Philadelphia maker wins residency

The Center for Art in Wood and NextFab has selected Michael Ferrin, a wood-based artist and furniture maker in Philadelphia, for its third annual Winter Residency Program.

The program is a collaboration between the Center and membership-based maker space NextFab, in which the two organizations assemble a jury of makers and educators to award a fellowship to a regional artist who works either solely in wood or other materials in combination with wood. The award includes a stipend for project materials and access to NextFab’s workshop space. Reclaimed wood must comprise at least 50 percent of the fellow’s work during the residency.

“The collaborative program spotlights the innovative ways that artists are leveraging their hard-earned skills and creative visions with an ingrained responsibility for the material of wood,” Jennifer-Navva Milliken, the Center’s executive director and chief curator, said in a statement. “Our 2023 Fellow, Michael Ferrin, brings the complex beauty of khatam marquetry and Islamic geometry to craftsmanship using discarded materials, an act of craftsmanship, discipline, and the aesthetic transformation of waste to treasure.”

Ferrin has operated a woodworking business in south Philadelphia for over 10 years, offering custom furniture and cabinetry, as well as antique restoration and repair. He completed the Fine Woodworking Program at the College of the Redwoods in 2014 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvania in 2020.

For more, visit centerforartinwood.org.  

This article was originally published in the February 2023 issue.