Jonathan Shlafer

Wishbone 1, Amagansett, NY, 2021

2021

ABOUT “There’s no color in my work,” says Shlafer, “I either burn it, bleach it, or leave it alone.” Shlafer’s sculptures are designed with rudimentary material such as pine, oak, and spruce salvaged as driftwood on the Eastern end of Long Island. The artist started this body of work during the pandemic after he stumbled upon the charming discoveries while traveling on foot by the coastline. Always a wayfarer at heart, he drew inspiration from his youth of traveling on a motorcycle through Southern Africa and seeing indigenous art made from ordinary earth objects within local villages. “Wishbone 1” a 5 Foot sculpture, charred white oak with a tinted aqua resin base that reflects an omen of resilience and hardiness in light of the hardships of the past pandemic year, In another “Tune” a bleached spruce fence post narrowed into a tuning fork shape with a slate base. It welcomes a ceremonial vibe. “At the end of the day, that’s the energy we all crave,” says Shlafer, “who doesn’t respond to that?” “Mushroom #3” a charred white oak sculpture that is versatile in design so it can act as an end table or a stool. It is masterfully crafted and brings to mind the redwood stools...

ABOUT This Charred white oak mushroom acts as a stool or end table. “There’s no color in my work,” says Shlafer, “I either burn it, bleach it, or leave it alone.” Shlafer’s sculptures are designed with rudimentary material such as pine, oak, and spruce salvaged as driftwood on the Eastern end of Long Island. The artist started this body of work during the pandemic after he stumbled upon the charming discoveries while traveling on foot by the coastline. Always a wayfarer at heart, he drew inspiration from his youth of traveling on a motorcycle through Southern Africa and seeing indigenous art made from ordinary earth objects within local villages. “Wishbone 1” a 5 Foot sculpture, charred white oak with a tinted aqua resin base that reflects an omen of resilience and hardiness in light of the hardships of the past pandemic year, In another “Tune” a bleached spruce fence post narrowed into a tuning fork shape with a slate base. It welcomes a ceremonial vibe. “At the end of the day, that’s the energy we all crave,” says Shlafer, “who doesn’t respond to that?” “Mushroom #3” a charred white oak sculpture that is versatile in design so it can act as an end table or a stool. It is masterfully crafted and brings to mind the redwood...

ABOUT “There’s no color in my work,” says Shlafer, “I either burn it, bleach it, or leave it alone.” Shlafer’s sculptures are designed with rudimentary material such as pine, oak, and spruce salvaged as driftwood on the Eastern end of Long Island. The artist started this body of work during the pandemic after he stumbled upon the charming discoveries while traveling on foot by the coastline. Always a wayfarer at heart, he drew inspiration from his youth of traveling on a motorcycle through Southern Africa and seeing indigenous art made from ordinary earth objects within local villages. “Wishbone 1” a 5 Foot sculpture, charred white oak with a tinted aqua resin base that reflects an omen of resilience and hardiness in light of the hardships of the past pandemic year, In another “Tune” a bleached spruce fence post narrowed into a tuning fork shape with a slate base. It welcomes a ceremonial vibe. “At the end of the day, that’s the energy we all crave,” says Shlafer, “who doesn’t respond to that?” “Mushroom #3” a charred white oak sculpture that is versatile in design so it can act as an end table or a stool. It is masterfully crafted and brings to mind the redwood stools...

ABOUT “There’s no color in my work,” says Shlafer, “I either burn it, bleach it, or leave it alone.” Shlafer’s sculptures are designed with rudimentary material such as pine, oak, and spruce salvaged as driftwood on the Eastern end of Long Island. The artist started this body of work during the pandemic after he stumbled upon the charming discoveries while traveling on foot by the coastline. Always a wayfarer at heart, he drew inspiration from his youth of traveling on a motorcycle through Southern Africa and seeing indigenous art made from ordinary earth objects within local villages. “Wishbone 1” a 5 Foot sculpture, charred white oak with a tinted aqua resin base that reflects an omen of resilience and hardiness in light of the hardships of the past pandemic year, In another “Tune” a bleached spruce fence post narrowed into a tuning fork shape with a slate base. It welcomes a ceremonial vibe. “At the end of the day, that’s the energy we all crave,” says Shlafer, “who doesn’t respond to that?” “Mushroom #3” a charred white oak sculpture that is versatile in design so it can act as an end table or a stool. It is masterfully crafted and brings to mind the redwood stools...

