Arrowmont Artist-in-Residence Exhibition
Growing up working at my families’ upholstery shop I recount playing amongst stacks of furniture waiting to be upholstered. There were armchairs placed on top of one another, sofas and sectionals turned upright resting on their arms towering above. I would often wander into these clusters and stacks of furniture to take a nap or daydream to the sounds of the upholstery shop. There were the sounds of the sewing machine as its motor hummed through the textured fabrics. There were the sounds of hammering and staples being pulled, the fabric coming off the old furniture. The sound of the pneumatic stapler though, was the loudest, as the new fabric was being applied. Sometimes, there was furniture waiting to be upholstered that I wouldn’t dare to climb onto because of their smell.
This work is about recalling those experiences and summers working in my families shop and imagining those furniture stacks once again as an adult. These pieces explore what a piece furniture is and what it can be. This furniture with its inherent function removed acts as a placeholder for a memory and experience that has passed.
This work is about recalling those experiences and summers working in my families shop and imagining those furniture stacks once again as an adult. These pieces explore what a piece furniture is and what it can be. This furniture with its inherent function removed acts as a placeholder for a memory and experience that has passed.
Home / Industry Exhibition
The neighborhood my Father grew up in was located near several of the major automotive plants in Warren Michigan just outside of Detroit. It was a working class neighborhood, many of the neighbors worked at the plants or in some other job associated or affected by the automotive industry. Today, you can still drive down Mound road where many of the plants have since closed the industry has moved on to “21st Century Manufacturing” they say. What is left in the neighborhoods adjacent to those factories are post war single family houses like the one he grew up in, the one my grandmother still lives in today. It fascinates me that my grandparents were able to raise a large family of four boys in such a small house.
I have recreated a house like one from that neighborhood from the memory in the material and processes that my grandparents made their living from in the basement of that house, upholstery. Presenting the house as if it were a piece of furniture itself; propped up on furniture legs. Accompanying it are a few objects one would find in a house, void of specific detail but still leaving an imprint on the upholstery. The foundation of the house presents itself as a stage or props to a play as if someone were to come up from a long day of work and begin making dinner or sit back and enjoy a beer on the front steps watching the neighborhood kids ride their bikes by.
I have recreated a house like one from that neighborhood from the memory in the material and processes that my grandparents made their living from in the basement of that house, upholstery. Presenting the house as if it were a piece of furniture itself; propped up on furniture legs. Accompanying it are a few objects one would find in a house, void of specific detail but still leaving an imprint on the upholstery. The foundation of the house presents itself as a stage or props to a play as if someone were to come up from a long day of work and begin making dinner or sit back and enjoy a beer on the front steps watching the neighborhood kids ride their bikes by.
Ottoman Exhibition
My work pays homage to the ottoman and footstool forms that I helped my father create in the back of our upholstery shop. Through recognizable shapes and the motifs of furniture, my ottomans contort and connect in ways that make the forms new and unfamiliar. Some of The fabrics I use reference specific interiors such as my grandmother’s living room in Michigan, where I would spend time while my father and grandfather worked in the shop downstairs––--while owhile other fabricss recall the endless parade of floral armchairs armchairs that marched through our door. Other shapes and patterns draw from memories of riding across Detroit in our delivery van, going to help little old ladies in retirement homes select fabric for their favorite chair, the one—they say—that will be passed on to their children and grandchildren. In this way, my ottomans are a celebration of the work ethic and skilled trade of upholstery, taught to me by my father and grandfather, as well as the way interior spaces shape our memories.
Studies
Furniture
Paint Studies
Student Work
The work below is work from my students in Furniture Design courses.
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