Sunday, May 17, 2020

____Meet the Folk Artists 2____

A new bi-weekly feature 

Gary Mead, Unique Wood Furniture



Gary Mead, a resident of Arkville has until recently produced the wood for his one-of-a kind furniture at his own sawmill. He comes from a creative family who made their living on a New Kingston dairy farm. But Gary taught himself to carve and shape wood into imaginative pieces that have attracted buyers from near and far.

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Gary's creativity doesn't stop with wood furnishings.  He also writes books for children and composes poetry that is featured regularly on WIOX's "From the Forest," the radio program of the Catskills Forest Association.

Listen to about six minutes from Gary's interview in which.he describes his creative process. It begins with finding the right wood or tree, his work recorded in a shop diary, and then in drawings and poetry about the piece.  This excerpt ends with Gary describing his realization that the tree had been showing him all along ("a child is born") how to design the interior of one of his works.


You will be able to view Gary's newer creations, see his shop diaries - some written in the woods with "plant juices"- and read his poems this September at Catskills Folk Connection's exhibit, "Folk Art in Wood" at Hanford Mills Museum.  It will run through September and end with the Mill's Woodsmen's Festival in early October.  Should we not be able to present the exhibit for in-person viewing, there will be an on-line exhibit at Catskills Folk Connection's new website, now being designed.