Having started making things
at the Eli Whitney Museum,
in Hamden,
C T ,
when she was
six years old, Sylvie Rosenthal
has followed her heart and her
head to an enviable point for
a young maker. She has a
b f a
from the Rochester Institute
of Technology’s School for
American Crafts, formal train-
ing augmented by visiting artist
residencies—at San Diego State
University, Anderson Ranch
Arts Center and Tainan Nation-
al University of the Arts in Tai-
wan, among others. She has also
been an active participant in
the Penland, NC, community,
building artisan houses and hon-
ing her woodworking skills,
collaborating with retired
RIT
professor Doug Sigler as well
as engaging with the faculty,
staff and students at the Pen-
land School of Crafts, which has
been a rich ground to feed her
conceptual thought. This diver-
sity has given life to a body of
sophisticated work remarkable
for someone who has been
working barely a decade.
Rosenthal’s work is beauti-
fully made, with an unusual
attention to detail and an impor-
tant conceptual aspect. Her
sculpture has a fine-furniture
maker’s sensibility while her
furniture, such as
HopeQ,
pos-
sesses a sculptural quality that
exhibits utter ease at flowing
between the genres. The sculp-
ture is ironic, funny and myste-
rious. Birds are major players
in her landscapes, commenting
on the human condition. In-
deed, most of Rosenthal’s ani-
mals—birds and fish in particu-
lar-stand in for people and
their quandaries. Much of the
work, like
Equilibrium Balance
niQ,
is kinetic, with simple
robotics that give the animals
a repetitive aspect that speaks
directly to a daily routine. I have
to force myself to get beyond
the jewel-like craftsmanship so
as not to miss the point. She
always has a point.
O f the many things I admire
about Rosenthal, her desire
to learn from her experiences-
whether travel, teaching or liv-
ing and working in the vibrant
artists’ community that is Ashe-
ville,
NC—
keeps my admiration
at full throttle. Within a few
moments, one begins to under-
stand how her life has influenced
024 american craft feb/mario
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