The synergy of about 30 local artisans working in close proximity in the Alameda Point Studios is practical and profoundly meaningful.<\/p>\n
Located at the decommissioned former Naval Air Station Alameda, Building 14 has become a 47,000-square-foot facility offering a space where furniture craftspeople, cabinetmakers, sculptors, a luthier (a maker of stringed musical instruments), a piano restoration expert, Lionel prewar trains guru, a tiny home builder and other artisans share large-scale machinery and volumes of knowledge gleaned from decades of hands-on practice.<\/p>\n
In addition to spaces for individual resident businesses, membership options include one for young people fresh out of art or trade schools hoping to access professional fabrication tools ranging from a 36-inch band saw to a belt sander that\u2019s just as wide to a spray booth, a heated drying room and more.<\/p>\n
Many of the artists share some common denominators: making things by hand, primarily using recycled, found or reclaimed materials; and relying whenever possible on local sources for materials or specialized fabrication services. Custom furniture designer and sculptor JP Frary, in addition to basing his practice at the studio, is the facility\u2019s manager.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe greatest part is 30 different people, all with unique skills and histories,\u201d Frary said in a recent interview. \u201cWe can ask each other for help and get it. I\u2019ve learned from Adrien Segal, a fantastic sculptor, not just her woodworking practices but how she handles her business and decisions about what projects to do. That\u2019s the joy \u2014 we\u2019re always learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frary says he discovered his professional path as a furniture artist in his late 20s after working in office settings for law firms and political figures. He say he put himself through college working construction and, while doing a project\u2019s plumbing, offered to make a needed window seat.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was white oak, really heavy, and the design was terrible,\u201d he admits. \u201cI started going to the library and looking at books on furniture. I was uneducated, and I\u2019d just got an idea, then set out to try to make it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most of Frary\u2019s work is made with salvaged or found materials, a practice he says he stumbled upon because he was poor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t afford fancy wood, so I\u2019d use leftover pieces. There\u2019s love discovered because the wood comes from somewhere else and already has a life cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n
The green aspect of his work was initially situational and has become\u00a0 a marvelous, now-essential bonus. Frary\u2019s Turned Barnwood Pendants are made from a 100-year-old cracked and pitted beam found in a barn in Napa. Other favorite woods are mostly local: Monterey Cypress that smells like cinnamon and offers gorgeous orange and tan tones; California Black Walnut with dark, swirling, green-streaked grain; and Madrone, which might twist long after a piece is finished.<\/p>\n
\u201cI made a hallway table, and two years after I made it, it twisted because the client moved it over a heat vent. When you work with wild wood, you have to take care. I don\u2019t use exotic woods from other countries. You don\u2019t know if they\u2019re harvested responsibly. If they\u2019ve cut down a rare tree, like a rosewood, that troubles my soul. There aren\u2019t enough of those trees left.\u201d<\/p>\n
Respect for a material\u2019s history and environmental context also prevail in the aforementioned Segal\u2019s sculptures, furniture and public art. Her monumental \u201cTidal Arch\u201d in Alameda was inspired by daily tidal charts and the island\u2019s changing sea level.<\/p>\n
Similarly, natural forces that create gravitational pull on a landscape are reflected in \u201cMolalla River Meander,\u201d a mesmerizing, undulating piece based on Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) maps of the Oregon river\u2019s changing shapes over a five-year period.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy curiosity comes from standing on the edge of the ocean and thinking about natural forces that are historical, cyclical,\u201d Segal says. \u201cI find nature grounding when life today can be so complicated. I dig in, cull a nugget of time, and make a representation of natural patterns.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another work, \u201cRemnant (bench),\u201d is bold, muscular, and magically sculpted like an embrace.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe client\u2019s only requirement was that it include a sculptural seating element,\u201d she said. \u201cI acquired a salvaged Redwood log once used for a logging road. It made me think of lost forests and the dark history of humans destroying our natural environment. By using a small piece of that old-growth forest, the artwork became something that bridges the gap and brings the poetic edge of its history to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n
Segal says working in proximity with other artists allows her the benefit of shared tools, philosophies, knowledge, and logistical help like legal and tax factors, or fabrications such as the custom-packed concrete used for \u201cTidal Wave.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have such a bounty of thriving, specialized, inspiring self-employed people in the Bay Area,\u201d Segal says. \u201cIt all helps me to make my work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Designer Kate Greenberg\u2019s furniture, objects and lighting appear to defy the laws of materials science. Working with metal, glass, wood, latex and soft media, solid steel or pure latex might curve and drape like melted butter to form a bench, a dining chair with only one armrest and a low, supportive back cushion invites long, comfortable sits.<\/p>\n
Greenberg says she is highly attuned to the spatial environment and purpose of each piece. Will it live in someone\u2019s home, an exhibition or outside?<\/p>\n
\u201cA handmade piece can relate to something bigger,\u201d says Greenberg. \u201cEven if it moves on to another owner or place, it has a special beginning, a story.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first started thinking about furniture and design, I didn\u2019t want to just satisfy types like cabinets or chairs. I work around concept first then weave in function. The one-arm chair is an example. I have people over for long dinners and standard chairs are limiting. The one-arm chair encourages your body to take a more casual, relaxed posture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other pieces such as \u201cTwin Chair\u201d have similar fluid capabilities. Greenberg designed the piece so one person can sit in the chair and the other person can sit on the floor and lean back. With their heads on the same level, it represents balance between \u201ctwinned\u201d individuals.<\/p>\n
The chair is made with three free chairs she found through Craiglist. Sawing and grinding off parts of them, she crated a 3-D collage that maintains their natural shapes and details.<\/p>\n
Like Frary and Segal, Greenberg occasionally outsources segments of her fabrication processes. By relying on local people and resources for services, materials and knowledge, the work of all three artists underscores the value of cross-collaborations and the unique environment found at Alameda Point Studios. For more information online visit alamedapointstudios.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n For more details about JP Frary, Adrien Segal, Kate Greenberg and their work, visit jpfrary.com<\/a>, adriensegal.com<\/a> or kategreenberg.studio<\/a>.<\/p>\n