A great day at SOFA Chicago
Dick Coers
Our daughter and I had a wonderful day at the Sculptural Objects, Functional Art show today at Navy Pier. The wood artists made a great showing! Last year it felt like they were a bit out of step with current trends of low sheen/textural surfaces some of the other arts were showing. Even some glass artists are using techniques to cut the sheen. This year the wood was different, heavy textures, low or flat sheen finishes, and really organic work in wood. Not all of it of course, but there was a distinct change. Chicken or the egg? Were we organic and influenced the other arts first? But then we tried to get the gloss like the glass people, now everyone is on the same page of low sheen and organic? What fun! I was really attracted to Stony Lamar's work this year. Tall slender sculptural pieces. Heavy texture and layers of color. I don't remember seeing him use much color except for black. Not that I follow his work that much, just an observation of what I saw today. I sat in a couple of demos of woodturning. It's an odd place to demo. You get collectors, woodturners, artists, and art students all sitting together. It's a tough act to give information to all these people, but I felt they got a bit too technical for those that are not turners. Like I said, a tough act to pull off. It takes a pocket full of money to go to this show. I spent $35 for two to get in, and $60 for lunch for two! Speaking of money, I sure wish I had the confidence and marketing ability to ask the kind of money they get for the work shown here! Lots of it selling, and lots of it in the 5 figure category! Another thing that impressed me this year was the fiber arts. Just some breathtaking work. It was a great day!
