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In our four years, CWA has developed into a supportive, close-knit
organization of varied people, brilliant in their own fields, and all united by
a love for art crafted from wood. Our strength is in our dedication to
elevating wood art, including turned objects, sculpture, and furniture, to the
stature of fine art in the minds of collectors, galleries, museums, art critics,
educators, and the general public.
I am filled with
wonderful memories of these first four years. First there was that magical
beginning in Little Rock where we came together to form this organization
against the wonderful backdrop of John and Robyn’s new home. We then
organized in San Francisco in 1998 with the inspiring event of panels, slide
shows, dinners and tours put on by Ron and Anita Wornick. In the
Fall of 1999 came SOFA, Chicago, and Collectors’ Choice which put wood arts on
the map for a completely new segment of the art world and established a real
presence for us at this prestigious annual event. Finally, my most
cherished moment when Arthur and I opened the show of our collection at the Mint
Museum of Craft + Design in Charlotte. I think that the connecting thread
of all these events is the personal contacts and close friendships around the
world. We are indeed an organization that likes each other and that makes
all the difference. I look forward to Minneapolis as another step forward
for CWA and the field we love.
Many of you have supported CWA
both with funds and with your valuable time. In the next few years we can
“shoot for the stars” with our outstanding volunteer organization. We
treasure everyone’s help and advice.
Please join us, read our
committee list on page 4, email us at CWAforum@yahoo.com and we’ll connect you
with the chairperson.
www.collectorsofwoodart.org
The
CWA website is now sending our message out into syberspace. Please visit it
often and suggest it to friends. If there is any information you think should be
included, email CWAforum@yahoo.com
CWA Forum 2001 Heads North to Minneapolis in
October
Before the snow falls and the ten thousand lakes
freeze over, the Collectors of Wood Art will converge in Minneapolis, Minnesota,
from October 25th to 28th for CWA Forum 2001. This year’s Forum will be
held in conjunction with The Minneapolis Institute of Arts’ opening of "Wood
Turning in North America Since 1930". The Yale University Art Gallery and
the Wood Turning Center have organized this retrospective show.
During the weekend, members and non-members of CWA will participate in a
symposium at the MIA. But as a CWA Forum participant, you will get a
catalog of the exhibition and even more—
The Forum commences on Thursday afternoon,
October 25th, at the Marquette Hotel with registration. That evening the
sales galleries will host a wine and cheese reception in the gallery
space. Friday will feature artists’ slide presentations of their current
works and creative ideas, and a visit to the Waterbury’s home to view their
collection.
Friday night the MIA symposium kicks off with an opening
reception in The Minneapolis Institute of Arts’ Fountain Court. At this
event Glenn Adamson, who was a principal researcher for the exhibition, will
give the keynote address.
The symposium will continue on Saturday with
exhibition artists in conversation, David Ellsworth, Stephen Hogbin, Michelle
Holzapfel, Mark Lindquist, Merryll Saylan, moderated by Edward Cooke. Curatorial
Colloquium - Collecting for Posterity with Christopher Monkhouse, James Ford
Bell Curator, Department of Decorative Arts, Sculpture and
Architecture at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and Patricia Kane, Curator of
American Decorative Arts, Yale University Art Gallery. In the Market with Martha
Connell, Ray Leier, Michael Monroe, moderated by Jack Russell, Director of
Brookfield Craft Center. Also a lecture by Stephen Lash, Chairman of
Christies. During the day we will have lunch at the Institute and tour the
exhibition.
Then it is back to the Marquette Hotel for
a reception and banquet. This will be a purely social affair with no
speaker but the great company of fellow collectors, artists and
galleryteers. The annual membership meeting will be held Sunday
morning. Then there is time, depending on your travel plans, to
participate in Family Day at MIA which will be "All about Wood". A great
opportunity to spread the word on studio wood art collecting.
Interested? So what do I do now?
Sadly I have to report that Fabrice Micha has passed away after a long and
difficult illness. He is sorely missed by his friends and family. After the
publication of an appeal for him and his family in the last CWA newsletter, his
family did receive donations from members, which helped very much at a time of
great need. On their behalf I want to thank those members who generously gave to
help this still-young man who was taken in his prime.
Fabrice’s work will
remain as a testament to his vision of turning as an art form. Those of us who
were touched by his passion will remain richer for the experience.
