USA Projects

I will be starting a very exciting year at the start of 2011. I believe it will be a definitive time for my career.

            I am a furniture designer/maker based in New England. I will be an artist in residence at SUNY Purchase collage in NY starting January 15th, 2011 through the summer. My work there will culminate in three solo shows. One at The Courthouse Gallery, ME (July-Aug.2011) The second at Purchase College's art gallery, NY (Aug.-Sep.2011) and the Third at The Wexler Gallery, PA (Sep.-Oct. 2011)

            I am seeking additional funding to produce my work during the term of this residency. I plan to use the funds to purchase materials; aluminum, steel, stainless steel, architectural components and automotive paints. As well as use industrial machining processes, such as; laser cutting, machine rolling, hydraulic press forming and powder coating. Without this funding I will not be able to afford to outsource and experiment with these industrial processes, which are critical to providing lateral growth for this work. The outsourcing will also allow me to spare wear and tear on my body.

            My design process is sophisticated daydreaming. I choose a cocktail of images and forms that embody beauty and power: flags, fenders, clouds, tides, tail feathers, rodeos and corporate logos all come into the mix. I combine these with a sense of architecture and furniture design to create objects that are steel calligrapher’s lines in three-dimensions.

            This supported time in the residency and the summer/fall shows are giving me the opportunity, and challenge, to work through three themes during the residency.

            The first I'm calling, anchored. It is a continuation of the Anchored Candy series one of which is pictured in my project's film. This body of work is all about relationships, both literally and visually. I'm mixing together historical decorative arts and modern industrial design on one side, counterbalancing/balancing it with raw blocks of material. In a way they are portraits/self-portraits of us… as well as a dramatic “stages”... site specific to the body. The candy components will be made like hot rods, literally and in attitude.

            The second, Pattern Recognition, will be the result from my past year researching pattern design and cad-cam process. I started to think about this work a number of years ago as the scrap yard began to fill with drop sheets (left-overs from production facilities.) They are at times beautiful patterns created from the negative space our widgets and thingies used to occupy. They are terribly similar, though dissimilar, to decorative pattern. Over the past year I have submerged myself into a history of decorative pattern... thinking about the way pattern can dissolve architectural form or decorate skin... while providing a comfort of familiarity. Alongside this the digital design and production methods I’ve been learning bring us back to the scrap yard… I’m developing pattern and form combinations which respond to the “left-over” of production and a history of decorative arts, asking how this anthropomorphic nature of furniture could reflect our impulse to decorate ourselves with pattern as well.

            The third theme, Infrastructure, is a study of ubiquitous architectural public works through the public/intimate format of benches…Playing with I-beams and other industrial material, in relationship to and altered into, soft sensual curves which reflect our body’s architecture…It is a play on our expectations. This is where being able to outsource parts to shops with larger hydraulic presses and motorized rollers would shine... To use structural materials requires more force, because… well… it shouldn’t be able to be manipulated. To me the ironic, visceral and sensual reaction to the conflicting “purposes” of the materials is a rich playground of meaning. Opposites... function and desire... juxtaposed together while celebrating their differences.

            I've already begun the conceptualization and design work for my time at Purchase. The Residency is a perfect setting for these bodies of work because it is an academic setting... and these three themes are based in research more than ever. It is a definitive year for me because, although I have worked in series, this is the first year I am working on specific statements for each show. It is a giant leap in my studio practice, and I believe this academic setting would help me achieve this goal/growth.

            I’ve always seen myself in relationship to industrial production and design, but as a counterbalance. My work is primarily “hand-made”-one-off pieces. I’m combining the visual cues of modern mass production, with historical ornamentation. Funding this project will allow me to play with the tools of today to make a statement of how make our things and live with them.

Thank you for checking out my project.