I make my furniture from twigs and Lake Michigan driftwood, shells, stones, bark, seed pods and other natural materials. The challenge is to fabricate objects that require a certain form and symmetry, like chairs, for example, out of materials that are by nature randomly and organically shaped. I seek out the gnarliest twigs and pieces of driftwood, the curved, forked or twisted ones, because they make the most interesting furniture. No two of my chairs are ever alike in construction, although they are all identical in function. They embody the spirit of rustic design by using found or natural materials instead of manufactured ones, and at the same time evoke the many folk tales and legends of the little people of the forest. I have a lot of fun making them.

The little tables' tops are 5 inches above the surface they are standing on, and the chairs are scaled in proportion to that size.

You can email me at gcc@georgecclark.com

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

The Chaos That Is My Miniature Furniture Worktable

George C. Clark's miniature furniture worktable this afternoon

Back in November I put almost all of my miniature rustic twig furniture into the Winter Arts and Crafts Expo at Evanston Art Center where it will be on display and for sale through December 23rd.  Then I was invited to take part in a 2-day exhibition and sale at Arts On Elston Gallery the weekend before last, so I spent a couple of weeks building a new stock for that show.  And after that show was over I decided to build a few more pieces while I had the "furniture factory" set up.  This is what it looks like.  There are a nearly completed new chair and Rocking Rudolph in the foreground.  There are three completed pieces from the Arts On Elston show in the background (behind the blue hot glue gun).  They are there to make sure I keep the scale of the new chairs or tables compatible with the older ones.  Soon I will put away all the tools and twigs for a while.  Underneath that tattered purple plastic tablecloth is the drawing board where I usually draw figures and landscapes, among other subjects.

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