INTO THE WOODS : Loving Hands Make More Than Furniture Out of Cherry, Walnut, Et Al in Brea

Back in junior high school, where I was first told to look at a piece of pine as more than kindling or the stuff holding up our house, wood shop was pretty much a waste of my valuable adolescent time.

Still, it was an easy class, a break when I could daydream while gouging out a mahogany ash tray for Dad or gluing a walnut jewelry box together for Mom. These projects always turned out to be sad, misshapen things that tested my parents’ sincerity as I handed them over.

If my little adventures in wood can be seen as the equivalent of pre-Stone Age craftsmanship, then the creations in “Woodworking ‘92” at the City of Brea Gallery are like leaping into the post-Nuclear Age. What I did was ruin wood; these artists revere it.

Of the 95 pieces on display in Brea, most fit into the furniture-making category, but that oversimplifies their essence. In the most beautiful examples, a combination of utility, design and imagination raises them above what can be found in even the toniest living rooms.

The most extreme example may be Norm Tornheim’s work. His cabinet, made from walnut polished to butter-smoothness, is only furniture in the literal sense. You can put things in it, but inspiring gazes seems to be the primary use.

With its monolithic shape and odd, spear-like attachments, the piece has the presence of a totem. The eerie wood patterns, evoking a series of skulls, seem to evoke cultures that believe spirits reside in everything, including chunks of wood.

Tornheim’s two chairs also have an African ceremonial look--they could be a chieftain’s seat of power--but I wouldn’t sit in them. Compelling, but not practical.

The same can be said of David Sullenger’s “Sycamore Throne,” a chair composed of branches and wit.

Of the more practical pieces, many reflect Art Deco styles, using hard, geometric edges in their schemes. Les Kagawa’s pyramid-shaped dresser, built from cherry and padauk woods, looks transported from the elegant 1930s. Greta Garbo would be perfect leaning against it in, say, “Grand Hotel.”

Then there’s John Goff’s “Newport Game Table”: Few poker or black-jack players have ever held cards and chips over anything like this refined mahogany, tulip and poplar piece.

The exhibit features several more subjective, “artsy” works as well. Po Shun Leong’s busy-looking “Tower Box,” made from mahogany, muninga, maple, pink ivory, ebony and buckeye woods, resembles a surreal Oriental puzzle box by way of a Manhattan skyscraper and Japanese pagoda.

Just across the way is Ivy Dixon’s human skeleton, created from burnished cherry. This sculpture reclines jauntily under an enigmatic inscription that reads: The sun on the hill forgot to die/and the dragon-fly came back to dream on the river.

Humor has a place here, as well. Joe Case’s kitschy “Mermaid Table” features a painted mermaid made from sugar pine poised wistfully, comically, under a glass rectangle.

Then there are Rene Megroz’s carved representations of a business briefcase and weathered boxing gloves, both made of pine. They’re more literal than something by Claes Oldenburg but suggest a bit of his sardonic side.

As for sheer resplendence, Gary Moore’s “Saturn Box” stands out. This simple piece capturing the basic form of the ringed planet makes a show of the brilliantly polished teak and Brazilian rosewood from which it was chiseled. It probably gleams more than most jewelry it could hold.

Mr. Edwards, my stern but walnut-loving wood shop teacher, would have found this exhibit a small piece of paradise.

What: “Woodworking ‘92” exhibit.

When: Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from noon to 5 p.m., and Thursday from noon to 8 p.m. through Oct. 23.

Where: City of Brea Gallery, Brea Civic and Cultural Center, 1 Civic Center Circle.

Whereabouts: Take the Orange (57) Freeway to Imperial Highway and head west to State College Boulevard, then north to Birch Street. Head west on Birch to Civic Center Circle.

Wherewithal: Free, but donations are accepted.

Where to call: (714) 990-7731. (Woodworking demonstrations are also planned; call for details.)