“Use Me” CCA’s furniture design student show opens this Friday with some very sleek works
Every May, the very talented graduating students in the Furniture Program at California College of the Arts , San Francisco, have an exhibition showcasing their talent as they head out to find their way in the world. Those of us who were lucky enough to attend “Family Tree” at the Petaluma Arts Center in March got a preview of the considerable talent coming out of CCA and its excellent furniture design program. Works by five graduating students from the program will be on view at Mina Dresden Gallery in San Francisco from May 6 through May 20, 2011. The featured artists are Janette Banner, Carly Borman, Michele Marti, Lukas Nickerson, and Andrew Perkins. You may recall Michele Marti’s “Victorian Spread” and “Curious Sofa,” both eclectic re-workings of Victorian pieces, and Andrew Perkins “Alumination,” an elegant round maple table inlaid with striations of aluminum that were on view in Petaluma. Now, you will have a chance to see even more of their cutting-edge works in a variety of styles, materials and intents. The show is curated by Donald Fortescu, former chair of CCA’s Furniture Program, who along with Russell Baldon, Barbara Holmes, and Ashley Eriksmoen also had works in the “Family Tree” exhibition. The opening reception is this Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Mina Dresden Gallery in San Francisco and the public is warmly invited. Almost all of the works are for sale.
Michele Marti's "Curious Sofa" is a gorgeous spoof on Victorian morays as well as furniture design. Two people sitting on this plushly upholstered seat are forced to touch knees, a very un-Victorian thing to do. Photo: courtesy Michele Marti
About CCA’s Furniture Program: CCA’s Furniture Program focuses on the fertile intersection of the disciplines of furniture design, industrial design, sculpture, architecture, and fashion. The program emphasizes making skills (woodworking, metalworking, upholstery, and industrial fabrication), hand and computer-based drawing, and a theoretical investigation of furniture as both object and cultural agent. Courses are taught in furniture design at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and the curriculum is interdisciplinary.
Students develop a conceptually sophisticated and professional body of work suitable for small-scale production runs or gallery exhibition. Students execute projects both individually and in small groups, often with Architecture, Industrial Design, and Interior Design students, which prepares them to collaborate with designers, manufacturers, and contractors in their professional lives.
In "Alumination," on view at the Petaluma Arts Center in March 2011, CCA student Andrew Perkins painstakingly layered aluminum and maple and then cut and sanded to achieve exquisite patterning in his table. Perkins will participate in CCA's "Use Me" exhibition at the Mina Dresden Gallery opening on May 6, 2011. Photo: Geneva Anderson
ARThound’s coverage of CCA student and faculty artists:
“Family Tree” Petaluma Art Center’s Exceptional Fine Woodworking Show through March 13, 2011
Details: “Use Me” is at Mina Dresden Gallery | 312 Valencia Street | San Francisco. http://www.minadresden.com/
Opening reception: Friday, May 6, 2011, from 5 to 8 p.m.
Closing reception: May 20, 2011, from 5 to 8 p.m.
Gallery hours: Thurs., Fri., & Sat.: 1–7 p.m. (and by appointment (415) 863-8312). Free. For more information: Donald Fortescue, dfortescue@cca.edu
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