ArtBabble: Furniture

Newport Chair- Crest Rail

Chipstone — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 19:35:48 +0000

Series:

Making in America

Institution:

Chipstone

Woodworker Randy O'Donnell demonstrates how to carve an 18th century Newport chair's crest rail.

Dallas Museum of Art Collection: Bed

Dallas Museum of Art — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 03:43:29 +0000

Series:

Dallas Museum of Art Collection

Institution:

Dallas Museum of Art

Commissioned by Whig Party supporters of presidential hopeful Henry Clay, this Gothic Revival bedstead was intended to grace what is now called the Lincoln Bedroom of the White House.

Clay narrowly lost the 1844 election, largely due to his failure to endorse the annexation of the Republic of Texas, and the bedroom suite was bought by Louisiana cotton magnate Daniel Turnbull for Rosedown Plantation, where the bed remained for some 150 years before entering the DMA's collection.

Newport Chair- Knee Carving

Chipstone — Tue, 08 May 2012 20:24:19 +0000

Series:

Making in America

Institution:

Chipstone

Woodworker Randy O'Donnell demonstrates how the knee of an 18th century Newport chair would have been carved.

Newport Chair- Claw and Ball Foot

Chipstone — Tue, 08 May 2012 18:03:16 +0000

Series:

Making in America

Institution:

Chipstone

Woodworker Randy O'Donnell demonstrates how to carve the claw and ball foot on an 18th century Newport chair.

Nearpass Chair

Chipstone — Tue, 08 May 2012 18:02:45 +0000

Series:

Making in America

Institution:

Chipstone

Woodworker Randy O'Donnell demonstrates how he wove the seat and created the mortise and tenon joints for Chipstone's reproduction Nearpass Chair. O'Donnell uses 18th century techniques and tools to create his work.

The Tool at Hand- David Gates

Chipstone — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:52:41 +0000

Series:

Chipstone: The Tool at Hand

Institution:

Chipstone

In the Spring of 2011 the Chipstone Foundation and the Milwaukee Art Museum invited sixteen established artists from Britain and America to participate in an unusual experiment. Each artist was asked to lay aside his or her standard tool kit and craft a work of art with one tool alone. The challenge presented to the artists sounds simple: create a work of art with one tool. The material and tool were left open-ended with the purpose of encouraging creativity within the one-tool constraint.

The Tool at Hand- Hongtao Zhou

Chipstone — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 21:23:55 +0000

Series:

Chipstone: The Tool at Hand

Institution:

Chipstone

Tang Museum: Johnny Swing on Repurposing Solutions

Tang Museum at Skidmore College — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 05:43:48 +0000

Institution:

Tang Museum at Skidmore College

In this video, Johnny Swing discusses how he was destined to be a sculptor; making things, for him, has always been an enjoyable means of figuring out solutions to problems.

Mika Tajima Versus the Cubicle

Art21 — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:52:52 +0000

Series:

New York Close Up

Institution:

Art21

How does design shape society? In this film, artist Mika Tajima traces the legacy of the influential Action Office furniture line—developed by Herman Miller—and how it serves as the inspiration for her own work. Introduced in 1964 and still in production today, the Action Office is a modular and customizable system of semi-enclosed cubicles. Intended to spur efficiency and productivity in the workplace, Tajima views the widespread adoption of the cubicle in the 1970s and 80s as profoundly dehumanizing, with each worker isolated in a sea of confined spaces.

A Renaissance Cabinet Rediscovered

The J. Paul Getty Museum — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 22:17:05 +0000

Institution:

The J. Paul Getty Museum

A cabinet J. Paul Getty acquired in 1971 was for many years believed to be a fake made in the 1800s. Through scientific, visual, and archival analysis, scholars at the Getty proved that the cabinet is an original piece of Renaissance furniture made in 1580 in Burgundy, France. Narrated by Getty conservator Arlen Heginbotham, this video explores key scientific methods used to examine the cabinet. Tree-ring dating was used to determine the authenticity of the cabinet's wood and several different scientific instruments were used to analyze a fragment of a metal tack found in the cabinet.