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I like to make sculpture, furniture and various objects. Occasionally I fabricate artwork for other artists and sometimes I collaborate with friends. I also design spaces and enjoy teaching, consulting and commissions.
I like to make The Body is a Drum, the Voice
a Song, the Soul a Fire 2025
Bespoke listening stations designed and fabricated for the exhibition The Body is a Drum, The Voice a Song, The Soul a Fire, at the Knoxville Museum of Art from November 2025—March 2026.
Two large circular benches/platforms provided comfortable spaces to listen to a selection of audio archives from the Highlander Center.
This moving and succinct exhibition brought together the work of
Tabitha Arnold, Dianna Settles, and Lewis Hine, artists
whose work calls attention to lives shaped by labor. Working with the KMA and Assistant Curator, Kelsie Conley, I explored traditional production techniques, paying homage to the region’s craft history with contemporary materials and processes.
The Pine and Cedar structures are inspired by Appalachian coopering, a specialized woodworking craft in which a number of identical staves are carefully angled and held in place with wood or metal bands. Today there are very few people who still hold the knowledge to create watertight vessels made without glue or nails.
To precisely create the frames, a series of clamping forms were cut on a CNC router. The White Pine staves were milled on a tablesaw, with holes drilled using a simple registration jig and side slots cut with a biscuit joiner. The sections were glued and clamped with ratchet straps, and bracing rings of cedar were added to the interior cylinder bottoms.
To design the seating surfaces, I researched traditional weaving patterns that use reed, cane, grass and cotton tape to create comfortable, flexible and repairable membranes. One of the most common methods, the 7—step caning pattern, weaves 2 horizontal, 2 vertical, and 2 diagonal passes to create hexagonal openings. The pattern is strong and attractive, while allowing sound and air to circulate.
I adapted and enlarged the pattern by replacing rattan cane with 3/4” Polypropelene webbing, which is commonly used for outdoor softgoods such as backpacks and camping equipment. By tensioning the webbing during the weaving process, I was able to achieve a springy yet stable surface for sitting, laying, lounging and listening.
Photographs by Kelsie Conley and Charles Mathis. Project assistance by Kyle Cottier and Nick Rodrigues.
Photographs by Kelsie Conley and Charles Mathis. Project assistance by Kyle Cottier and Nick Rodrigues.