Terry
Martin
This is the first in a series of interviews with artists working in wood by sculptor and writer Connie Mississippi
Connie’s Question 1: Brief personal history:
Virginia: I grew up in Massachusetts, with a family of musicians. We
lived at the edge of a wooded area, where I had the freedom to spend countless
hours exploring, looking at the trees, leaves, birds and animals, and making
things from fallen branches or birch bark. We made summer trips to the
ocean, lakes and mountains, which offered a wealth of natural objects and living
beings that I could study. Memories of these experiences with the natural
world persist to this day.
My formal musical education ended early, but I
absorbed quite a lot of understanding from being immersed in the musical
environment of my home. Music remains a major source of creative
energy.
Education: Directly after high school I attended Wellesley
College, leaving after two years when I was unable to find a match between my
interests and the major fields then offered by the college. I took courses
from time to time, as my husband and I moved around the country. I resumed
full-time college work after we moved to Arizona, and received a B.F.A. in Wood
from Arizona State University's College of Fine Arts in 1985. I have lived in
Arizona for the past 25 years with my husband, David. Our son has left the nest,
but we now share our home with a nephew, who is in school, and two retired
greyhounds.
Connie’s Question 2: How did you get into wood art:
Virginia: Around 1970, while living in upstate New York, I began acquiring pieces of antique country furniture and restoring them. Gradually I moved into repairing, and then making furniture, using hand tools. I had no background in this, and depended heavily on books for the basic approaches and techniques. When I was just getting started, my mother-in-law (who is from Emporia, Kansas) sent me an article from the Kansas City Star about an Emporia man who was making free-form furniture using the technique of stack-lamination--Wendell Castle. This was so interesting to me that I began searching for other examples of non-traditional furniture over the following ten years. After we moved to Arizona, I discovered the Wood/Art program at Arizona State University. By this time, and in this place, women were encouraged (not merely allowed) to study such subjects, so that was no longer an obstacle. I enrolled in the program in 1981. This environment provided my first exposure to wood turning. Both professors in the program, Tom Eckert and Ray Fink, had some interest in lathe-turning, and showed slides of beautiful and inventive turned work by Bob Stocksdale, Stephen Hogbin, and David Ellsworth, along with work by several furniture makers who were using laminating techniques to create wonderfully free, curved forms. After a couple of years of making stack- and bent-laminated furniture, I gravitated toward turning the laminated forms. The layers provided a connection with the sedimentary rock landscapes that intrigue me, and this metaphorical connection has been a continuing basis for my work.
Connie’s Question 3: What are your aspirations for your work as far as change, exploration, advancement?
Virginia: I want to take the time to do more experimental work, using the new spiral vessels as a starting point. This series takes the vessel down to its basic structure--the essentials. I will have to see where this leads. I also want to do more music pieces--perhaps a series based on a set of variations.
Connie’s Question 4: What are your sources of inspiration and how do you use them?
Virginia: About the influence of music on my work, certain music seems to activate my spatial thinking and visualizing. String quartets are especially good--the interplay among the different instruments seems spatial. I also like to listen for the "negative space" in some of Beethoven's late works. Different kinds of rhythms are interesting to me, too. I will have a music-inspired piece in Challenge VI. The piece of music for it was written and performed by the composer Edward Wood (my brother), as his impressions of my work.
Connie’s Question 5: Who are your favorite artists and why?
Virginia: Dale Chihuly's nested forms seem to belong to the natural world more than most art objects do. Wayne Higby's landscape vessels, with their shifting perspectives, William Wegman for his great rapport with another species. James Turrell for the cosmic scope of his work - it leaves the existing boundaries far behind.
Connie’s Question 6: Where is the field of wood art going:
Virginia: Over the past two decades there has been an explosion of participation in the field. There has been a tremendous amount of interest generated by conferences, publications and local teaching, and many of the barriers to participation (with respect to age, gender, and education) have come down. Now there is a lot of work ahead for the curators.
Connie Question 7: How do we get more people interested in collecting wood art:
Virginia: Large public museum exhibitions greatly increase interest in wood
art by attracting the attention of people who are not acquainted with the field
but happen to visit the museum, and school children who are brought there with
groups. And if all individuals who are committed to the field of wood art
--whether as makers, educators, or collectors--will do what is possible for
them, within their own associations and communities, this will happen.
