Curated by Amrut Mishra

Many artists, collectors, and enthusiasts turn to wood for its inviting warmth and its promissory sense of nostalgic familiarity. Departing from these typical associations, Strange Woodcraft: Weird and Eerie Sculpture from the Museum’s Permanent Collection, presents works which nurture a discomforting curiosity with the unfamiliar. Taking inspiration from cultural critic Mark Fisher’s insight that our attraction to the “weird” and the “eerie” stem from a fascination for “what lies beyond standard perception, cognition and experience,” Strange Woodcraft embraces sculptural forms which feel out of place, askew, haunting, or just downright odd.

Residing in the gallery of the Fleur and Charles Bresler Research Library at the Museum for Art in Wood, this exhibition includes work from sixteen artists, held in the museum’s permanent collection, whose sculptural forms probe at the weird, eerie—and perhaps even grotesque—registers of wood. In doing so, Strange Woodcraft encourages visitors to consider the presence of more-than-human forces that may linger in crafted objects, just beyond common perception.

Artists:

Paul Clare
Felicia Francine Dean
Satoshi Fujinuma
Daniel Guilloux
Rebecca Kolodziejczak
Friedrich Kuhn
Alain Mailland
Hugh McKay
Wonjoo Park
Gord Peteran
Michael Peterson
Hilary Pfeifer
Hartmut Rademann
Robin Rice
Neil Scobie
David Sengel
Gordon Ward

Strange Woodcraft: Weird and Eerie Sculpture in the Museum’s Permanent Collection is generously supported by the Cambium Circle Members of the Museum for Art in Wood, Bresler Foundation, The Klorfine Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Philadelphia Cultural Fund, William Penn Foundation, and Windgate Foundation. In-kind support was provided by Boomerang, Inc.