Out of the Woods

If wood is a material rarely seen in the domain of fine art, the show at the Brand Library can be seen as a generous, equal-time proposition. Walk into the library’s Skylight Gallery and works in wood are all around, blurring the line between art and craft, between sculpture and furniture.

The space has been transformed into a friendly bazaar of functional and formal pieces, which we’re tempted to touch, sit on and otherwise interact with.

A collection of specially constructed pieces and examples of wood furniture craft, “The Birthday Party, an Installation” is part installation, part invitational, part showcase exhibition, with a resulting complexity of personality. But what it lacks in cohesion, it makes up for in virtuous intent.

Curators Connie Mississippi and Betty Scarpino have proffered a simple yet profound statement: Woodworkers deserve more respect as artists.

Sections of the show are given over to artists who have risen to the party theme, such as Rodger Jacobs, who created wooden replicas of goblets, mock gifts, refreshments, maracas, noisemakers and hats.

Equal attention goes to inventive furniture. For all the elegantly crafted pieces, there are works that appeal to the search for creative quirks. Del Cover and Vicki Cypherd go for wordplay with their Quaker/Shaker chairs. At root in the loudly painted pieces are what were once simple, austere designs in the Shaker tradition. But they have been fractured, as if perturbed by seismic activity.

One star of the show is Po Shun Leong of Winnetka, whose work reflects a love of wood. Wasting not/wanting not is part of his aesthetic, as in “Snakes and Ladders,” a compartmentalized assemblage made from sawdust and tiny wood bits. “Leftovers” is a relief piece made from scraps, as roughshod and happily chaotic as other work is fastidious in detail. Leong joins the party with six intricate “art boxes” that serve as legs for a table full of party-related pieces.

Among the usable oddities are Richard Patterson’s “Chair of Seated Musician,” with its chair and wooden music stand shaped into a unified design. Taking up the challenge of mimicking properties of metal in wood is what gives a disarming charm to Bruce Friedman’s “The Long Ride,” a bicycle made entirely from various woods.

Working in wood, unlike other artistic disciplines, can involve collaboration, as with the piece called “Trumpet” by the Nor-Cal Wood Turners Collaborative 2000, from Granite Bay, Calif. The horn is a life-size replica of Dizzy Gillespie’s instrument, replete with upturned bell.

In contrast, Michelle Holzapfel’s “Birthday Cake” celebrates wood’s origins. The carved hunk of wood decorated with wooden candles retains much of the original burl. With nods to Salvador Dali and Lewis Carroll, Ashoke Chhabra’s floor lamp is a large, swooping construction. An Alice in Wonderland connection continues with the British artists Melvyn and Coriander Firmager’s fantastical headgear, “Top and Tails” and “Mad Hatter.”

In a class by itself, Mississippi’s work has a quiet dignity. “Circle of Time--Desert Landscape” is a finely realized piece with a beautiful sculptural quality that manages to allude to landscape, form and space. That this process is realized on wood, and that we’re pleasantly surprised by it, hints at the undercurrent of advocacy in this exhibition.

BE THERE

“The Birthday Party, an Installation,” through May 20 at the Brand Library Art Galleries, 1601 W. Mountain St., Glendale. Gallery hours: Tuesday and Thursday 1-9 p.m., Wednesday 1-6 p.m., Friday and Saturday 1-5 p.m. Call (818) 548-2051.