CRAFT OF MAINE-October 2009

by Rebecca Falzano

Three Maine artists who bring wood to life

This month, our Functional Art series focuses on artists who use wood as their canvas. Each of the pieces on the following pages is a marriage of aesthetic beauty and practical purpose. From trees to teapots. Driftwood found washed ashore. Furniture inspired by rural landscapes. Each piece has its own story to tell. And as artist Jacques Vesery says, “we just need to look and listen.”

 

 

 

Jacques Vesery | jacquesvesery.com

My Growing Passion for Green Tea, 2008,  carved/ textured cherry, ebony, linen, acrylic,  6” x 5” x 3”

“We are touched and influenced every day by many shapes and colors. We look, we listen. I work in wood due to its familiarity, its makeup, and its qualities. Its warmth inspires direction and doesn’t inhibit me. The wood becomes my canvas, but it’s the engaging convergence of form, proportion, texture, and color that creates the unique spirit and soul with a story to tell. Material and technique then become irrelevant. Each piece of art I create has its own story…we just need to look and listen.”

 

 

 

 

Matthew Hutton | studio24b.com

Untitled, 2009, wenge, white oak,  29” x 78” x 18”

“My recent body of work, Vestigial Landmarks, is a body of work that explores process, utility, and form. This work focuses on the transformation of the Midwest landscape, particularly that of farmlands that have deteriorated due to inactivity and redevelopment. These works are also inspired by the idea of nostalgia, independency/dependency, fossils, barns and grain silos, water towers, roadway billboards, and other architectural elements that have interest in mass, volume, and gravity. While often dilapidated and degenerate, these architectural landmarks continue to endure amongst the contemporary sprawl and it is from these that I pull information of time, history, layers, and information of structure and construction to create functional objects.”

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Fleming | designsadrift.com

Monhegan, 2008, Maine-coast-collected driftwood, custom linen shade,        51” x 8.5”

“I’m enthralled with the often overlooked and simply beautiful objects found along Maine’s shores. Ordinary life in Maine is what inspires me. Its natural and abundant beauty—the people, the ever-changing tides and weather, the light…being connected with such unparalleled surroundings, how can one not be inspired?”