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Born
1951,Deal, New Jersey
Education
1977, BFA, Rochester Institute of Technology
Woodworking and Furniture Design
Honors
1993 NY State Fellowship for the Arts Grants
1988 National Endowment for the Arts Grant
1987 NY State Fellowship for the Arts GrantSelected Collections
American Craft Museum, New York, NY
Arkansas Art Center Decorative Arts Museum, Little Rock, AR
Arizona State University, University Museum, Tempe, AZ
Dow Foundation, Midland, MI
Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
Scovill, Inc.,CT
Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AZ
"The raw material has
a lot of power in and of itself, and I'm more at ease with nature taking some
of the credit, while I come up with a design that enhances it." To do this
Howard Werner begins with a whole log or tree segment and then, through subtractive
woodworking, carves away the excess to reveal a largescale, often minimalist
sculpture or furniture form. Regardless of whether he has intended for a piece
to be a chair, table, bench, or other utilitarian object, Werner is interested
in using the idea of function as only a minor point of reference. Although solidly
trained within the parameters of the studio crafts movement at the School for
American Craftsmen, where such notables as Wendell Castle and Albert Paley were
teaching, Werner did not follow any of the prevailing attitudes for investigating
what he viewed as the "excesses of embellishment in contemporary furniture." Instead,
he found himself motivated by a chainsaw and the modernist precepts of artists
like Isamu Noguchi and Constantin Brancusi.
- Heller Gallery
During the creative process, Werner believes that "less
is better." He is influenced by the simple elegant forms found in Japanese
architecture and the primitive carvings of Oceania and West Africa. His shares
certain minimalist impulses with those carvers, whose work is typified by the
need to work simply, directly, and economically. Werner is also a student of
the history of furniture making.
Trained in the craft tradition, the artist uses function as a reference for his
sculptural forms - such as this bowl mounted on a pedestal. The raw, roughly
hewn form, emphasizing the solid form of the tree, stands as a visual reaction
to what the artist feels are "excesses" in contemporary furniture making.
In Ash Vessel the solid pedestal has been barely squared off and the rim of the
bowl clearly reveals the outer bark. This approach helps to orient the viewer
to the grain and figuration of the wood, reminding us further that the work has
its origins in nature. In contrast, the role of the artist is emphasized by the
marks left behind, in this case, by the chainsaw, as though he were drawing on
wood.
Born 1951 in Deal, New Jersey, Werner received his B.F.A. from the Rochester
Institute of Technology in 1977. He now resides in Mount Tremper, New York.
-Arkansas Art Center
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