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Robert Erickson and Ron Kent
April 20 - May 19, 2007
Opening reception: Friday, April 20, 5:00pm - 7:00pm
Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe
1011 Paseo de Peralta
Santa Fe, NM 87501
TEL 505.954.5700 FAX 505.954.5754
Hours: Monday-Saturday 10am - 5pm
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For further information contact:
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Contemporary woodworking by Robert Erickson and Ron Kent
Robert Erickson
Nevada City, California artist Robert Erickson has been hand-crafting furniture since 1969. Erickson’s work has a modern yet classic aesthetic, influenced by the masters of the American Arts and Crafts movement. His pieces are much more modern in their line, with the overall appearance being more minimal. This exhibition will feature his specialty, chairs. Most of Erickson’s chairs incorporate a flexible and contoured Floating Back, a design concept he began developing in 1974 and has been refining ever since. He says, “When I began exploring the design possibilities for seating three decades ago, I discovered that everyone is an expert on chairs. After all, each of us has our own experience of the perfect sit. Yet it’s up to me to design a piece that is compact and durable as well as comfortable. And, finally, to combine these elements into a form that also delights the eye. That’s what makes chair design so exciting: the myriad possibilities, the tangible end.” In an April 2001 review of his rocking chairs, the <em>Atlantic Monthly</em> magazine wrote, “Perhaps the highest nexus of art and ergonomics is the Erickson chair.”
Robert Erickson’s work has been exhibited by the Gerald Peters Gallery since 1998 and can be found in the public collections of the Yale University Art Gallery; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Minnesota Museum of Art – Cray Research Collection; and the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Ron Kent
One of the country’s most prominent wood turners, Ron Kent will be exhibiting his trademark, slender walled, translucent wood vessels. Highlighted in this show are two works from the Guardian series which re-visits a format he first started in the late 1960s but which embodies design characteristics that have been intrinsic in his work ever since. In an artist statement Kent says, “The Guardian profile, to me, would be commanding in any medium. I sought to embody authoritative towering stature with flowing, benign grace. Powerful to be sure, but also benevolent and protective.” There are currently five companion forms in the Guardian series, with a number of variations in mind.
Kent developed his craft in Hawaii, where he resides today, and uses Norfolk Island pine as his chosen medium. He chooses classic shapes and lets the wood “tell” him which form will show off its natural beauty to best advantage. “When I look at my vessels I feel that my role in their creation has been minimal indeed. It is the wood itself that overwhelmingly is the star of the show.”
For more information on the exhibition, please contact Gayle Maxon-Edgerton, Director of Contemporary Art at Gerald Peters Gallery. Images of works from the exhibition are available, and interviews with the artists can be arranged upon request. Gerald Peters Gallery is located at 1011 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, just south of Canyon Road. Gallery hours are 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
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