“What happens when an object is no longer functional?” How do you see your works answering this particular question?
I don’t know that an object loses its function entirely, but I do think it changes. Instead of being used as a pedestal for people or things in the setting of a home, a piece of furniture can be a testament to its use, and a marker of societal changes and historical events, especially in the context of a museum. For example, worn paint, a broken chair rung, or a coffee cup ring on a table is a record of repeated use, and the changing of styles and designs of furniture is usually a directly correlation to changing levels of comfort, functionalities, artistic movements, trends, etc., and these ultimately become teaching tools for generations of makers. This, in addition to showcasing the materiality of steel, is something that I wanted to highlight in my work, and put upon a pedestal for viewers to understand.
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You mention wanting your work to provoke, “thoughts about the furniture we live with and the materials we encounter everyday.”. What do you hope viewers reconsider regarding their personal relationships with furniture?
My hope is that viewers come away with an understanding of the transformative power of materials like steel, and that furniture, as well as other functional objects, are storytellers, and have and will continue to recount the societal and historical changes around ideas of function.
Your work, Sew What?, uses your signature painted and rusted steel. Can you discuss the process of creating this piece from the initial design concept to achieving the specific balance of paint and rust?
The beginning of this piece is similar to how I go about any of my projects. While I usually aim for furniture forms that are easily recognizable, I also get inspired by more unusual or more complicated forms that may offer some different fabrication challenges. I very rarely work from a direct reference, so I will refer to auction websites such as 1stDibs to get a sense of scale and dimensions. From there I tend to spend quite a bit of time determining the best ways to go about making particular forms, which can be anywhere from kerf-bending and tapering tubing to create certain arm and leg forms, to using copper mesh to sew a bag that would then be welded into the inside of a drawer. For “Sew What?”, I asked my friend Rena Wood (fiber artist) for advice on how to construct the copper mesh bag, and she was instrumental in helping me put this element of the table together. Once a piece is completed, I will paint the entire surface, sand back some areas (typically areas that see a lot of wear and tear), and then I use a mixture of vinegar, peroxide, and salt to rust the pieces immediately. This is a formula I learned from mentor and friend Vivian Beer.
The titles for your projects are intentionally crafted to elicit a humorous response from viewers, serving as a counterbalance to, as you stated, “the absurdity of making rusty, non-functional furniture sculptures.”. The title for your work on exhibition, Sew What?, plays on both sewing, and the conversational phrase, “so what?”. How do your personal themes of humor and absurdity function as tools of representation in your practice?
“Sew What?” is a result of my fascination with assigning a gender to a piece of furniture (this type of table is often referred to as a lady’s work table), and another piece not in the exhibition, “Gorgeous George”, is a response to Regency-era chairs that were adorned with painted images of nude women, which seems to be a move made exclusively for the male gaze. While both of these works address gender specifically, I also use humor more generally to dismantle the idea that a piece of ‘fine furniture’ has to adhere to certain guidelines in order to be considered beautiful or well crafted.
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You expressed that your operation of recreating furniture in steel was a means of self discovery. In your statement, you affirm that “after making lots of uninspired works, I decided that I needed to completely eliminate wood from my work in order to make the furniture that would bring me joy.”. What did you discover about yourself through this process?
I tried for many years to prove that I was worthy of being called a woodworker. I did the handcut dovetails, I spent endless hours on sanding and finishing my wood
pieces, I incorporated live edge slabs into my works, but ultimately I felt that I made works that were carbon copies of other pieces, and any incorporation of steel felt like a lame attempt to be different, or to stand out from the crowd. Eliminating wood from my works was one of the best moves I ever made, because not only was I making works that were uniquely my own (though I realize that I’m still making copies of furniture pieces), I was also bringing steel into the forefront, which is what I wanted to do in the first place. And in a weird way, I enjoy woodworking now more than I ever did before too, because I no longer feel obligated to prove myself worthy.
Your collection of Rust Never Sleeps, which Sew What? is a part of, has had a continuation in your new body of work, High Brow/Low Brow. Could you describe the
differences of your Sabotage piece compared to your previous collection?
With this newer body of work, including “Sabotage”, I am heavily leaning into the ideas of furniture decoration and adornment through both a historical and contemporary lens, and drawing parallels to popular culture and ‘low-brow’ art forms. “Sabotage” was one of my more complex forms to date in terms of the fabrication, so it feels wrong to then cover it with graffiti and stickers, but that was the point. It speaks to the idea that fine furniture making as a craft often takes itself a little too seriously, and as stated before that leads to a narrow scope on what ‘fine furniture’ is or could look like.
Welding and steel fabrication have been the processes that embody the substance of your artworks. Where does this connection come from? Is there a deeper meaning to this preference or is it simply the materiality of steel that you enjoy creating with?
It’s definitely a combination of both. When I first started welding, I was actually pretty terrified of the process, but when I laid down my first TIG weld, I felt as if something clicked for me. I knew I wanted to continue doing that. Over the years and with much trial and error, I’ve come to better understand the history and materiality of steel, and I still find it to be so fascinating and versatile.
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You use hollow form fabrication, welding, coiling and weaving steel wool, and perforated sheets to mimic caning. Which of these techniques was the most challenging to master, and which gave you the most satisfactory outcome?
I don’t know that I’ve really mastered any of these, since I always feel as if I learn something new with every piece I make, but I think the coiling and weaving of steel and bronze wool is probably a technique that I am most proud of for a number of reasons. Ultimately with that technique, its certainly the closest I’ve come to mimicking another material (rush) while also showing off the versatility of an otherwise utilitarian steel/metal by-product.
You have conveyed before that welding and steel fabrication often get overlooked in the craft world, especially concerning furniture making. Why is there this blind spot, and how has using that materiality influenced your perception that characterizes itself as one distinctive from tradition?
There is an inextricable link between craft materials and processes and the objects they create, and there are many practicalities and other reasons as to why that is. Woodworking and furniture are no exception to this, and while there have been many examples of wood not being furniture and furniture not being wood, the two have had the longest running relationship, and in my opinion, it can be hard for another material or process to enter that relationship without being seen as less than, or even as an impediment to functionality.
Bespoke Matter is on view at Park Towne Place through January 20, 2026. You can learn more here and shop the exhibition here.
