“Conversations in Craft,” a new exhibit at Fruitlands Museum, opened Saturday, Nov. 18, and will run through March, with an opening reception Dec. 2 from 2 to 4 p.m. The “craft” is furniture making, and the “conversations” are between crafters from the 18th and 19th centuries and contemporary artisans, and between the paired pieces they have created.
The Trustees of Reservations’ senior curator, Christie Jackson, collaborated with instructors and graduates from the North Bennet Street School in Boston to create the exhibit. The school, which began as a settlement house for immigrants in 1879, is the oldest private vocational arts school in the country, offering hands-on training in traditional trades and fine craftsmanship.
“Mabel’s Swing” converses with its inspiration, Mabel Choate’s 1689 cupboard. (Courtesy photo)
Thirteen participants worked with Jackson to select pieces from the Trustees’ historical homes. Then each furniture maker selected the piece that “spoke” most directly to him or her. The challenge was to create a contemporary piece that reflected its historical counterpart, either aesthetically or in its story. “Through these conversations we are celebrating and sharing the rich tradition of furniture making in New England that continues to this day,” wrote Jackson in a press release.
The large gallery of the Art Museum is filled with paired pieces of exquisite wooden furniture. On the walls are pictures of some of the artisans at their craft, and panels of text give historical context. Signage accompanying the objects explains the provenance of the historical piece and the intent of the contemporary craftsman who created a counterpart. “These new objects are designed to endure—to last as long as the Fruitlands pieces have,” said Miguel Gómez-Ibáñez, president of the North Bennet Street School. “Perhaps one day they’ll become heirlooms and collector’s pieces as well,” he added.
Most of the furniture pairings reflect the same function—a table for a table, chair for chair—but in one corner of the gallery is a pair completely unrelated in purpose: a ca. 1680 corner cupboard and a porch swing. One can see some similarity in design parts: The cupboard has slats in the top front to allow air circulation for food, and the swing has a slatted back panel. But the more interesting connection is that the modern piece captures the history of its predecessor. “Mabel’s Swing” is a tribute to the last person who owned the cupboard, Mabel Choate, at her home Naumkeag in Stockbridge. The swing is new but old-fashioned, the owner of its counterpart having lived more than a century ago.
Another pair has a similar function but the difference in scale makes them appear more disparate than alike. One is a ca. 1770 secretary, also from Naumkeag, that stands 8 feet tall and is one piece, rather than having a separate top. The bulk of the “home office” is broken up with multiple cubbies and elaborate design features. Its modern counterpart is a small chest that sits on the writing surface of the secretary. It too has a detailed decorative surface and intricately designed pull handles. Despite their size difference, their “conversation” seems to be about the visual impact of small details.
Of the historical pieces paired with one of similar function, two from the permanent collection of Fruitlands live in the farmhouse. One is a ca. 1800 Queen Anne–style drop-leaf table that was probably in the house when the Alcott family lived there in 1843. Around the table, visitors might have gathered with Bronson Alcott and Charles Lane to talk about the ongoing transcendental experiment in living at the farmhouse. But while their ideas were lofty, the table was more down-to-earth. Layers of repairs are evident, and its underside has a large scorch mark, suggesting that the top was recycled from another project. It was this New England frugality that contemporary artist Ron Trapasso wanted to capture. His drop-leaf table in the same style is similarly made of reclaimed woods—oak he hauled out of the trash, old bedrails from which to carve legs, and boards from Maine that had been in his shop for 45 years.
In a trio of small tables, two contemporary craftsmen have very different responses to the historical piece. The small mahogany tilt-top table with vine-and-leaf inlay is also from the Fruitlands farmhouse, made in the early 1800s. This kind of table was used for holding a lamp, a book, or sewing accessories and was one of the most readily produced objects of its time. One of the modern pieces mirrors the oval shape and graceful legs of the original with an octagonal star shape inlaid in the top. Steve Brown said he was drawn to the stories of communal work and women’s friendship the early table represents. The star inlay pays tribute to the quilting circles of Mennonite women in the community where he grew up.
The second contemporary reflection is very different. It’s almost as though Paula Garbarino rebelled against seeing the table as accomplice to women’s work and made it bold and beautiful rather than utilitarian. She raised the height and made its base sturdy rather than graceful. Its top depicts a colored flower made of paper-thin pieces of different woods, each separately inlaid in the top, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, a technique called marquetry.
Steve Brown’s words perhaps speak for all of the artisans: “There is so much to gain by studying historical furniture. It’s like good music—the more you listen to it over and over, the more you get out of it.”
