Excitedly walking through downtown Philadelphia’s “First Friday” gallery crawl this past weekend, I stumbled upon an exhibit of dedicated and extremely gifted artists showing at The Center for Art in Wood. This exhibition celebrates the Center’s seventeenth year of hosting the International Turning Exchange Residency (ITE) program; seven artists/scholars travel to Philadelphia to create new work, visit nearby cities and research for two months, developing new directions and even discover new materials for their work.

John Hallett: “Crank”. Queensland maple, 12″ x diam. 5″, 2012. Photo: P. Sullivan
John Hallett (Adelaide, South Australia) creates minimalist forms primarily using a lathe, as he prefers to call himself “a turner”. Crank is a gorgeous piece made from an Australian maple that appears as an amalgam of perfect circular pieces; however, in its arrangement of minimalist perfection, one senses a disruption of feeling in the non-aligned circle forms that visibly connect to each other so seamlessly. Sarah Archer, 2012 ITE resident scholar and chief curator at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, aptly details in her essay A Medium With a Grain about her own observations and interactions with the ITE artists, here specifically noting Hallett’s pieces:  “As standalone objects they might be works of sculpture, but their crafting is foremost in Hallett’s mind.”

Jeannette Rein (Perth, Western Australia) creates stunning assemblages using materials as diverse as bleached and steamed wood, milk paints and glass.

Jeannette Rein and Lindsay Gilbert (glasswork): “Sea Shard”. Steam-bent black walnut, blown glass, glass rods, aluminum wire, 4 1/2″ x 9″ x 41″, 2012.
Sea Shard represents a new grouping of chosen materials for Rein, as this piece is the product of collaboration with Philadelphia-based glass artist, Lindsay Gilbert. Rein is masterful in weaving the walnut wood and metal wire into undulating curves with Gilbert’s glass elements. Rein transposes her wood materials into that of a fiber or threaded vessel, creating the illusion that this item may have been “found” instead of meticulously crafted, perhaps wrapped around a shipwreck; or has become arranged into this pattern of interwoven “fibers” somehow on its own through the forces of nature at sea.

allTURNatives: Form + Spirit 2012 – International Turning Exchange Exhibition can be viewed through October 20th, 2012 at The Center for Art in Wood located at 141 N. 3rd Street in downtown Old City, Philadelphia, PA.

Except where noted, images are courtesy of The Center for Art in Wood, Philadelphia.

Posted by:artdoesmatter

Patricia Sullivan is a metalsmith and studio artist – living in the suburbs of Philadelphia across the great Delaware River in Southern New Jersey for the past 17 years. She spent seven years prior, living in both New York City and the Hudson Valley, New York, studying at Parsons School of Design, moving onward to receive a second degree (post-graduate) in Fine Arts/Metals at SUNY New Paltz. A Philadelphia native, Patricia was exposed to the arts and music of this region since a young age, receiving her first Bachelor's degree at Temple University in Philadelphia before her sojourn to New York began. Patricia has exhibited her artwork nationally. Recently, Ms. Sullivan was one of only thirty-four artists worldwide to exhibit her work at the Center for Craft, as part of being selected for Metalsmith magazine's prestigious annual "Exhibition in Print - Moved by Metal."

4 replies on “allTURNatives: Form + Spirit 2012: Collaborators in Craft”

  1. Without having read your commentary, I would have thought that “Sea Shard” was a found object. The theme of this piece seems synchronous, given the Winslow Homer exhibit currently on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art through December. 🙂

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    1. What an interesting perspective, Gina! The “Shipwreck!” exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum looks fantastic – I hope to get there to view it sometime soon. Thank you so much for your insightful comments and visit!

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    1. Dawn, I can’t think of anyone more qualified than you to apply for a residency here. I know exactly how you feel, likewise – I would love to show my metals’ work in Australia. Hopefully, both will happen for us!

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