Maine Wood 2018 opens at Messler Gallery

Maine Wood 2018 opened at the Messler Gallery at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship on Jan. 19 with a reception and awards ceremony. The juried, biennial exhibition designed to showcase the breadth, creativity, and excellence of Maine’s woodworking community will run through April 11.

The Center received 91 submissions from 47 artists and artisans.

“This is our sixth biennial and it’s a joy to see how Maine’s woodworking community continues to grow with excellent new makers being juried in every time,” says Peter Korn, executive director of the Center.

Furniture makers include Melinda Aste of Portland; Nick Barboza of Hamden; David Boyle of Bath; William Francis Brown and Libby Schrum of Camden; Saer T. Huston of Kennebunkport; Aled Lewis and Michaela Crie Stone of Rockport; Heide Martin of Appleton, and Jeremy Porter of Rockland.

Sculptors, turners, carvers, marquetarians, lamp makers, and kayak builders are Clara Cohan, Cape Elizabeth; Jim Macdonald, Burnham; Rob Macks, Jefferson; Jonathan Moro, Rockport; Julie Morringello, Stonington; Malcolm Ray, Damariscotta; Karina Steel, Camden; John Tomaszewski, Wells; and Jacques Vesery, Damariscotta.

Co-sponsors of the event include Maine Crafts Association, Maine Woodturners, and Maine Woodworkers Association.

Jurors were Fabio Fernandez, executive director of the Society of Arts+Crafts in Boston; Joshua Friend, editor of American Woodturner magazine, and Mira Nakashima, creative director for George Nakashima Woodworker in New Hope, Pa.

For information, visit www.woodschool.org.

The Hawaii Wood Guild is holding its 2018 Invitational Masters Show through Feb. 23 at the Isaacs Art Center in Kamuela, Hawaii.

The exhibit features wood art and furniture, primarily from reclaimed wood, and dead, fallen and dying trees.

“Most of our guild members bring over 30 years of experience to their woodworking. All this expertise combined with lots of imagination and some of the most beautiful woods in the world make for a remarkable exhibit,” guild president Marcus Castaing said in a statement.

For more information, visit www.isaacsartcenter.hpa.edu.

This article originally appeared in the February 2018 issue.