Furniture Designed for the Landscape
Project Descriptions
As a furniture artist I create exciting pieces of sculpture that function as environments for personal occupation. My current works of sculpture and furniture are centered on seating. These works provide a unique place for sitting or reclining, alone or in groups. The shapes I create range from curved open planes to mostly closed volumes, each affecting different levels of comfort and shelter. Each work is an experiment in how shapes make space and how these spaces affect a passing observer.
I have a strong interest the forces of the natural world. Through many years of hiking and camping I have been and am still amazed at the strength and resilience of the many species of the natural world as well as the forces that travel it. There is a constant struggle for survival and plant life exists in a balance between the properties of its physical self and the environment it lives in. If trees did not bend wind would rip them out of the ground wholesale. Trees do bend and with time they take the shape of this balance between their physical properties and the force exerted on them.
I create each curved wooden arc using Bent Lamination. In this process thin strips of wood are stacked together and glued while I flex the assembly into the desired shape. The final shape achieved is the sum of my force and intention resisted by the natural properties of the wood fibers. These sculptural wooden forms are a record of my efforts and when assembled together to form the structure and surface of my furniture.
I have a strong interest the forces of the natural world. Through many years of hiking and camping I have been and am still amazed at the strength and resilience of the many species of the natural world as well as the forces that travel it. There is a constant struggle for survival and plant life exists in a balance between the properties of its physical self and the environment it lives in. If trees did not bend wind would rip them out of the ground wholesale. Trees do bend and with time they take the shape of this balance between their physical properties and the force exerted on them.
I create each curved wooden arc using Bent Lamination. In this process thin strips of wood are stacked together and glued while I flex the assembly into the desired shape. The final shape achieved is the sum of my force and intention resisted by the natural properties of the wood fibers. These sculptural wooden forms are a record of my efforts and when assembled together to form the structure and surface of my furniture.
Bent Ash Bench
2010 80" x 46" x 56" Ash, Stainless Steel. $2000 Each piece of the "Bent ash Bench" is a free form bent lamination sculpturally composed to form a sculptural park bench like no other. The first piece in a line of outdoor furniture this work is intended to suggest a living plan buffeted by the wind. |
Floating Ghost Lounge
2011
158" x 50" x 71" Ash, Steel, Bronze. $3200 Capable of holding three full grown men or a half dozen kids the laminated ash is engineered for safety and protected with marine spar varnish. A welded steel support structure reads as a display stand and helps to bring a piece of the museum to your back yard. |
Nest In Oak And Steel
2011
68" x 40" x 102" Red Oak, Steel. $3600 Suitable for a park or corporate office the Nest In Oak And Steel cradles one or two people in glowing Red Oak and Gleaming polished steel. |
Observation Chair
2010
40" x 40" x 96" Cast Concrete, Stainless Steel, Redwood. $5000 Built to survive a hurricane this observation chair boasts a 1300 pound polished concrete base. Continuing the use of architectural materials, six one inch thick stainless steel rods elevate the three inch thick Redwood seat eight feet up into the air. |