CFDA Newsletter

Announcements:

***NO AUGUST MEETING***

NEXT MEETING WILL BE IN SEPTEMBER.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CFDA Meeting Report:

CFDA Minutes - Meeting July, 2009

Twelve members in attendance

Chris called the meeting to order at 7:30 PM. mentioning that the Board has elected the officers for this next year. Dolly Spragins will be our new President, and Chris Brandel will step down to Vice President. Matt Seiler will stay on as Secretary, as will Lloyd Natof as Treasurer.

Thanks go out to Lloyd for work done to advance the CFDA into the twenty-first century. We are now able to take membership dues via PayPal directly on the website. As it stands this will be the only service that we're using for PayPal. Future show fees and other fee structures will be handled on an individual basis as far as we can foresee right now.

We would also like to extend a big THANKS to Rob Frazier for his time with the CFDA and his role as editor of the newsletter. Rob is stepping down from this role and is retiring from the CFDA, as he and his bride segue into a new time in retirement life.

Hal Link said that his artist-centric building, located at 1200 W. 35th Street, is hosting an artist weekend on October 16th and 17th. The CFDA has been invited to display the Rising From Ashes show in one of the ample common areas, likely on the fourth floor. It's a very generous space, but lacks in lighting. If we elect to bring the RFA show as our swansong outing, members are encouraged to bring whatever portable electric lighting they have to show the pieces in their *ahem* best possible light.

Dwayne Sperber has shown interest and motivation to serve as a Show Chair for future upcoming events. His recent work in securing our spot in the Milwaukee Fine Furniture and Furnishings show, as well as the concurrent weekend at Design Within Reach for the RFA show, have proven that he's up to the job.

Hal Link has agreed to work with John Kriegshauser to develop meeting presentation ideas.

Jamie Stevens is working as our Archivist, scanning our old materials into digital format. If anyone has any literature, handouts or materials from past events, please contact Jamie with it.

September will bring us another Board election. Lisa Elkins and Bill Groot will be stepping down due to other committments. Our bylaws stipulate that we need ten board members. So if anyone is interested in serving on the Board please pipe up.

During the first weekend of October we'll be very busy. Concurrently with the Milwaukee FF&F show, the Rising From Ashes show will be shown at the downtown Milwaukee location of Design Within Reach. The final schedule is TBA, but right now it looks like Friday evening, October 2nd, there will be a by-invitation meet-and-greet cocktail reception and early viewing for special guests at the FF&F show at the Harley Davidson Center. This means that our pieces will need to be loaded in and staged earlier that day. So plan on getting your piece transported and delivered on Friday the 2nd.

Individual makers will be contacted directly by Karla Little for details and photos for the brochure and online website for the FF&F show. An extra $50 buys space for a photograph in the show brochure, and each maker will handle his or her own web presence on the show's website. Participants can expect correspondence directly from the show's organizers.

We still are casting about for ideas for our own show for 2010. As it sits now a few strong ideas have been bandied about. Coffee tables, 'New/Unusual Materials", and Sustainability have risen to the surface so far. We understand that there has already been a 'sustainable' show, but since that time the definition of the word, and its ubiquitous presence in the world have changed. We might have been too far ahead of the curve the last time out. So it probably deserves a second look.

The NeoCon show was met with mixed reviews. We had a dozen members in attendance, and there was a good crowd and our location on the South East corner of the seventh floor did get a decent amount of foot traffic. Brandon Fenninger reportedly got a good bit of interest in his piece based on his use of materials.

And finally, there will be no meeting in August. It's historically been our poorest attended meeting and there's no sense in asking anyone to carefully prepare a presentation for just a handful of attendees. So our calendar is now down to an eleven meeting year, and we'll see everyone in September at Corosh.

The business meeting concluded at 8:15.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Program:
Furniture and Design Schools
Dwayne Sperber and Barry Newstat talked about their experiences at two different institutions.

PART 1: Dwayne began with photos and a discussion of the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, in Rockport, Maine. He's attended this school five times. Regulars there include Thomas Moser, Lee Nieson, James Krenov, among others. The facility was founded by Peter Korn.

It's a non-profit woodworking school dedicated to providing the best possible education for people who want to design and build furniture, as well as beautiful expressive work out of wood, to the highest standard of craftsmanship. It's located on twelve acres of land, with five woodworking buildings (but no dorm space at all). Their classes usually include twelve students to one instructor, with a guest instructor and assistant always available. This creates a 4:1 student to teacher ratio. They host workshops, 12-week intensives, 9-month comprehensives as well as student fellowships. For the fellowships you agree to give the school six hours of time per week and you get the run of their resources for the rest of your time.

Dwayne reported that their primer classes are invaluable, no matter your perceived level in the woodworking world. They fill in gaps you didn't know you had.

The 12-week intensives make up the bulk of the classes offered at the cente. They include drawing and design, joinery and construction, hand and machine skills, surface prep and finishing as well as shop maintenance and professional practices.

The 9-month courses are offered under the tutelage of individual masters. The classes include basic woodworking, finishing, joinery, case piece construction, veneering, marquetry, bending, turning, making multiples, carving as well as chairs and tables.

Then Dwayne showed a most impressive photo gallery of work by their faculty members.

Dwayne's observation that just a a church is more than just a building, that it's the people who make it so, the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship is much the same. And the bonus is that Lie Nieson is just down the road, so there is always the opportunity to visit the 'candy store', Dwayne quipped.

You can browse to www.woodschool.org for further reading and more information.

PART 2: Barry Newstat.

Barry' s experience at the Anderson Ranch was transformative for him. It is an art center a bit south of Glenwood Springs, CO. Nestled in the Rocky Mountains, Anderson Ranch started out as an art center with an emphasis on ceramics, not a woodworking school.

Anderson is a small campus, being a collection of eccentric old buildings. It's part of the Anderson family's sheep ranch, and has been moved and winterized for year-round use. Within the facility, it sports a machine room and a bench room.

Barry was an artist in residence in 2004, '05 and '06, spending three winters there from January to April. As per the intent of the facility, he came as a woodworker and left as an artist. They encourage artistic expression, not technical execution as is the case with most traditional woodworking schools.

It's a tight-knit community, with shared kitchen duties and a commune-style working and living arrangement. Many of the attendees are post-graduates or processional types who are looking for a leg up on their artistic expression. And the community based aspect of the facility brings you closer to the emotional content of your work.

There are three tracts at the Anderson Ranch. You can go from October to April, October to December, or December to April. The summer program is a bit less traditional and a bit less based on woodworking. And it's largely based on the director in residence.

Barry's photographs were breathtaking. The facility may be considered a little meager compared to other, larger woodworking-only based facilities. But when you see the sweeping panoramic views of the Rocky mountains out the windows, there's no doubt that the facility can fee your soul. But yet, Barry reported that he found some difficulty transitioning to places of discomfort in his designs. But this was necessary for him to experience growth and change in his work. It helped him break his habits and forced him to go outside of his comfort zone.

Of course, being in the mountains and being in Colorado, he found that they regarded snow a tad differently than he was used to experiencing here in Chicagoland. Rather than being a drag, or a commuter's headache, there it was celebrated. It gave the residents a reason to go outdoors and embrace nature. And interstingly, Barry found himself changed for the experience. When he took his family along during his third year there he was able to share that change with them.

Anderson Ranch is an experience that feeds mind, body and soul. It's a seriously self-guided experience and what you get out of it directly equates to what you're willing to put into it. It's a life experience.

Program over at 9:35

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------