Furniture and Social Practice

Furniture surrounds us. It is personal in its relationship to bodies and their relationships to each other. How can we use and view these objects to bring people together with deeper intention?

This fully-online conference featured panel discussions with artists, designers, makers, and educators from all over the country. Over the course of five evenings, July 12-16, 2021, we fostered conversations about the purpose of the objects around us, how they are made, why they are important, and what opportunities they provide for connecting people in wide-ranging ways.

Resources:

Crowd-sourced Readings/Resources list
Social Media Hashtag: #FurnitureAndSocialPractice
Conference co-organizers: Ellen Mueller – emueller@mcad.edu,
Erin Moren – erin_moren@mcad.edu

Day 1: Where Can Furniture Reside?

Monday, July 12, 6-7pm Central Time – Watch the Recording

Where can furniture live? What is furniture and how does its placement affect its function?

Sam B Ero-Phillips (he/him)
Artist/Designer/Educator, Creative CityMaking
samuelberophillips@gmail.com

Sam is an artist, designer and educator who has worked in the Twin Cities, Chicago and Lagos, Nigeria. He holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture and studio arts from the University of Minnesota, a master’s in architecture from the University of Illinois, a Fulbright fellowship to Nigeria and has started a doctorate in Sustainable Development at the University of Lagos. Sam has worked in the Community Design Studio at Juxtaposition Arts since 2013, currently works at LSE Architects and has participated in the Twin Cities art community for years.

Adam John Manley (he/him/his)
Artist/Educator, San Diego State University, Board President of the Furniture Society
amanley@sdsu.edu, @adamjohnmanley

Adam John Manley is an artist and educator based in San Diego California. He has taught at multiple notable academic institutions, as well as Haystack Mountain School of Craft and Penland School of Craft. Adam is the current board president for the Furniture Society and cofounder, along with Kerianne Quick, of CRAFT DESERT, a handmade thematic craft zine.

Matt Olson (he/him)
OOIEE (Office Of Interior Establishing Exterior)
we@ooiee.me, @ooiee.me

Matt Olson founded OOIEE to work on projects related to art, design, architecture and landscape. He teaches (in a disruptive manner) at the University of Minnesota School of Architecture and lectures frequently at schools and museums nationally… he recently spoke about “open practice and love” to the design team at Nike. He was artist-in-residence at the Rauschenberg Foundation and his work is in the permanent collection at the Walker Art Center.

Day 2: What Can Furniture Do?

Tuesday, July 13, 6-7pm Central Time – Watch the Recording

What is the purpose of furniture? What does it do physically, spatially, emotionally, socially?

Arzu Ozkal (she/her/hers)
Designer, Associate Professor, Home Affairs Art Collective
arzu.ozkal@sdsu.edu, @arzu_ozkal

Ozkal is a founding member of Home Affairs, an interdisciplinary art collective focusing on creative projects about a range of issues impacting women’s lives. Collective received their first design patent for their wheeled museum chair, ArtSit, an assistive device for use by families and caregivers in museum and gallery settings.

Kelsi Sharp
Designer, Sharp Design Co
@sharpdesign.co

Growing up in the American Southwest, Kelsi is strongly influenced by the signage, gas stations, and other relics found on the historic Route 66 highway. After studying construction methods, earning certifications in fabrication technologies, and apprenticing in an iconic Santa Fe sign shop, Kelsi created Sharp Design Co., a signage and environmental design company based in the Midwest. With projects all over the country, Kelsi takes on each collaboration as an opportunity to play and refine her craft.

Caroline Woolard (she/her)
Artist, University of Hartford
carolinewoolard@gmail.com, @carolinewoolard

Caroline Woolard (b.1984) is an American artist who, in making her art, becomes an economic critic, social justice facilitator, media maker, and sculptor. Since the financial crisis of 2007-8, Woolard has catalyzed barter communities, minted local currencies, founded an arts-policy think tank, and created sculptural interventions in office spaces. Woolard has inspired a generation of artists who wish to create self-organized, collaborative, online platforms alongside sculptural objects and installations.

Day 3: Teaching Furniture Design

Wednesday, July 14, 6-7pm Central Time – Watch the Recording

What does it mean to teach furniture? Design? Fabrication? Production? Art? How do you balance the technical with conceptual? How do you instill in students a sense of exploration and risk taking while also valuing and practicing craft?

Annie Evelyn (she/her)
Furniture Maker, Crafting the Future
otherannie@gmail.com, @annie_evelyn_furniture and @crafting_the_future

Annie Evelyn, a furniture maker living in Bakersville, NC, has been a resident artist at the Penland School of Craft, the Windgate Resident at multiple Universities, and exhibited nationally and internationally. Evelyn has been working to create community throughout her artistic practice. In 2019 she co-founded Crafting the Future with a dedicated group of artists from Penland School of Craft to address the glaring lack of racial and ethnic diversity in the fields of art craft and design.

Katie Hudnall (she/her/hers)
Artist/Educator, University of Wisconsin-Madison
chudnall@wisc.edu, @katiehudnall

Katie Hudnall is an artist, illustrator and woodworker living in Madison, Wisconsin where she heads the Wood Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Richly patterned and often interactive, her work explores kinetics, reclaimed materials and what it means to make something at the very edge of functional.

