Poplar Culture Project

One of my favorite contemporary sculptors and furniture designers is Pennsylvania native Wharton Esherick (1887-1970). Several months ago, I was invited to participate in "Poplar Culture: The Celebration of a Tree,"  a benefit sale of woodworked items for the the Wharton Esherick Museum (www.whartonesherickmuseum.org) located in Paoli, PA, just outside Valley Forge historical park.


About 40 artisans were asked to create a woodworked item from boards sawn from the poplar tree that stood outside Esherick's studio. The tree was struck by lighting and cut down in 2009. The sale of the items will be held at Historic Yellow Springs, PA from May 21-June 10, 2012.  A preview reception will be held Sunday, May 20. For information and tickets to this event, visit the Wharton Esherick Museum website.

I videotaped the entire construction of what I am calling the "PopArch" table, and will post portions of the video on this blog over the next few weeks. I invite you to follow my creative process as I work with this historic tree.  You'll have to wait until the end of my posts to see the finished table!

Here's the first segment of the video: