, it came to be made of recycled oak (heritage and tradition) and painted steel, with the rivet connection to my grandfather the coup de grace. Sam did the steel work and the green paint; Will did the burning and finishing, and I did a little roughing out of the wood and assembly and helped with the conceptual stuff. On the whole, a lot of fun. The show opens next Saturday and I am really looking forward to it ... Should be a good party ...
Early on .. after we decided on the recycled oak, but before the rivets ... The burnings seemed unrelated ...
The initial paint job, which was later toned down by sanding through to the red primer and glazing ...
The rivets ... I forget
exactly whose brainstorm that was, but it was a good one ...
Will,
burning the oak prior to staining and glazing ....
After the burning and stain, before the sanding and glazing ...
It's a bridge ...
A rusty one in Shelburne, MA
A soaring and inspirational one in New York, the
GW, which I'm pretty sure my grandfather worked on ...
Some of the other pieces in the show .... this is the underside of the 'quarter bench' below
There was no label and I don't know the artist, but he's from Brattleboro.
Other objects ready to go ..
I put a few pictures of this project up in a 'what we are working on post' last week. It's finished now and while it was pretty straight forward, there were a couple of interesting wrinkles ... Our client liked the onyx top and the way that the sink was carved out of the solid block .. The metal base that came with it though didn't go with her decor though so we got to make a new one, and a matching mirror. The vanity had to have an interrupted back rail to accommodate the holes that were already drilled for the faucets. Sam rolled us a couple of pieces of steel and he also made a couple of curved brass pieces to line the opening of the mirror frame ... Click the photos to enlarge them ...
The finished vanity base with an mdf mockup top/full size drawing in place.
With the top removed to show the two custom steel pieces.
better view ...
The onyx top and the base that came with it ... I haven't seen it in person, but the onyx started out as a block 6" + thick and they milled the sink from the solid ... Very cool, but hmmm ... seems like there would be a lot of waste ...
Ahhh, the mirror ... Everyone likes the mirror. The light sconces are antique brass and Joan asked if we could 'add some brass details' to the mirror frame .. We tapered the frame like the legs and added some curves and small round headed brass pins to hold the brass in place.
Close up of the brass detail ...
Will, fitting the brass prior to antiquing it ...
Ready to apply. The steel parts were painted black ...