ABOUT “There’s no color in my work,” says Shlafer, “I either burn it, bleach it, or leave it alone.” Shlafer’s sculptures are designed with rudimentary material such as pine, oak, and spruce salvaged as driftwood on the Eastern end of Long Island. The artist started this body of work during the pandemic after he stumbled upon the charming discoveries while traveling on foot by the coastline. Always a wayfarer at heart, he drew inspiration from his youth of traveling on a motorcycle through Southern Africa and seeing indigenous art made from ordinary earth objects within local villages. “Wishbone 1” a 5 Foot sculpture, charred white oak with a tinted aqua resin base that reflects an omen of resilience and hardiness in light of the hardships of the past pandemic year, In another “Tune” a bleached spruce fence post narrowed into a tuning fork shape with a slate base. It welcomes a ceremonial vibe. “At the end of the day, that’s the energy we all crave,” says Shlafer, “who doesn’t respond to that?” “Mushroom #3” a charred white oak sculpture that is versatile in design so it can act as an end table or a stool. It is masterfully crafted and brings to mind the redwood stools...

ABOUT “There’s no color in my work,” says Shlafer, “I either burn it, bleach it, or leave it alone.” Shlafer’s sculptures are designed with rudimentary material such as pine, oak, and spruce salvaged as driftwood on the Eastern end of Long Island. The artist started this body of work during the pandemic after he stumbled upon the charming discoveries while traveling on foot by the coastline. Always a wayfarer at heart, he drew inspiration from his youth of traveling on a motorcycle through Southern Africa and seeing indigenous art made from ordinary earth objects within local villages. “Wishbone 1” a 5 Foot sculpture, charred white oak with a tinted aqua resin base that reflects an omen of resilience and hardiness in light of the hardships of the past pandemic year, In another “Tune” a bleached spruce fence post narrowed into a tuning fork shape with a slate base. It welcomes a ceremonial vibe. “At the end of the day, that’s the energy we all crave,” says Shlafer, “who doesn’t respond to that?” “Mushroom #3” a charred white oak sculpture that is versatile in design so it can act as an end table or a stool. It is masterfully crafted and brings to mind the redwood stools...

Mary Giles (1944-2018) received her BS in Art Education from Mankato State University in Minnesota. After receiving her degree she began exploring various textile processes. She honed her fiber techniques through workshops with such fiber artists as Fern Jacobs, Lissa Hunter, Diane Itter, Jane Sauer...

Menashe Kadishman (Israeli, 1932-2015) Birth Iron 17-1/2 inches (44.5 cm) high on a 6-1/4 inches (15.9 cm) high wood base Hand signed and Inscribed on base Sculpture with base measur...

Medium: Bleached and Laquered Basswood As an artist I strive to create elegant sculptures that capture the true essence of the subject matter. Form, line and surface are used as the...

John Garrett was raised in southern New Mexico by parents who were both educators. They instilled in him an appreciation for the handmade with their collections of Native American arts and crafts. He moved to Claremont, California, to attend college at Claremont Men’s College (now Claremont McKenna College.) Following his desire to make things by hand, he enrolled in a weaving class taught by Marion Stewart at Scripps College in 1970. His intrigue with the tools, systems and materials involved in weaving and other textile constructions led him to take other courses with Neda Al-Hilali a year later, also at Scripps. He did graduate work at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he studied with Bernard Kester and Vasa. Garrett has exhibited throughout the United States for over thirty years in hundreds of exhibitions, as well as in Europe, Africa and Asia. Garrett has worked simultaneously with two and three-dimensional formats to create his textile forms with a variety of materials. Visually unpredictable, his work may be woven, wrapped, plaited, riveted, painted, rusted, twined, nailed, stitched or tied. With an expansive repertoire of materials, each work of art is meticulously crafted, while achieving an energetic complexity; he moves gracefully from constructing wall pieces to baskets, breathing new life into discarded objects. Currently a full time studio artist, he teaches workshops on creativity and experimental basketry at schools nationwide. He was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts fellowships in 1983 and 1995 as well as elected a Fellow of the American Craft Council in 2010. Selected Museum Collections Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY Arkansas Museum of Art, Little Rock, AR Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA Detroit Institute of Art, Detroit, MI Erie Museum, Erie, PA High Museum, Atlanta, GA Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis, MN Mint Museum of Craft and Design, Charlotte, NC Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe, NM Museum of California, Oakland, CA Museum of International Folk Art, Santa Fe, NM Philbrook Museum, Tulsa, OK Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI Contemporary Installation Sculpture...

Artist Commentary: "Float" was pictured in American Craft Magazine in an article about the artist in Dec 2018. Additional hanging Bar for Float is 7’ long 10” from wall is available...

Artist Commentary: This piece is inspired by the flight of birds, and the joy in seeing the flight. Created from nine winged bamboo and fused glass sculptures. These pieces can be h...