The Furniture Society

Founded in 1996 [1], The Furniture Society is a membership based, tax-exempt 501 (c) 3 nonprofit corporation working to advance the art of furniture making by inspiring creativity, promoting excellence and fostering understanding of this art. The Society, based in Asheville, North Carolina, has an international membership comprising furniture makers, designers, educators, museum and gallery professionals, scholars, journalists, collectors, students and the interested public.[2]

Background

Built on a tradition of volunteerism, the Society provides a range of programs including annual conferences, exhibitions, publications, scholarships and awards of excellence. All programming is guided by the Society’s core values: opportunity, education, inspiration, community and contribution. Membership in the Furniture Society is open to all who have an interest in furniture.

Annual Conferences

The Society convenes an annual conference, in locations across the United States and in Canada, usually in June. Each conference offers keynotes, artists’ presentations, practical demonstrations, theoretical discussions and business improvement seminars. Past venues have included:[3]

  • Purchase, New York (1997)
  • San Francisco, California (1998)
  • Smithville, Tennessee (1999)
  • Toronto, Ontario (2000)
  • Tempe, Arizona (2001)
  • Madison, Wisconsin (2002)
  • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2003)
  • Savannah, Georgia (2004)
  • San Diego, California (2005)
  • Indianapolis, Indiana (2006)
  • Victoria, British Columbia (2007)
  • SUNY Purchase (2008)
  • Boone, North Carolina (2009)
  • Cambridge, Massachusetts (2010)
  • Portland, Maine (2012)
  • Los Angeles, California (2013)
  • Port Townsend, Washington (2014)
  • Durham, North Carolina (2015)
  • Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2016)
  • Kansas City, Missouri (joint conference with the American Association of Woodturners)(2017)
  • San Francisco, California (2018)
  • Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2019).

Exhibitions

The Furniture Society has sponsored several major exhibitions of studio furniture. These include:

  • Multiplicity: The art of the Furniture Prototype (2008)
  • Show Us Your Drawers (2006)
  • Curv-iture (2004)
  • The Maker's Hand (2004, co-sponsored with The Museum of *Fine Art, Boston)
  • Cabinets of Curiosities (2003, co-sponsored with The Wood *Turning Center)
  • WilsonArt Invitational (2003, co-sponsored with WilsonArt)
  • The Right Stuff (2002)
  • The Circle Unbroken (1999)
  • Contemporary North American Furniture (1997—invitational)

The Award of Distinction

The Society presents the Award of Distinction each year as a major event during the annual conference. This award recognizes artists, and occasionally others, who have had a profound impact in the field. Past recipients of the award include:[4]

Publications

Five biennial journals on Studio Furniture have been published by the Furniture Society: Furniture Studio: The Heart of the Functional Arts, 1999[5] Furniture Studio: Tradition in Contemporary Furniture, 2001[6] Furniture Studio: Furniture Makers Exploring Digital Technologies, 2005[7] Furniture Studio: Focus on Materials, 2006[8] and Furniture Studio: The Meaning of Craft, 2007[9] These volumes offer essays on design, fabrication and history as well as a pictorial gallery of the finest work made from the 1990s on. The Society also publishes catalogs to accompany the major exhibitions of furniture that it has initiated or co-sponsored with leading institutions, and a quarterly print newsletter, Furniture Matters. Recent Furniture Society publications also include The Maker's Hand: American Studio Furniture, 1940-1990 (168 pages, illustraged), 2003 from the Museum of Fine Arts Publications[10], Mind & Hand: Contemporary Studio Furniture (160 pages, illustrated), 2012[11] and Rooted: Creating a Sense of Place: Contemporary Studio Furniture (160 pages, illustrated), 2015[12], both from Schiffer Publishing.

See also

References
  1. Koplos, Janet. (2010). Makers : a history of American studio craft. Metcalf, Bruce, 1949-, Center for Craft, Creativity & Design. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 470. ISBN 978-0-8078-9583-2. OCLC 658203695.CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  2. "A Society Dedicated To Furniture". Fine Woodworking Magazine. Retrieved 10 April 2006.
  3. "Furniture Society has best-attended conference". Woodshop News. Retrieved 26 August 2004.
  4. "Award of Distinction". The Furniture Society. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  5. The heart of the functional arts. Kelsey, John, 1946-, Mastelli, Rick, 1949-, Furniture Society. Free Union, VA: Furniture Society. 1999. ISBN 0967100402. OCLC 41238526.CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. Tradition in contemporary furniture. Mastelli, Rick, 1949-, Kelsey, John, 1946-, Furniture Society. Free Union, Va.: Furniture Society. 2001. ISBN 0967100410. OCLC 47073337.CS1 maint: others (link)
  7. Furniture makers exploring digital technologies : annual journal of the Furniture Society. Kelsey, John, 1946-, Furniture Society. Asheville, NC: Furniture Society. 2005. ISBN 0967100429. OCLC 58843091.CS1 maint: others (link)
  8. "9780967100432: Focus on Materials (Furniture Studio) - AbeBooks: 0967100437". www.abebooks.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  9. The meaning of craft. Kelsey, John, 1946-, Furniture Society. Asheville, NC. 2007. ISBN 9780967100449. OCLC 145396633.CS1 maint: others (link)
  10. Cooke, Edward S. (2003). The maker's hand : American studio furniture, 1940-1990. Ward, Gerald W. R., L'Ecuyer, Kelly H., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston: MFA Publications, a division of the Museum of Fine Arts. ISBN 0878466622. OCLC 53883909.
  11. Mind & hand : contemporary studio furniture. Aslund, Jean., Congdon-Martin, Douglas., Furniture Society., Furniture Society. Conference (2010 : Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Atglen, Pa.: Schiffer Pub. 2012. ISBN 9780764341151. OCLC 768166946.CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. Rooted : creating a sense of place : contemporary studio furniture. Dotson, Steffanie,, Congdon-Martin, Douglas,, Furniture Society (Durham, N.C.). Atglen, PA. 2015. ISBN 9780764349485. OCLC 898162606.CS1 maint: others (link)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.