Exhibitions

Ruth and Rick Snyderman are true champions of craft. For 46 years, the couple has been exhibiting contemporary studio craft, first through The Works Gallery (which Ruth founded in 1965) and Snyderman Gallery, which the couple opened in 1983 as a venue for artists working in studio furniture and sculptural glass. In 1996, they combined operations, becoming the venerable Snyderman-Works Galleries that we know today in Philadelphia's lively Old City arts district.

We had some time to talk to Steve Keeble, Executive Director of the Collectors of Wood Art, last week about collecting, wood art, and SOFA. Make sure to check out the CWA's lecture "Legacy & Continuum in Collecting Wood Art" in room 326 at 11 a.m. on Friday. Check out what he had to say about collecting, wood art, and SOFA.

In order to truly appreciate Hugo Franca's work, you need to sit inside of a massive tree. The Brazilian designer carves giant casulo (cocoon) sculptures out of reclaimed wood, largely from Pequi trees that grow in Brazil. These jaw-dropping works are part of his exhibition at R 20th Century gallery in New York, and I was lucky enough to stop in there recently. Trust me, while these "environments" look fantastic in pictures, nothing compares to actually experiencing them firsthand.

Last spring, I had the pleasure of chatting with furniture maker/designer Vivian Beer about new bodies of work she was developing - immediately followed by the challenge of writing a story that, in effect, was still unfolding.