Wenonah Side Chair
Side View, originally uploaded by A. Drauglis Furnituremaker.
41″ high x 18″ wide x 21″ deep
Seat is 17 1/4″ sloping back to 15 1/2″
Wood: Virginia Black Walnut, Apple, Peach
More at pictures and details at Flickr - Wenonah Chair
I find one of the most satisfying parts of woodworking is the planning. I love sketching, designing, making small models, and working drawings; it gives me control of the subject and provides a base to go back to when problems arise.
For this piece I abandoned that process entirely.
I took four pieces of Black Walnut from a friend’s farm and left them on my porch with little idea of what they would become. The pieces were debris from land clearing; split from the main trunks of trees by a bulldozer.
It appeared at first that they would become part of a new handrail and banister for my own home. When I stood one of the pieces up, I realized that it had the perfect shape for a chair back. I played around with the pieces some more and realized that all of them could conceivably become a chair.
I saw a ladder-back chair with a seat made of some sort of webbing. Once I started cutting I went from four legs to three, and bent Cherry side rail become Walnut. The seat became solid, then flat, and then a gently concave row of Apple and Peach twigs from my garden.
It was a different, more intuitive and organic process for me. I believe that this is shown in the work’s sculptural lines and naturalistic feel.
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