SOFA CHICAGO 2005 SPECIAL EXHIBITS AND EVENTS:
FORM, FUNCTION AND FANTASY

Haley Bates Spiral Spoon Metalsmith’s Exhibition in Print 2005: "Flatware: Function + Fantasy" Special Exhibit

Three Special Exhibits at SOFA CHICAGO 2005, complementary with admission, feature international artworks bridging political, geographical and “function versus art” divides. Special Exhibits at SOFA are educational in nature and are designed to supplement the gallery presentations.

Buthina Abu-Milhem Fabric, thread 19 x 27 Photo: Yaakov Kidron "Updating Traditions" AIDA Special Exhibit

For the third straight year, the Association of Israel’s Decorative Arts (AIDA) in cooperation with the Eretz Israel Museum, presents a curated exhibit of contemporary decorative artwork by artists currently living in Israel. This year, the AIDA Special Exhibit is entitled Updating Traditions, and will include artwork by a Palestinian-Israeli artist, Buthina Abu-Milhem, who lives in the Arab village of Arara. Abu-Milhem’s textile art iconically references and metaphorically decorates the traditional Palestinian shirt. Asked why her work was selected along with eight Israeli artists, Abu-Milhem said, “I think there is something different in my works, which emerges directly from the culture and the environment in which I live.”

Rory Hooper My Memories, 2005 Smashed silver and gold rings 28d Photo: Rory Hooper "Updating Traditions" AIDA Special Exhibit

Andrea and Charles Bronfman, along with Dale and Doug Anderson, had the inspiration for AIDA after the start of the second Intifada, which discouraged gallery owners, collectors and fair organizers from coming to Israel. Andrea Bronfman said, “We saw an opportunity to turn things around by sending Israeli artists abroad and exposing them to the international scene.” Thanks to their participation, some of the artists have acquired permanent representations by US galleries and individual exhibitions of their works by such prominent galleries as Heller Gallery, New York. Of the selection process, co-curator Dale Anderson said in a recent Art & Antiques article, “We look for refreshing ideas, beautiful execution, and above all, artists expert in revealing the special potential and character of their material.”

John Smith Errol and Essie – Dancing Drawers, 2004 Blackwood, veneer over marine plywood, aluminium, stainless steel, corian, digital prints, Perspex 66 x 47.5 x 22" Photo: Peter Whyte "Convergence: Crossing the Divide" Special Exhibit

Convergence: Crossing the Divide—The Studio Furniture of Tasmania and America showcases eight furniture makers from Tasmania and eight from North America, presenting contemporary designs in studio furniture, both sculptural and functional. The exhibit was launched as a result of the friendship between curators John and Penny Smith, head of the Furniture Design Studio at the University of Tasmania and senior research fellow, respectively, and Wendy Maruyama, head of the Woodworking and Furniture Design program at San Diego State University. Convergence's US tour was launched at the Oceanside Museum of Art, San Diego earlier this year and was then shown at the San Francisco Museum of Craft + Design, before being presented at SOFA CHICAGO 2005 by the Furniture Society.

Peter Prasil Debacle 98, 2004 Plywood, polyurethane foam, fiberglas, automotive paint, aluminium, stainless steel 47 x 29.5 x 37.5" Photo: Peter Whyte "Convergence: Crossing the Divide" Special Exhibit

Convergence demonstrates a cross-cultural assimilation of materials, processes and styles in the studio furniture of US and Australia, about which the June/July American Craft wrote: “Though they live on opposite ends of the earth, studio furniture makers from Tasmania, Australia...and their counterparts in North America share many values—a passion for wood yet openness to other materials, respect for function combined with sculptural expressiveness, traditional skills devoted to forward-looking design.” Visitors to SOFA CHICAGO can decide: Is it furniture or art?

Curtis LaFollette Three Piece Flatware Set 1216/04-2 Flatware Series, 2004 Sterling silver, steel largest: 1 x 1.5 x 8" "Flatware: Function + Fantasy" Special Exhibit

Rose Sellery Eating Impediment: Eats Like a Bird, 2004 Sterling silver approx. 2.25 x .75 x .75" each Photo: R.R. Jones "Flatware: Function + Fantasy" Special Exhibit

Flatware: Function + Fantasy, a Special Exhibit from Metalsmith magazine’s Exhibition in Print 2005 on display at SOFA CHICAGO, further explores the boundaries of functional art. SOFA visitors will delight in the exuberantly imaginative flatware, whose makers straddle the line between what is practical for production with what is sensible for use, en-route to finding innovative design solutions. Presented by the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG).

