B r ia n
F e r r e ll:
S ta tic
Appalachian Center for Craft
Smithville,
t n
Jan. 14-Feb. 18,2010
tntech.edu
By Craig Nutt
Cantilevered structures owe their aesthetic
appeal to their strong horizontal lines, freed
from the visual clutter of vertical supports.
It is precisely the perceptual tension, the
sense of precariousness, caused by the lack
of visible support that makes cantilevered
structures exhilarating. Frank Lloyd Wright
famously exploited bold cantilevered ter-
races in one of his most thrilling buildings,
Fallingwater, where Brian Ferrell did a
stint as a guide while he was a student, and
where he had a solo show in 2008.
Ferrell explores that perceptual tension
in the appropriately titled “Static.” Cantile-
vered chairs, tables and shelf surfaces perch
atop or intersect wishbone supports of
carved and painted plywood.
Cabled Lounge
Chair
is improbably supported by two
legs that pivot on a wood base, creating
tension between the promise of cushioned
comfort, and the risk of collapse. Three
slender steel cables strung between base
and back prevent the chair from pitching
forward, offering sitters a level of security
commensurate with their perception of
the cables’ adequacy.
In a more lighthearted treatment of a
similar construction, the top of
Cabled Coffee
Table
seems spring-loaded. The effect is
fun, despite (or because of) the possibility
that in a careless moment one might cata-
pult a beverage off the table. While the ca-
bles are critical to the function of these two
pieces, in others they appear to have minor
structural importance, being used more
as purely visual elements to “glint and direct
the eye between, around and beneath the
surfaces,” as Ferrell says in his artist’s state-
ment. The cables are most satisfying when
they clearly serve both visual and structural
ends. A pair of wall shelves in a corner deft-
ly integrate a single cable. The smaller
upper shelf supports the overhanging edge
of the larger shelf on the adjacent wall,
the cable connecting the two visually with
a fine line.
The shelves, tabletops and other flat
surfaces are asymmetrical—mostly curved
triangular or irregular trapezoidal shapes
that sometimes seem more organic than
their geometric underpinnings suggest.
Ferrell’s pewter-lined wood cups, tumblers,
and cocktail glasses have similar shapes.
Each of a set of espresso cups rests on an
individual tray that is deeply undercut, ex-
cept under the corner where the cup rests.
It’s up to the user, memory braced by a stiff
cup of espresso, to place the cup on the cor-
rect corner. Freedom from support comes
at a price. What would Mr. Wright say? ♦
Craig Nutt is a furniture maker/sculptor
living in Kingston Springs,
t n
.
Top:
S id e b o a rd T a b le ,
2009,
padauk, plywood,
acrylic paint, steel cable,
33x57x12 in.
Bottom:
C a b le d L o u n g e C h a ir,
2008, padauk, painted
wood, artificial leather,
cable, 36 x 26 in x 38 in.
apr/may 10 american craft 035
