SCULPTURE
- James Verner - Contemporary furniture, Dorset
Course: 2-5 Day
Participants, under James' tutelage, will be able
to complete their own hand-made wooden piece during
the course.
There will be a full introduction to the raw materials--James
uses locally-felled English timber where possible--and
to the techniques which will be required to make
the piece. Assistance will be given with the selection
of timber.
The course follows through the various stages of
creating a useful and unique object with help in
the actual operations, such as fitting joints, marking
panel grooves, finishing, gluing, buffing and polishing.
Artist: James Verner
James was born in 1967, and
gained his masters degree before beginning to work
in wood. Upon completing an informal apprenticeship
to a furniture restorer, he opened his own workshop
in 1996.
Handmade furniture is not just practical. "Having
something in one's home, made of a natural material
that began its life long before any of us, invites
us to look beyond mere surface effects into the
life of the wood itself--trees, which have witnessed
the events of previous centuries are now being made
into furniture which we use as part of our contemporary
lives."
The grain patterns which
are so much a feature of James' work, hidden from
view until cut by his bandsaw, are revealed and
displayed, evoking the spirit of the wood itself.
As far as is possible, James uses wood which is
locally-felled. He lives and works near the Dorset
Coast, which has recently been awarded Heritage
status, as an area rich in fossils. James has adopted
an ammonite as his emblem, and it can be found discreetly
on all of his work--reflecting the great affinity
which he feels for his locale.
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