ARTIST INFORMATION
Michael Mode makes turned wood vessels with lids, composed from burl woods, exotic and colorful tropical woods, highly figured domestic woods, and sometimes laminated into intricate geometric designs.
My motivation as an artist derives from an intense life-long inspiration to create and bring into existence the objects of my imagination, including poetry, painting, drawing, music, and, currently, turned wood vessels. The character and style of my work reflect my fascination with the art and architecture of India and the middle east. Color, geometric surface designs, unusual and exotic woods, gracefully confident forms, fine finishing, attention to detail, and integrity of craftsmanship are equally important and significant to me. A lidded vessel, like a person, offers a choice of openness or privacy; possesses secret inside spaces that can’t be touched; harbors hidden surprises; presents a stature and a posture to the world; these aspects I find endlessly fascinating.
Michael’s work has been purchased for several museum collections, including the Renwick Gallery of American Craft of the Smithsonian, as well as many of the private collections in the United States. He has taught aspects of his woodturning skills at symposiums of the American Association of Woodturners and for local chapters of the same organization as well as at the Arrowmont School for Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and other craft schools around the country. He has written articles for Fine Woodworking, American Woodworker, and Wood magazines, and his work is featured in various books about woodturning and woodworking.
Museums:
- Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Museum
- Museum of American Craft
- Los Angeles County Museum of Art
- Yale University Art Gallery
Private Collections:
Nathan Ancell
- Evanston Hospital Corporation, Evanston, IL.
- Whoopi Goldberg
- Irving Lipton
- Ruth and David Waterbury
- Ron and Anita Wornick
- George and Dorothy Saxe
Awards:
- Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, MI 1998
- Westchester Craft Show, NY 1997
- Winter Park Arts Festival, Winter Park, FL 1997
- American Craft Exposition, Evanston, IL 1996
- ACC Craft Fair at Baltimore, 1996
- St. Louis Art Fair, 1995
- Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, MI 1995
- Cherry Creek Arts Festival, Denver, CO 1995
- Mt. Dora Arts Festival, Mt. Dora, FL 1995
- Washington Crafts Expo, 1994
- Boston Mills Arts Fest, OH 1993
- Washington Crafts Expo, 1988, 1989
New Haven, VT
Home: 802-453-4002
Work:
Fax: 802-453-2946
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