Reimagining Historical Furniture: Sculptural Use of Traditional Techniques
Spread, 2021. Wood, found tea cup and saucer, 36” x 36” x 36,” made in collaboration with Eleanor Rose.
Have you ever wanted to make a piece of furniture that is a little bit strange, or suggestive of a place out of time? Or maybe you want to use traditional techniques in unusual ways? This workshop is for you. In our two weeks together, you will learn how to build a small table, think plant stand or bedside table, and then embellish it using historical techniques that we will cover in the workshop. We will also look at contemporary artists who use these kinds of techniques in subversive ways and discuss the provenance of some of these traditions. Students will leave with a small table of their own design, comfort on many of the machines in the woodshop, the basic skills for continued experimentation in wood, and ideas about how to strategically use historical techniques in their work. More advanced students can tackle more complicated builds and carved surface embellishments. All levels welcome.
Stacy Motte (she/her) is an interdisciplinary sculptor and educator whose practice combines traditional craft techniques and materials with alternative processes. Although her research shifts from one body of work to the next, there is almost always some relationship to craft history or American consumer culture. Motte is one half of the collaborative duo, Ladies Who, with Eleanor Ingrid Rose, and she is currently a resident artist at the Appalachian Center for Craft. Motte received a BFA from California College of the Arts and an MFA from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She has taught woodworking, sculpture, and core classes at Tennessee Tech University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.