RICHARD BENNETT (MI)
A self-taught sculptor and furniture designer from Detroit, his works have been exhibited in major cities around the world, including New York, Chicago, Paris, and Tokyo . Private furniture, architectural, or sculptural commissions are truly this man’s forte!

MARK LEVIN (NM)
I attempt to infuse my work with a “Beethoven dynamic” which is the ability to weave melodic filigree out of molten steel and tempering it with power and passion.
The origin for my furniture and sculpture is the delineation of the silhouette. I visualize the piece in a black, monolithic material rather than wood. If the form has visual impact in this black dress it will be that much more potent when endowed in wood or cast bronze.

Chris Martin (IA)
I use furniture as a medium for my expression because I like the scale. It is personal and easy to relate to. Although function often only plays a secondary role in my creations, it is important for me to join my ideas and inspirations with an everyday usable object.

ED PENNEBAKER(AR)
(click thumbnail image for print-quality image)
 
  Contemporary translation of ancient Venetian techniques and styles to make engaging, colorful, jaw-dropping light fixtures - pendants and chandeliers - and sculptural "clusters". Working with a palette of over 16 colors, Pennebaker creates his fixtures from as few as 40 to as many as several hundred individual elements. The resulting lighted sculptures can be vibrant and bold, like a circus, or understated and classic, suggesting a dark-paneled library. Either way, the spikes, curlies, and melons are sure to add a touch of drama to any room!
Of course, the most important aspects of glass making are light, color and form. Ed creates his work to take advantage of luminosity: light coming through the glass reveals texture and pattern and casts colors and shadows so the glass work interacts with its environment and becomes a pure visual feast. The jewel-like colors of glass, the individual forms of the pieces, and the light from within work as a group and function as a chorus of voices.
Ed's inspiration comes primarily from nature: the many vines, fruits, and plants in the wild... grape vines and honeysuckle, sprouting buds, leaves, fruit, and seed pods present a variety of expressive shapes and forms.
The fluidity of glass is expressed in the curvilinear forms; its voluptuousness is expressed in the globular, melon shapes - ready to burst with ripeness. Arkansas' winter also provides inspiration: under masses of icicles that have melted and refrozen, Ed surveys mounds of ice globules with wonderful textures, patterns, and optical qualities; frozen luminous transparent forms with colorful moss, rocks, and leaves visible underneath which are then referenced in his chandeliers and clusters.