Manchester, NH – Opening March 19 (through June 12), the Currier Museum of Art will
present the first retrospective exhibition of Jon Brooks, an internationally
acclaimed sculptor and furniture maker known for the playful and poetic imagery
of his work. Also noted for his exploration of the line between function and
art, his work is inspired by and constructed from the trunks and branches of
trees that he harvests from the forest surrounding his New Boston, NH
home.
Since his first solo exhibition in 1969, Brooks has become
nationally recognized as a leader in the studio furniture movement, and his work
has been regularly included in major national and international exhibitions. His
furniture is represented in major museum collections, including the Smithsonian
American Art Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Philadelphia Museum of
Art, all of which have loaned pieces to the Currier for this special exhibition.
Brooks is one of the early members of the New Hampshire Furniture Masters
Association, founded in 1993, and is a graduate of the School for American
Crafts at Rochester Institute of Technology, where he earned B.F.A. and M.F.A.
degrees.
“An early student and apprentice of the studio furniture
pioneer Wendell Castle, Jon Brooks made his own mark by exploring more
sculptural forms in his furniture,” Susan Strickler, director and CEO of
the Currier Museum of Art, said. “Jon first utilized the natural forms of
his materials and then added narrative and figural elements in his finely
crafted works,” Strickler
added.
A Collaboration with Nature includes more than 40 of
Brooks’ key pieces from the late 1960s to the present. The exhibition
demonstrates the distinctly sculptural nature of Brooks’ furniture. It
includes chairs crafted in the 1970s from the root and trunk sections of large
trees, as well as more whimsical sculptures like Georgia and Alfred,
1991, which are depictions of two dogs named after the painter Georgia
O’Keeffe and her husband, photographer Alfred Stieglitz. Later in his
career, Brooks constructed elegant tables and benches with organic legs, e.g.,
Running Bench, 2005, which appears to be
walking.
Brooks also incorporates narrative ideas into his sculpture,
producing works that comment on contemporary events, e.g., Portage,
2001 directly refers to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the
World Trade
Center.
Less than a year ago, in February 2010, a fire destroyed
Brooks’ studio and consumed his collection of specialized tools assembled
over his career, as well as carefully selected wood and other materials.
Dozens of important works were also destroyed in the fire, including some that
were to be displayed in A Collaboration with Nature. Since the
devastating fire, Brooks has created new sculptures and furniture, some
of which will be unveiled in this
exhibition.
The Brooks special exhibition and related programs are supported
by New Hampshire HOME magazine, Clear Channel Radio, NH, the National
Endowment for the Arts, Norwin S. and Elizabeth N. Bean Foundation, Botnick
Family Foundation, Dorothy and Marshall M. Reisman Foundation, Arthur D. Clarke
and Susan Sloan, Dwight and Susi Churchill, M. Christine Dwyer and Michael
Huxtable, Fleisher Family Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation,
Anthony and Cecile Hartigan, David and Dorothea Jensen, Robert and Sylvia
Larsen, Mark and Juliana Phillips and New Hampshire Charitable Foundation (in
memory of Victoria
Zachos.)
About the Currier:
The Currier Museum of
Art is located at 150 Ash Street, Manchester, NH. Museum hours are: Monday,
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, 11-5; Saturday, 10-5. Closed Tuesday.
Open 11-8 the first Thursday of each month. Museum admission: adults $10;
seniors $9; students $8; children under 18 free. Free to all on Saturdays from
10 a.m. to 12
p.m.
The Currier welcomes visitors with disabilities and special needs,
therefore the museum is wheelchair accessible and offers FM headsets for sound
amplification for all public programs. To get more information, visit
www.currier.org or call 603.669.6144
x108.
Documents and/or Photos available for this
release:
