the milton avery show at the bennington museum

after a guild of vermont furniture makers meeting at ray finan's shop in south arlington, i continued south to the bennington museum to see the milton avery show.  really glad i did.  milton avery was, according to wikipedia 'seminal to American abstract painting—while his work is clearly representational, it focuses on color relations and is not concerned with creating the illusion of depth as most conventional Western painting since the Renaissance has. Avery was often thought of as an American Matisse, especially because of his colorful and innovative landscape paintings. His poetic, bold and creative use of drawing and color set him apart from more conventional painting of his era. Early in his career, his work was considered too radical for being too abstract; when Abstract Expressionism became dominant his work was overlooked, as being too representational. read the full bio here  avery was a big influence on mark rothko and adolph gottlieb as well as others of the early abrstact expressionist movement. 

click the photos to enlarge them ...

 he also spent a number of summers just up the road in rawsonville and jamaica, vermont. 

nature scenes from pikes falls and ball mountain

loved this one ..  a self portrait

the show included a nice selection of his sketchbooks combined with his later studio interpretations of those sketches into paintings

the center and right hand paintings are interpretations from the same sketch above them

a while i was there, i also got to visit with a piece i made for the museum about 20 years ago .. 

still lookin good

Clean House ... Back to the Big Tables

Quite a week .. In the last seven days we have delivered or shipped a total of fifteen (15) pieces.
The duck bed last Thursday, the big tv cabinet and two other pieces to the house in Grafton last Friday, a table and 6 chairs to the Southern Vermont Art Center for an upcoming show of New England Furniture Makers that opens next Saturday, two single beds and the recycled oak table to Martha's Vineyard, and today, last but certainly not the least, the big claro walnut slab table to Connecticut. ... I can't believe all that stuff was here at my shop at the same time ... I should have upped my insurance ... My mind is clear, the shop is empty (?) except for the 26' x 9' table and another dining table Will is working on, and I even got a round of golf in today .... Sam's in the metal shop working on a piece for another upcoming show at The Bennington Museum called 'State of Craft 2010' and the steel for the big table .... All for now ... individual updates on these projects and shows as time allows ... Click the photos to enlarge them .... click the links to see the pieces ... One of the single beds heading for the Vineyard ... Simple, modern, maple ply ; the two singles push together to form a king for guests
One of the 'State of Craft' flyers ... more on that later. the show opens the 22nd of this month..
Sam's got his part of the bench ready to paint ... Will and I will start the wood tomorrow ... Hey, we don't have to deliver it til next Friday ... 'Bridge To The Future' ...
The steel granite supports for the big table ... Sam will tap them to bolt two to each of the seven sections and weld end plates on to finish them ... Rugged stuff ...
Almost forgot .. We had our first meeting at the shop yesterday afternoon for a sculpture we;re building at the Northshire Bookstore in Manchester to celebrate this year's Open Studio which takes place May 28th and 29th. Over 250 Vermont artists will open their studios to the public for the weekend .. I think it's the 17th annual and there will be a total of five artists represented at our studio here ... Kit with her jewelry, Dorset Custom Furniture woodworking, Sam and his metal work, Penny Viscusi with her pastels and Denise Tilley with her hand made totally cool hats ... More on that as the event approaches.
Artist's concept ...