Furniture makers display wares at Paradise City

Furniture makers showed their latest creations at the 19th annual Paradise City Arts Festival, held March 18-20 at the Royal Plaza Trade Center in Marlborough, Mass. The show featured more than 175 designers and makers from 22 states that were selected through a juried process. Work included fine furniture, lighting, photography and more.

“We had great selection of furniture at (our recent) show,” show founder and director Linda Post says. “There was a good turnout of furniture makers. We had several new ones and some of the ones that had been there in the past had a lot of new work, too, which was really exciting.

“I think that all of the furniture makers got a really good reception from the audience. Each one was very different from the other.”

Participating woodworkers included Robert C. Brand of Naples, Maine; Scott Sober of Scottsville, N.Y.; Peter Handler of Philadelphia; J. Scott Hillger of Hillsboro, Ohio; David A. Levy of Davis, Calif.; Joel Mark of Hillsdale, N.Y.; Joe Roessler of Easthampton, Mass., and Ken Salem of Northampton, Mass.

Post says the festival has proven to be a successful sales outlet. “While websites like Etsy give art lovers instant access to the works of countless artists,” Post says, “it’s the personal touch, the conversations with artists that are a vital part of what makes festivals like this valuable to the arts community in the 21st century. When you bring something home from a show like this, there’s a narrative to it.”

A ‘legacy in wood’

The Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Conn., is presenting “Thos. Moser, Legacy in Wood” from March 20 through May 22. The exhibition is an intimate look into the life and work of Moser, founder of Thos. Moser, a furniture manufacturer based in Auber, Maine, with six showrooms across the country.

The exhibition features chairs, tables, bureaus, desks and cases. There is an emphasis on the manufacturing process, including tools, works in process, photographs and a video.

The Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art organized the exhibition in association with Thos. Moser.