CWA Forum 2005—Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

September 21-25, 2005

 

The Collectors of Wood Art FORUM 2005 was held in Philadelphia September 21-25 and was an exciting collaboration with the Wood Turning Center (WTC) in celebration of the tenth anniversary of their International Turners Exchange (ITE).  Each summer the WTC has held a residency program for about 4 artists, a photojournalist, a scholar and an artist from a related field such as furniture.  The anniversary celebration included a 3 day residency of 35 alumni artists.  CWA hosted a dinner for the ITE alumni residents and collectors on Wednesday evening and about 110 people attended.

 

On Thursday, the Forum attendees visited the Winterthur Museum, a former DuPont home housing a great collection of American furniture and decorative arts.  After a fascinating keynote address by Gordon Peteran, a furniture artist and educator, CWA registrants had options to take three special tours.  The Furniture Focus tour took us through a variety of the 175 rooms in the Museum.  For the writer, a highlight was seeing the large collection of wood treen ware made from burls.  After a buffet lunch, there was a tour of the Dominy Shop, the only intact woodshop dating from the 17th and 18th century.  Charles Hummel showed us the original pole lathe and great wheel lathe used by the family until the 1900's.  There was also a guided tour of many of their conservation studios and labs.  The highlight was a detailed talk by Michael Podmaniczky about the restoration process and decision making.

 

The day concluded at the Forum hotel with the opening reception of the galleries.  Del Mano Gallery from California, Douglas Baker Gallery of Minnesota, Ironwood Gallery of Connecticut and Patina Gallery of New Mexico presented the work of 89 separate artists.

 

The Friday morning session was held at the University of the Arts with a keynote speech by ceramicist Bill Daley and a panel of artists and art educators.  The CWA luncheon included a presentation of the lifetime achievement award, posthumously, to Edward “Bud” Jacobson for in recognition of the impact that his collection and subsequent exhibition and book “The Art of Turned-Wood Bowls” had on contemporary wood art by inspiring artists and collectors, and providing the opportunity to address the aesthetic of wood bowls and vessels in the broader arts community:

 

• Arthur Mason spoke about the impact of Bud and his collection on the development of the Mason's collection,

 

• Todd Hoyer, an artist in the Jacobson collection, spoke about the impact on his and other artists’ careers, and

 

• Ray Leier of del Mano Gallery spoke about the impact on galleries. 

 

Twenty-five collectors from the Renwick Alliance joined the CWA luncheon and afternoon program.

 

Friday afternoon, the collectors session featured two panels with a focus on a variety of issues related to being a collecting.  The first panel covered the topic of displaying, insuring and appraising one’s collection:

 

• Brad Pressman, an architect, spoke about designing the setting and lighting for a collection and showed pictures of two recent renovations he had designed.

 

• Jill Arnold of Chubb Insurance spoke about insurance coverage of a collection.

 

• Barry Rogers of the American Association of Appraisers spoke about how appraisals are done. 

 

• Franklin Silverstone showed some of the features of the Collectify software package that can be used for cataloging and managing a collection.

 

The second panel covered the topics of managing and disposing of one’s collection:

 

• Clara Hollander made the point that it was useful to "edit" your collection periodically to ensure that it was all pieces that you "loved" and that there was more room to place new works of wood art about which you were passionate.

 

• Kevin Wallace talked about making gifts to collections and about his experience as curator of the Lipton collection.

 

• Lewis Wexler and John Sollo spoke about the secondary market, with Lew focusing on sales through galleries and John discussing auctions as a way to sell pieces.  Both concluded that the secondary market was only beginning to develop with a few artists (especially George Nakashima) being currently "hot" but most wood turning only beginning to sell. 

 

There were lively discussions in the question and answer phase of each panel.

 

Friday evening, we visited the galleries in Philadelphia’s Arts District, notably the Wood Turning Center, Moderne Gallery, Snyderman-Works Gallery and Wexler Gallery.  An additional 71 artists were represented, making it possible to see work by 160 wood artists in a single day.

 

On Saturday, some attendees had the option to tour the Wharton Esherick Museum and see the hand built home of an early 20th century American craftsman.  Others heard a keynote speech by Terry Martin, an artist and journalist from Australia, at Ursinus College.  At lunch, the CWA had its annual business meeting for election of directors.  The afternoon was highlighted by the opening of the exhibition of works by ITE residents at the Berman Museum of Ursinus College and a panel on collecting by museum curators.

 

Saturday evening, an auction of work made by ITE artists during the mini-residency and a signing of the catalogue of the collection was held at the University of the Arts.  More than $14,000 was raised to support the WTC, the CWA Education Fund and a legacy fund for the woodshop at the University of the Arts. 

 

On Sunday, CWA Forum attendees had a choice of three tours:

 

• A tour of David Ellsworth’s home and studio and then Steve Tobin's studio where participants got to see his glass, metal, and ceramic sculptures while enjoying a sushi lunch.

 

• Mark Sfirri's house and studio followed by lunch along the river in the artist town of New Hope, and then a tour of George Nakashima’s home and studio compound.

 

• A tour of the writer’s collection, and then a visit to Rick and Ruth Snyderman's collection and wonderful apartment built above their gallery.  Finally, we had lunch around a big table in a Chinatown restaurant.

 

Personally it was a pleasure to host FORUM 2005.  It was a collaborative effort by Albert LeCoff and the staff of the WTC, Jack Larimore and the University of the Arts students, and CWA.  I was particularly pleased that through a combination of the WTC program and CWA museum outreach funds, we were able to invite curators from: Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Fuller Museum of Crafts, Long Beach Museum of Art, Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, Mobile Museum of Art, National Museum of Australia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and Yale University Museum of Art and a number of writers. 

 

Joe Seltzer

Forum 2005 Coordinator