Brought Forth From the Forest

Now through August 13 in the Spotlight Gallery: A group show featuring woodworkers and artists based in the Alameda Point Studios, located on the former Alameda Naval Air Station. From sculpture to fine furniture, this exhibit showcases the diversity of possibilities given a medium. Participating artists: JP Frary, Chung ah Kim, Dixie Lee Briggs, Kevin Clarke, Liz Dunning, and SAWN (Neela Miller and Nathan Klark).

Several participating artists will be in the gallery on Saturday, July 29 from 11 to 4 pm

Inspiration

“The Woodworker’s Ballad”

All that is made of iron
Has lent to destruction and blood;
But the things that are honoured of Zion
Are most of them made of wood.

Stone can be chiselled to beauty,
and iron shines bright for defence;
But when Mother Earth pondered her duty
She brought forth the forest from whence;

Come tables, and chairs, and crosses,
Little things that a hot fire warps;
Old ships that the blue wave tosses,
And fiddles for music, and harps;

Old boards where the carved ferns mingle,
Monks’ shrines in the wilderness,
Snug little huts in the dingle,
All things that the sad poets bless.

King Arthur had a wooden table;
And Our Lord blesses wood; for, you see,
He was born in a wooden stable,
And He died on a wooden tree;

And he sailed in a wooden vessel
On the waters of Galilee,
And he worked on a wooden trestle,
At his wonderful carpentry.

Yes, all that is moulded of iron
Has lent to destruction and blood;
But the things that are honoured of Zion
Are most of them made of wood.

– Herbert Edward Palmer