the southern vermont art center februarly solo exhibitions

2/17/2012 ... showtime this saturday ... except for two little pieces, we're all set up ... the reception, free and open to the public, is tomorrow (saturday) from 2:00 - 4:00 ... lots, besides our furniture, to see there. the southern vermont arts center is an amazing campus and collection of galleries. this show is in the main building, and will run through march 19th. you can see the lineup below, and i'll post a few photos of some of the other art on display later today .. stop by if you are in the area ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
recycled chestnut, milk paint and gold leaf. it is displayed on a stand made from toasted locust and polished 3/4" rebar. the locust was complements of my friend malcolm cooper and we had a good time figuring out how to make each of the pedestals interesting, yet not fussy ... you could display it like this, or hang it on the wall flat. same with the mirror in the other corner.
close up of the claro walnut table in the center of the room ... nice figure! more photos later ...
brad guarino
harry rich ... i'm not playing favorites here; it's just that the light was low and i forgot my tripod. i was in a hurry, and these were the only two pictures that were even remotely in focus and they aren't great ...
more later maybe ...

1/29/2012well, back around the fall of 2010, when business was really slow and looking to get slower, we agreed to do a show in manchester at the southern vermont art center, in the winter 2012. it seemed like a long time off at the time. now, not so far away ... in fact, until yesterday when i received my official invitation to the opening, i actually thought it was opening the 11th. so, in effect, i received a bonus week to work on my stuff. as it turns out, i think we'll mostly wrap it up this week, which will leave me with a pretty full finish room by friday, next week could get interesting as other pieces become ready for finishing. click the photos to enlarge them ...
1st up is a claro slab table about 45 x 88 with our standard steel 'shaker style' base. we are still in the debate stage of blackened or polished base ... the blackened base is a little more subtle,, but also a little more work, and well, we can always blacken it later but it's not fun to get rid of the black patina later if someone wants a polished base.
i love the look when the varnish is wet, but i wouldn't want to live with a glossy finish unless i didn't plan on actually using the table. just the thought of dusting that shiny finish kills me ...
satin finish now ... much better ... the base needs a little more polishing, or blackening ... we'll see ...
and will just has to do the polish coat on this bureau, a half of the one we finished about this time last year.
we upgraded the hardware from lag bolts to graduated sam made drop pulls ..and, since it will be sitting sort of in the middle of the room, we gave the back an extra nice green enamel paint job,
our theme is, loosely, wood and steel, colors and textures, and this is a recycled chestnut console that needs some scraping and planing, a few metal accents and some finish ... and in the far corner, we'll have one of our tapered mirrors on a stand. you can see here how it hangs if you want to attach i to a wall, there is an 8/4 corner block, (there's always a stud in the corner) with a 5 inch wide piece of poplar screwed to that, and the there are plywood triangles screwed to the back of the mirror frame that screw through into the poplar ... very rigid when it's done ... nice cherry!
we've got a couple of these in our house and one behind the boys' computer in the office at the shop. they can definitely brighten up a corner.
the bench for the fireplace hearth is finished. the lounge chair is available if it fits, and i still have one more mirror to make. i posted the gold leafed mdf mockup a few weeks back, but i still have to make the real thing ... we'll be sharing the room with some very interesting marta johansen drawings below and i think the mirrors will reflect the whole room if i get them set up right. all for now ... updates as we progress .....