OnExhibit
Art form turns in a new direction
by Michael O’Sullivan
It would be difficult for almost any exhi- bition to live up to the word “revolution- ary,” but the Renwick Gallery’s latest craft showcase lives up to the term, both literally and figuratively. On the most basic level, the description simply refers to the medi- um at the center of the spotlight: turned wood, or wood that has been shaped by a process that involves cutting into it while it rotates — that is, revolves — on a mechan- ical lathe. It’s a great-looking show, with works that range from the pretty (William and Marianne Hunter’s “Evening Blos- som”) to the ruggedly handsome (Todd Hoyer’s “Ringed Series”). But “A Revolution in Wood: The Bresler
Collection” also has a second meaning. There’s something subversive going on here. If you’re outside the craft community, you might not immediately recognize it. The show celebrates the gift to the mu- seum of 66 turned-wood objects from col- lectors Fleur and Charles Bresler. Most date from the 1990s, though a few were made at the tail end of the 1980s. The vast majority are vessels. That’s not just a reflection of the Bres- lers’ taste. Wood turning has traditionally been a medium for making functional ob- jects: bowls, chair legs, banisters, candle- sticks and the like. It was conservative. But something changed, and mostly since the 1970s. In the past 30 or 40 years, wood turning has gone from being the ex- clusive province of tableware and furni- ture makers to a sculptural medium of per- sonal expression. You’ll see some of that evolution — if not revolution — but only if you know what to look for. A good place to start is Mark Sfirri’s “Re-
jects From the Bat Factory.” The artist’s witty, sculptural take on the
baseball bat — incorporating mutant, corkscrewed and almost tumorous varia- tions on the iconic piece of sports equip- ment — uses a technique stolen not from the Louisville Slugger factory, but from furniture making. Sfirri takes advantage of a process called “multi-axis turning.” (Think of the turned-wood object like a spinning planet, but with more than one center of gravity.) In that way, he trans- forms the simple, symmetrical wooden spindle into an ornamental — but in this
ARTIST TALK John Gossage talks about his photographic series “The Pond” on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
www.americanart.si.edu. Free.
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David Ellsworth’s “Patan,” left, combines typical wood-turning techniques with painting. In “Rejects From the Bat Factory,” above, Mark Sfirri has taken a piece of sports equipment and made it unusable while turning it into art. Both are part of “A Revolution in Wood: The Bresler Collection” at the Renwick Gallery.
BEHIND THE WORK If there’s been a revolution in wood
SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM PHOTOS
case completely unusable — object. Speaking of unusable, you’ll find several vessels . . . punctured by holes. One of them is Michael Peterson’s “Bird House.” (Note: He doesn’t even call it a vase, which is what it most nearly resembles.) But Pe- terson’s piece also marks another moment in wood turning history: It’s more hand- carved than machine-turned. The artist’s minimal shaping lets the or- ganic form of the wood come through. One of the more dramatic pieces on view
is David Ellsworth’s “Patan,” from the art- ist’s “Solstice Series.” A favorite artist of the Breslers, Ellsworth is known, among other things, for applying — gasp! — paint to his vessels. That had long been a no-no. You didn’t desecrate the texture of the wood with anything. It’s a measure of how far wood turning has come that the paint-spattered surface of “Patan” hardly raises an eyebrow these days. It’s actually kind of beautiful. “A Revolution in Wood” compares the appearance of paint in Ellsworth’s work to
the day in 1965 that Bob Dylan decided to walk onstage of the Newport Folk Festival with an electric guitar, instead of his famil- iar acoustic. At the time, purists were up in arms. Nowadays, of course, the whole thing seems quaintly old-fashioned. But that’s how revolutions work, isn’t it?
Not by gentle nudging, but by spinning the world around.
osullivanm@washpost.com
A REVOLUTION IN WOOD: THE BRESLER COLLECTION
Through Jan. 30 at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW (Metro: Farragut West). 202-633-1000 (TDD: 202-633-5285).
americanart.si.edu. Through January, Area woodturners will give free lathe demonstrations in the gallery every Tuesday from noon to 1 p.m. and on the second Saturday of the month from 2 to 4 p.m.
Hours: Daily 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Admission: Free.
turning, you can see the battle scars in Mark Lindquist’s “Ascending Bowl #1.” Take a look at its crosshatched surface, crudely hacked at, and not with delicate woodworking tools, but a chain saw. Now look around the room at its neighbors. Many of the works in the Bresler collection have a polished, nearly perfect luster. That was the dominant aesthetic in 1979, just before Lindquist embarked on his “Ascending Bowl” series. With it, the artist, who is known for utilizing “spalted,” or partially decomposed wood, embraced imperfection. Not only the imperfection of the wood itself — there’s a giant crack in the base of the bowl — but his own faults as well. According to Lindquist, the disfigured surface is also a nod to the mistakes he made as a novice wood turner.
— Michael O’Sullivan
Mark Lindquist’s “Ascending Bowl #1” looks as though the artist used a chain saw on it.
THE WASHINGTON POST • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2010
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