Sawtooth School for Visual Art and Salem College, both in Winston–Salem, NC, are proud to present Seating Assignment: Women in Contemporary Chairmaking and Craft Education, an exhibition featuring 15 contemporary women artists who specialize in furniture making and view education as a core component of their practice. The exhibition, on display at Sawtooth’s Eleanor and Egbert Davis Gallery, will open with a reception on Saturday, March 23, 2024, from 5-7 pm and remain on view through Saturday, May 11, 2024.
Seating Assignment features Katie Bister, Christina Boy, Annie Evelyn, Sophie Glenn, Aspen Golann, Elsa Hoffman, Joyce Lin, Wendy Maruyama, Laura Mays, Stacy Motte + Eleanor Rose, Sabiha Mujtaba, Ellie Richards, Janine Wang, and Kimberly Winkle. While many chairs will come from personal and private collections, Bister and Hoffman will be crafting brand-new pieces for the exhibition.
Dimensional objects are able to convey deep meaning and offer a tangible connection to the maker and to the history of the object itself. These chairs, collected together in a critical mass under one roof, communicate a presence that speaks not only to the work of the individual, but also to the collective whole of women involved in furniture design and manufacture. The hope is that this exhibition will not only shine light on the work that is being done today and project it into the future, but also reflect that light back in time to the women who were there all along and whose contributions have been forgotten, intentionally or otherwise.
-Rebecca Juliette-Duex, Seating Assignment curator
Permission to dream.
Read a new essay by Deirdre Visser, commissioned specifically for this exhibition. Visser is a curator, educator, visual artist, and woodworker. She is also the author of Joinery, Joists and Gender: A History of Woodworking for the 21st Century, the first publication of its kind to survey the long and rich histories of women and gender non-conforming persons who work in wood.
FEATURED IN HYPERALLERGIC
International arts magazine Hyperallergic wrote that, “Seating Assignment centers 15 female designers who are pushing the boundaries of the traditional furniture object…The show promises to present a vision that entices viewers to stand and applaud.”
CONVERSATIONS WITH WOMEN OF WOODWORKING
The Furniture Society has partnered with Katie Thompson, founder of the Women of Woodworking Project, to present a series of Instagram Live interviews with furniture makers and educators included in the exhibition.
OTHER STORIES
• WStoday
• WFDD
• Forsyth Woman Magazine
• The Furniture Society
