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Curious Critter Chairs
Jul 30, 2024
3yrs ago I photographed a dining room set in an open wheat field. My mind immediately asked, what if I left this here and came back years later? How would nature interact with it? This was when I started thinking about carving nature as interacting with my furniture rather than simply a frieze as ornamentation. The bee chair was my first idea.
Chair 1: Bees have a deep lore and connection across many cultures as they are a vital component in our existence on this planet, helping to keep it in delicate balance. They also exhibit virtues we as humans know to be necessary for wholeness. My hope is that this chair reminds people that our gift of life is supported by critters we most often overlook or disregard. The flowers are Dogwood blossoms, an Appalachian treasure.
Chair 2: As a woodworker I must reconcile that the harvesting of my material permanently alters the landscape for many other creatures. Some of whom we seldom see as they live beneath the moon rather than the sun. The owl chair represents them as Appalachia is home to horned owls, chorus frogs and Luna moths.
Chair 3: Our entire ecosystem is held in balance by species overlooked or ignored. And in forests there is a host of workers like snails, millipedes and others that keep the organic microbial life healthy for the trees. Lets not to forget the fungi. This chair gives a nod to the slimy and creepy crawling creatures that are so necessary.
Chair 4: There are more than 30 species of Quercus (oak) in Appalachia. Their acorns are the wheat of the forest feeding our wildlife a fat and protein rich nutrient.
They have a particularly symbiotic relationship with squirrels and jays. Trees migrate just as animals do. Maples and sycamores cast their seeds to the wind where they are carried for miles in search of fertile soil. Oaks drop theirs inside their canopy where squirrels and jays carry them to fresh ground elsewhere. I have a particular soft spot for squirrels and seeing as these chairs are white oak it’s only right to have one climbing the back.
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Comments
love it. whimsical, but also very well done. kudos
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