Sculptor & Wood Turner @ American Fine Craft Show Brooklyn Museum

Renée and Fred Chase, sculptor and wood turner respectively, join 88 other artisans and artists at the fifth American Fine Craft Show at the Brooklyn Museum November 18-19, 2017. Their studios are in Collingswood.

About her background and sculptures, Renée Chase, Cloth2Clay, wrote: “I am a fashion designer and my medium is clay. The transition from cloth to clay came about serendipitously. I designed women’s sportswear for many years, but I always wanted to try my hand at ceramics. I took a pottery class and during a demonstration I heard the word “dart”. At that moment the idea for creating dresses in clay was born. The common terminology and my passion for materials inspires endless connections between my past as a fashion designer and teacher and my future as a ceramicist.

“For me, a dress is a symbol of time, place, culture and self. Choice in dress becomes a representation of image, emotion, experience and fantasy. It is a reflection to the outside world of a message that the wearer delivers through clothing choices.

“In my work, I ask the viewer to see the imaginary woman inside of the sculpture – to define her persona. I use the attitude and gesture of the form to portray a feeling that only the observer can define. I extend myself to creating replicas of wedding dresses because each sculpture captures an irreplaceable moment in time and reflects a capstone life experience.

On his website, Fred Chase wrote: “I have been a licensed psychologist for 36 years. Over the past 3 years, I found a deep passion for wood turning. I work mostly with 'green' wood, which is freshly fallen wood that occurs locally after storms or arborists cutting down trees.

“I love the process of finding out what's inside of the tree, and then working with the wood, trying to shape something interesting out of it. Because the wood is green, it typically 'moves' after turning, which results in unique and 'imperfect' shapes. I embrace the warping that occurs. I hope you will too.

“My ultimate goal is to create wood bowls, vessels, and forms that are a pleasure to the eye, the touch, and which provoke lively conversations as the bowl travels between fine craft and art.”

Visitors will have time to also see the magnificent exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum. Concurrent special exhibitions include “Rodin at the Brooklyn Museum: The Body in Bronze,” that opens November 17; “Soulful Creatures: Animal Mummies in Ancient Egypt;” “Proof: Francisco Goya, Sergei Eisenstein, Robert Longo,” and “Arts of Korea.”

For more information visit www.brooklyncraftshow.com.

Where: Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11238.

Directions: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org...

Hours: Saturday Nov. 19: 11 am – 6 pm. Sunday, Nov. 20: 11 am-6 pm