For immediate release: August 14, 2001
Contact: Nico Hartzell, 215-923-8000
Images and more information available upon request
Advance Exhibition and Program Schedule
Fall/Winter 2001
Philadelphia: As the Wood Turning Center continues to move through its fifteenth anniversary year, its exhibition and program schedule only continues to expand and excite. Through wonderful collaborations with the Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art at Ursinus College, the Yale University Art Gallery and the Furniture Society, three very different, but equally eye-opening and interesting programs have been developed, in addition to the Center’s regular annual programming:
Challenge VI- Roots: Insights and Inspirations in Contemporary Turned Objects
Opening at the Berman Museum on September 8, this exhibition and its accompanying publication continue the tradition of the Wood Turning Center’s Challenge series, which provides artists with a forum to push the frontier of their art while encouraging the public to expand its understanding and appreciation of contemporary lathe turning. The Challenge series includes cutting-edge works from both established and emerging international artists, as well as the artists’ explanations of their inspirations for the works included. Click here for the updated Tentative Tour Schedule if you are interested in hosting the exhibition.
Tour Schedule:
9/8 - 11/11/01 Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art, Ursinus College
Collegeville, PA
11/29/01 - 1/30/02 Susquehanna Art Museum
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
5/17 - 6/27/02 Indianapolis Museum of Art, Columbus Gallery
Indianapolis, IN
9/3 - 10/27/02 Washington State University Museum of Art
Pullman, WA
11/15/02 - 2/7/03: Houston Center for Contemporary Craft
Houston, Texas
2/23 - 3/30/03 Arkansas Art Center, Decorative Arts Museum
Little Rock, AR
6/21 - 8/24/03 Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum
Wausau, WI
9/26 - 12/13/03 The Schneider Museum of Southern Oregon University
Ashland, OR
Wood Turning in North America Since 1930
In collaboration with the Yale University Art Gallery and its Department of American Decorative Arts, the Wood Turning Center has developed a ground breaking exhibition that depicts the contemporary evolution (post World War II) of wood turning in North America. The purpose of the show is to document the variety and beauty of turned wooden objects and provide the first critical history of the craft and art of wood turning in the twentieth century. These themes and developments in the field will be shown through the exhibition of approximately 134 turned wooden objects carefully chosen to define seminal moments in the field. The exhibition will be accompanied by a 192-page publication with 157 color illustrations, as well as two distinct symposiums at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and Yale University.
Tour Schedule:
10/21 - 12/30/02 The Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Minneapolis, MN
(10/26 - 10/27/01: Exhibition Symposium I)
3/8 - 7/14/02 Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum
Washington, DC
9/10 - 12/1/02 Yale University Art Gallery
New Haven, CT
(9/20 - 9/21/02: Exhibition Symposium II)
(10/19 - 10/20/02: Family Weekend)
International Turning Exchange 2002
The Wood Turning Center is now accepting applications for its eighth annual International Turning Exchange (ITE), an 8-week residency program for four lathe artists, one scholar, one furniture maker/educator and one photojournalist. The program aims to provide the residents with time to focus on their work and to collaborate with their peers.
Applications must be postmarked by October 1, 2001. Anyone interested may contact the Center for more information at (215) 923-8000 or
Cabinets of Curiosities
The Wood Turning Center and The Furniture Society have recently put out a Call for Entries for an exhibition opening at the Center in conjunction with the 2003 Furniture Society conference in Philadelphia.
Cabinets of Curiosities is meant to encourage collaboration between furniture makers and lathe artists. Each entry will consist of a cabinet or other container and a group of objects that it houses. It is hoped that the inspiration for the proposals will expand upon the traditional idea for keeping and presenting a collection of valued objects, an idea that has shaped our sense of personal keepsakes as well as the treasures of public galleries and museums. While drawing from this centuries-old tradition, the cabinet and objects themselves will have a contemporary presence. The themes for the Cabinets of Curiosities exhibit are as boundless as the imagination. Proposals might include a tool or instrument cabinet; a natural history specimen box inspired by animal, vegetable or mineral forms; a display case that celebrates the wonder of wondrous things; or a cabinet for a set of forms made specifically for it: spoons, chalices, tops, or spheres, for instance.
The deadline for the entry of proposals to the Center is November 30, 2001. Interested parties may contact the Center for more information at (215) 923-8000 or
