Cabinets of Curiosity
Main Floor Gallery
December 17 - March 25

Click here for images..

Fran Schanz live SantaCam is offline.
Click here to see some snapshots of Fran Schanz's SantaCam...

Cabinets of Curiosities were a Renaissance phenomenon in which members of the nobility showed off their wealth and worldliness. Rich nobles commissioned Europe's best artisans to create both original objects (such as fantastic turnings in fruitwood and ivory) and adornments for unusual natural objects (like coconuts and ostrich eggs, which were unknown in Europe prior to that time). This exhibition provides contemporary takes on the cabinet of curiosity--fourteen teams of artists, furniture makers and wood turners were commissioned by the Wood Turning Center and the Furniture Society to create their own 21st century versions of these wonderful collections.

Wunderkammerns, as these rooms filled with a collector's personal treasures were known, reflected a Renaissance worldview that valued the pursuit of knowledge, and expressed the connection between art, nature and divinity. The cabinets housed an eclectic assembly of objects of wonder that were works of man or works of nature (and God by extension), including fossils, taxidermied animals, natural oddities and unusual art and natural objects from travels. The cabinets themselves evoked fascination, and were often collaborations between various artisans, intricately embellished with carvings, inlay and woodturnings, with multiple drawers that were often hidden. The heyday of the cabinet of curiosity continued until about 1750, when the concept of the museum as we know it today evolved.

In this exhibit, teams of contemporary furniture makers, wood turners and artists were invited to create their own cabinets of wonder. Fourteen teams were chosen from 57 proposals by 90 artists. Each collaboration resulted in a unique sculpture that evokes a sense of wonder, awe and surprise and, like the old Wunderkammerns, they reflect the individual personalities of the makers.

The cabinet entitled Story Book, 2002, by an eight-person team, houses several books that document the collaborative process of making the cabinet. Top Secrets by Christopher Weiland and Kelly DeLor, 2002, houses woodturnings that were painted by seven-year-old Kelly, contrasting the meticulous and refined craft of Christopher and the uninhibited application of color by Kelly.

One of the most unusual works is Cirque de Cabinet, in which an alien's animatronic eyes respond to a sensor and follow the viewer. It has a blown-glass belly with a beaded object inside (we're not sure whether it is being digested or stored). A drawer full of plastic baubles pulls out.

Many of the cabinets alternately reveal and conceal their contents, and show a strong contrast between what is inside and what is outside the object. One example is the work of Gideon Hughes and Adolf Volkman entitled Givin' Adolf his Props, 2002. The outside is a simple, ramshackle tree-house-looking structure with windows and doors at odd angles and planes that don't quite meet, belying the intricate and precise mechanical workings hidden inside.