Canadian student takes Best of Show at AWFS

Zachary Lush won the Best of Show award at the AWFS fair’s Fresh Wood student design competition.

A student at Fletcher’s Meadow Secondary School in Brampton, Ontario, Lush also won the high school open category. He competed against 40 finalists and 169 total entries.

“The Fresh Wood competition is a fantastic platform and unique opportunity to network with the leaders in the networking industry,” Lush says. “Though motivated and encouraged by our instructors and influencers in the education system, it is extremely encouraging to have individuals from industry applaud your efforts and make themselves available from a networking and knowledge perspective.”

Kopf presents new work

Studio furniture maker Silas Kopf shows off his mastery of marquetry furniture with “Cracked III”, a large wood and abalone shell cabinet with a secret drawer compartment at Gallery Henoch in New York.

Kopf was recently awarded the Smithsonian Institution’s James Renwick Alliance 2015 Master of the Medium award in the wood category for his piece, “Bad Hare Day”. The award recognizes artists for excellence in the five craft areas of ceramics, fiber, glass, metal and wood. “Bad Hare Day” is now in the Renwick Gallery’s permanent collection.

Maruyama traveling exhibit

The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft is presenting “Wendy Maruyama: The Wildlife Project,” an exhibition that serves to illustrate the plight of elephants and the illegal ivory trade.

Through a moving installation of life-sized objects made from exotic woods and string and shrine-like forms made from steel and glass, the show supports preservation of animals in the wild, according to the gallery.

Maruyama is a furniture maker, artist and educator based in San Diego.

The exhibition will travel to four venues through 2017, including the Center for Art in Wood in Philadelphia; Penland Gallery in Penland, N.C.; Chrysler Museum of Art in Ghent, Va., and San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design.

Contacts:

Gallery Henoch, 555 West 25th St., New York, NY 10001. Tel: 917-305-0003. www.galleryhenoch.com

Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, 4848 Main St., Houston, TX 77002. Tel: 713-529-4848. www.crafthouston.org

This article originally appeared in the September 2015 issue.