Participants were selected from more than one hundred portfolios representing industrial designers, artists, and artisans with specialties in flatware, cutlery, and jewelry design. Co-curated by Rosanne Raab, independent curator/collection adviser, and Boris Bally, designer/metalsmith. Of the selection process, Raab said: “We identified conceptual ideas that went beyond traditional form to flatware that was hand-forged and machine-made for use. There are relationships with industry and alternatives that favor small workshops. Materials include silver, gold, various alloys of steel, rubber, plastics, ceramic, anodized aluminum, and a variety of stones, wood, bone, even bread. Techniques range from hi-volume drop-forging to hand-forging and pattern-welding, various fabrication and casting skills, chasing, mokume-gane, and granule construction.”

Karen Karnes Three Vertical Forms Salt Glaze Represented by Ferrin Gallery, Lenox, MA

SOFA CHICAGO is delighted to premiere a new 55-minute documentary of the life and work of Karen Karnes, a luminary in the world of contemporary ceramic art. The film, followed by a conversation between Karnes (Ferrin Gallery), filmmaker Lucy Phenix and artist Mark Shapiro (Ferrin Gallery), explores the creative process of a potter and an artist who has worked with unbroken focus in the medium of clay for over 60 years. (See Lecture Schedule).

Karen Karnes Untitled Covered Jar Represented by Ferrin Gallery, Lenox, MA

In the early fifties, Karnes and her husband helmed the ceramics department at the short-lived but influential Black Mountain College, in the company of such avant-garde artists as Robert Rauschenberg, John Cage and Peter Voulkos. Often known as “the grandmother of American ceramics,” Karnes is renowned for her stoneware casseroles and wheel-thrown sculptural vessels that have heft and grace, often with a soft sensuous mouth, and a signature palette of greens, blues, and purples. She first exhibited with the Ceramic National at the Everson Museum in 1950, won the Fletcher Challenge Merit Award in 1992 and a gold metal from the American Craft Council in 1998. Public collections that include her work are Philadelphia Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Karnes is represented at SOFA CHICAGO by Ferrin Gallery, Lenox, MA.

Hot Glass Roadshow at SOFA CHICAGO 2004.

Woodturner in action.

SOFA visitors will thrill to the excitement of hot glassblowing! For the fourth year in a row, The Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY brings its fully-equipped mobile glassmaking stage—The Hot Glass Roadshow—to SOFA CHICAGO! Master glassblowers from the Corning Museum and renowned glass artists represented by SOFA CHICAGO 2005 galleries and dealers, provide live, narrated demonstrations of the ancient art of glassmaking. On-going throughout the exposition.

Also returning to SOFA CHICAGO—live sculptural and turned wood presentations by renowned artists represented by SOFA CHICAGO galleries and dealers, featuring lathe work, carving, piercing and sculpting. A large-format projection screen will provide close-ups. Sponsored by Collectors of Wood Art and organized by Chicago Woodturners, a local chapter of the American Association of Woodturning, under the direction of Binh Pho. On-going throughout the exposition.

Judy Chicago The Dinner Party, 1976 Represented by John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA

Top artists attend SOFA CHICAGO to speak about their new works, and often to sign new publications chronicling their art and careers. Principal among them this year is acclaimed feminist artist Judy Chicago (John Natsoulas Gallery), whose 1976 large-scale art installation, The Dinner Party, has been the subject of countless women’s studies and art history texts. In early 2007, The Dinner Party will be permanently housed at the Brooklyn Museum as part of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art.

Judy Chicago The Dinner Party (detail), 1976 Represented by John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA

Other artists attending SOFA and participating in book signings at the exposition: Judy Onofrio (Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art), Marilyn de Silva (Mobilia Gallery), Louis Durot (House of Colors Gallery), Darrell Morris (Gescheidle Gallery), Dona Z. Meilach (del Mano Gallery), and featured woodturners in Connections: International Turning Exchange: 1995 – 2005. See Special Exhibits/Events for booksignings schedule.