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

Monday, July 14, 2014

Miniature Furniture Workshop at Woodlanders Gathering

Miniature driftwood twig furniture created in George C. Clark's workshop at Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in Mineral Point, Wisconsin on July 11, 2014

WOODLANDERS GATHERING is a four day festival of mostly rustic arts and crafts held each year at Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in Mineral Point, Wisconsin.  Artists and craftspeople from all over the Midwest gather to exchange skills and ideas.  It's like a summer camp for creative adults (although our youngest participants this year are 13 and 14).  I have been attending  these events since 2006 and since 2010 I have been teaching workshops in making miniature rustic twig furniture there.  This year the emphasis was on making a miniature settee, loveseat, chair, garden bench, or, as one participant styled it, "divan."  A photo of the three-hour workshop's output is posted above.  I'm always blown away by my students' imagination and creativity. 
Garden Bird by George and Pat Clark (approximate height 30 inches)

This is an example of what we do at the Woodlanders Gathering besides my miniature furniture workshop.  Pat and I constructed  this garden bird out of scrap lumber, white glass insulators and piano parts.  The positioning of the bird's wing "feathers" is adjustable with wing nuts.  
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