Daniel Michalik (he/him)
Designer, Collaborator, Educator, Parsons School of Design
danieljmichalik@gmail.com, @danielmichalik

Daniel Michalik is a designer and design educator with a furniture and product design studio in Brooklyn, New York. Daniel’s interests stem from rethinking familiar yet underutilized materials and local manufacturing methods, and how the products that emerge from these can redefine accepted notions of use. Be it in unlocking the secrets of cork, or redefining the hidden genius of pegboard systems, Daniel believes there is delight (maybe even magic) waiting to be discovered in rethinking the way we use everyday items. He is a Professor of Product and Industrial Design at Parsons School of Design in New York City.

Erin Moren (she/her)
Artist/Educator, Minneapolis College of Art and Design
erin@tandemmade.com, @tandemmade

Erin is a designer, fabricator, thinker and educator. She earned her BFA in furniture design from MCAD and a Masters of Arts Management from Columbia College Chicago. She is co-owner of Tandem Made- a design/ build studio that focuses on furniture, sculpture, interiors and home goods. In addition to her studio practice she is adjunct faculty at MCAD teaching 3D foundations and in the furniture design program.

Day 4: How Can Furniture Be Made – Workspaces, Equity, and Inclusion

Thursday, July 15, 6-7pm Central Time – Watch the Recording

How are things made? What types of spaces are needed to foster creative construction? How do we reach broader audiences with access to tools and outlets for building?

Teresa Audet (she/her)
Artist
teresaaudet@gmail.com, @TeresaAudet

Teresa Audet is an artist and educator from Minneapolis. She received her BFA in Furniture Design from MCAD and is currently in the MFA program at UW Madison. Her work lives at the intersection of furniture, sculpture, and social practice and speaks to the craft histories of woodworking and basketry.

Sarah Marriage (she/her)
Furniture Maker/Educator, A Workshop of Our Own
sarah@aworkshopofourown.com, @aworkshopofourown @sarah_marriage

Sarah Marriage is a furniture maker, educator, and the founder and board president of A Workshop of Our Own (WOO). Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, Sarah studied architecture at Princeton University and fine woodworking at The College of the Redwoods (now The Krenov School). She has taught at The Krenov School, Penland School of Craft, Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and Anderson Ranch Arts Center, and currently spends her days running WOO with an amazing, far-reaching team of volunteers and a one very fetching shopcat.

Jess Hirsch (she/they)
Maker, Fireweed Community Woodshop
@fireweedwoodshop

Jess Hirsch is the founder of Fireweed Community Woodshop. She is a sculptor, woodworker, and educator living in Minneapolis. Their participatory sculpture practice is centered in the healing world while their woodworking style is rooted in Sloyd, the Scandinavian handcraft working primarily with greenwood.

Dennis Walsh (he/him/his)
Program Director, Urban Boatbuilders
dennis@urbanboatbuilders.org, @urbanboatbldrs

Dennis is an educator and ally devoted to hands-on and experiential learning, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. He started out at Urban Boatbuilders as a volunteer when he moved to Saint Paul in the fall of 2016 and worked in just about every programming capacity before becoming Program Director in Spring of 2019. He loves the communities in which he lives and works, and he was lucky enough become a father to a spirited and rambunctious daughter last July.

Day 5: MFA Alumni Speed Talks

Friday, July 16, 6-7pm Central Time – Watch the Recording

What are some of the MCAD MFA alumni, whose practices intersect with furniture, doing now?

Chris Held ’10, MFA (he/him)
Independent Designer, Nice Condo
info@nicecondo.co, @nicecondo

NICE CONDO is a New York City-based design studio specializing in furniture, interior, and graphic works for both private and commercial clients. The studio is committed to the aesthetic sensibilities of utilitarian-minimalism, by which forms clearly suggest their intent, craftsmanship conveys quality, and humor is applied liberally. Held is also the founder and co-curator of JONALDDUDD, an annual NYC Design Week exhibition.

Levi Murphy ’11, MFA (he/him/his)
Furniture Designer/Fabricator, LM COMMUNAL OBJECTS INC.
levimurphy@gmail.com, @levimurph

Levi Murphy is the founder of LM COMMUNAL OBJECTS INC., a Brooklyn based design/build studio that focuses on the design and fabrication of fixtures, furniture, limited edition products and artwork installations.

Steve Listwon ’13, MFA (he/him)
Co-Owner & Designer, Jaywalk Studio
steve@jaywalkstudio.com, @jaywalkstudio

Steve Listwon co-owns Jaywalk Studio just outside Boston, MA. Jaywalk was formed in 2014 and provides industrial design and fabrication services to a wide variety of clients. Steve also teaches in the industrial design department at Wentworth Institute of Technology.

Nick Rivers ’16, MFA (he/him)
Owner Operator, Opal Design Studio and Northeast Bladecutters
nick@nebladecutters.com, @nicholasseanrivers

Nick is a creative entrepreneur with 8+ years fabrication experience, 15+ years of art experience, 8+ years of cabinetry and carpentry experience, and 12+ years of engineering and manufacturing experience. Rivers owns and operates Northeast Bladecutters. They make a lot of different things.

Binbin Shen ’18, MFA (she/her)
3D Shop Technician, Minneapolis College of Art and Design
bshen@mcad.edu, @binbinshen_furniture

Binbin Shen graduated in 2018 with an MCAD MFA furniture design focus. She is a maker, a furniture designer. She currently works at MCAD 3D shop as a technician.