Everything will build upon everything else.
The CWA Forum in Minneapolis is coming up fast. As in the past artists will have the opportunity to show slides of their work if they will be represented by one of the galleries during the conference and will be attending the forum. To make the organization of the presentations easier, we need everyone’s slides (6-8!) by Sept.1. Please send them to Christian Burchard 777 Pompadour Drive, Ashland, OR 97520 or for more information, email at: burchard@jeffnet.org
The University of Saskatchewan Emma Lake Kenderdine Campus, will host two concurrent workshops from July 14 to 22, 2001.“Turning Boxes on the Mini Lathe with Bonnie Klein” and “Wild Wood Creations: Rustic Furniture Workshop with Don Cochrane” Contact info: phone (306) 966-8675, fax (306) 966-5567, email emmalake@usask.ca or visit their web site at: www.extension.usask.ca/go/emmalake.
SOFA/NYC will be held May 31 - June 5 at the Seventh Regiment Armory in New
York City.
COLLECTORS OF WOOD ART will sponsor an artist slide
show at SOFA/NYC on Friday, June 1st, at 5:30 pm at the Armory in New
York. An informal reception with wine and cheese will take place after the
show to enable us to interact with the artists in a free and easy way.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS AND JOIN US! Joe Seltzer will be arranging the slide
show, contact him at seltzer@alpha.lasalle.edu.
Galleries
showing wood or furniture will be:
Barry Friedman Ltd, NY
Cylindra Gallery
del Mano
Gallery, CA
Donna Schneier Fine Arts
Franklin Parrasch
Gallery, Inc.
Galerie des Metiers d’Art du
Quebec
gallerymateria, AZ
John Elder
Gallery
John Natsoulas Gallery
Katie Gingrass
Gallery
Lea Sneider
Leo Kaplan Modern
Moderne
Gallery
Option Art
Susan Whitney Gallery
R.
Duane Reed, MO
Wexler Gallery, PA
William Zimmer Gallery,
CA
del Mano Gallery
11981 San Vicente Blvd., West Los
Angeles, CA 90049
310.476.8508 or 800 DEL MANO
Apr. 1 - 30 Michael Mode, Feature Exhibition
May 1- 31 Gene
Pozzesi, Feature Exhibition
May 12 - Jun 9 Ron Kent, Feature
Exhibition
Jun 16 - Jul 14 Turned Wood 2001
Sep 1 - 30 Bert
Marsh, Feature Exhibition
R. Duane Reed
7513 Forsyth, St. Louis, MO
63105
314.862.2333
Apr. 6 - 28 Diversity & Exploration: New
Forms in Wood
Patina Gallery
131 West Palace Ave., Santa Fe NM
87501
505.986.3432
Apr. 6 - May 6 Derek Bencomo “Come To Me
Dancing”
SOFA/NYC
Seventh Regiment Armory, New York City,
NYC
May 31 - June 5 See below for galleries showing work in
wood
Officers
President
Jane Mason
Vice President
Skip Shaw
Treasurer
Gary Smith
Secretary
Joe Seltzer
Board of Directors
Virginia Dotson
Jan Peters
Robyn Horn
David Waterbury
Tim Kochman
Ruth Waterbury
Arthur Mason
Doris Wolin
Allan Nachman
Ron Wornick
Committee Chairman
Membership
Doris Wolin
Nominating
Robyn Horn
Finance/Budget
Skip Shaw, Gary Smith
Newsletter
Jan Peters
Honors
Ron Wornick
Public Relations
Norton Rockler
Publicity & Video
Ivan Barnett
Long Range Planning
Robyn Horn
Education Fund
Robyn Horn
Galleries
David Wahl, Jan Peters
Graphics
Binh Pho
Web site, Internet
Kevin Wallace
CWA Forums Events
SOFA New York 2001
Marty Bloomfield
Slide Show
Joe Seltzer
SOFA Chicago 2001
Alan Nachman
Forum 2001, Minneapolis
Ruth Waterbury
Publicity
Bruce Heister
Slide Show
Christian Burchard,
Carole Floate
Forum 2002 at SOFA NYC
Marty Bloomfield
SOFA Chicago 2002
Carole Floate
Collectors Choice
Steve Sinner
Forum 2003, Santa Fe
David Wahl