Virtual tour: Straight from the Heart, USA

Straight from the Heart is a farewell exhibition curated by the US Center for Furniture Craftsmanship’s outgoing executive director, Peter Korn. Korn was the school’s founder and the exhibition is his ‘homage to mentors and peers whose work he greatly admires, whose friendship has enriched his five-decade career, and whose knowledge and participation have contributed to the success of the centre’. It presents superlative pieces made by 17 renowned furniture makers, turners, and sculptors between 1965 and 2021.

While the exhibition is physically open to those who can get to the Messler Gallery in Rockport, Maine, USA until January 5, 2022, the rest of us can take an excellent virtual tour.

Click on this link and you'll be able to rotate each piece and land on information icons. Included is some of Peter Korn’s own work and also work by Australian David Upfill-Brown and David Haig (New Zealand). There are even historical works by four of Korn’s mentors: Art Carpenter, Tage Frid, James Krenov, and Alan Peters — legendary woodworkers for whom Korn was fortunate to serve as a teaching assistant.

The twelve peers in the exhibition, all of whom have taught at CFC, are Brian Boggs (Asheville, NC), Garrett Hack (Thetford Center, VT), David Haig (Nelson, New Zealand), Thomas Hucker (Jersey city, NJ), Beth Ireland (St. Petersburg, FL), Tom Kealy (Somerset, UK), Silas Kopf (Northampton, MA), Aled Lewis (Machynlleth, Wales), Michael Puryear (Shokan, NY), Chris Pye (Hereford, UK), Tim Rousseau (Rockport, ME), and David Upfill-Brown (Gerringong, Australia). The four pieces in the show made by Korn were made between between 2005 and 2021.

Photography by Dave Clough