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About My Furniture

This one-of-a-kind furniture is made by me, Dan Pohl. I never intended to be a furniture maker. I studied drawing and painting at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and have collected Folk and Outsider Art for nearly thirty years. I started making furniture twelve years ago to display my collection and became intrigued by the way the furniture itself could become almost sculptural and canvas-like in the ways I could play with color and rhythm to create surfaces that engaged the eye with movement and saturation of color. I loosely based the forms on classic Early American Furniture but the finished product is something I’ve not seen before; the designs are an incorporation of Classic and Contemporary. I’m hoping to have a sense of inability for someone to place in any particular era. My work is a reflection of the rich stream of Americana that has converged to give me my present vision.

I’m influenced by my fascination for heavily embellished art such as Tramp Art , Folk Art, Outsider Art , Memory Jugs, Bottle Cap Art ,Quilts, Circus Wagons, Grottoes, etc. I like art that engages the eye with movement and color. Once a piece is begun, a rhythm seems to suggest itself and I work to bring that vision to its’ natural resolution. Each piece is a multi-step process; from the building and spindle turning I move from a base layer of color to several more complex layers of painting until the raw color emerges under a layer of stain (made in the traditional way with- powdered-pigments, corn syrup, and vinegar) into an opaque view of the colors below, that is further manipulated before the final shellac is applied. The pieces are then finished by combing the interiors with swirls of paint. The overall finish seems bright, but also somehow subtle.

I like to think of the finished pieces as "functional art" rather than "furniture" as the pieces don’t seem to "sit" in a room so much as "breathe", and hopefully inspire. I want them to look as if perhaps they could come alive.

The pieces are constructed of local wood, (out my back door), Northern White Pine and Poplar, rough sawn that I mill, plane down etc. They’re constructed with traditional mortise and tenon joints, dove-tailed drawers. Each piece takes eight to twelve weeks to make; they’re entirely made by me. The designs are all my own,

"I'm not trying to re-create the past but to develop my own language of form while at the same time respecting the history of tradition. I am obsessed with living environments. I build furniture in which beauty is as important as function. Too often furniture is viewed as primarily functional, when in reality it is used no differently than a sculpture. I build furniture that is distinctive, furniture that doesn’t blend into the background, furniture that stands out for its beauty and uniqueness. I want to make furniture that looks as if it might come alive at any given moment. My ultimate aim is to engage viewers with color, proportion, movement, repetition, function, and humor."

THANK YOU FOR LOOKING

ALSO AVAILABLE AT ''Artful Home'' (The Guild)

                                                                                                              

  Accepting commissions

                                                                                          Now www.danpohl.com will also get you to my site.

Contact Information

Send mail to dan@danpohlfurniture.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2008 Dan Pohl
Last modified: 02/14/08