Also this issue:

Taking the Stage
After years in the making, the Philadelphia Gay & Lesbian Theatre Festival becomes a reality.
-Lewis Whittington

Feast on Furniture
-Lori Hill

Artquicks
More stuff going on this week...

Day of the Poet
-Ainé Ardron-Doley

The Importance of Being Earnest
-Juliet Fletcher

BigSmorgasbord WunderWerk
-Steve Cohen

Happy Alliance
-David Anthony Fox

See Red
-Toby Zinman

June 5-11, 2003

artpicks

Wonders in Wood

by Susan Hagen

Local furniture artist Michael Hurwitz hails from Boston, where he studied lute and furniture making, and he also traveled to Japan in the mid-'80s to study the techniques of traditional lacquer work. Hurwitz's encyclopedic interests range from musical instruments, Chinese chests and Japanese teahouses to traditional European cabinetry, art history and modernist design. Abstract painting and Japanese cabinetry seem to be sources of inspiration for a piece titled Fir Wall Cabinet with Fishnet, made of fir and handmade paper in 2003. Its construction is based on an irregular composition of open compartments, shelves and latticed doors -- each door with a different pattern. Hurwitz's solidly built Collector's Cabinet was inspired by a traditional Chinese chest for herbal medicines. Made of zelkova, silk, resin and copper, its compact square drawer fronts are decorated with a pattern of flowers, quatrefoils and raised squares and fitted with tiny handles that have a delightful reference to nipple piercing.

Hurwitz's craftsmanship with an imaginative assortment of materials is also wonderfully innovative. The elemental upside-down U form of Pine Forest Desk has a hewn-out work surface and is completely covered with a rich surface of traditional black lacquer and bare textured wood. In Sideboard, Hurwitz ingeniously combines materials in a sleek and understated design. The top and sides of the cabinet are made of raw silk embedded in polished resin and fitted with a marble platform, while its doors and drawer fronts are made of narra veneer, an Indonesian hardwood. Besides the cabinets, desk and sideboard, you can see headboards, mirrors and side tables. If you're out sampling the multitude of furniture shows this summer, don't miss this local favorite!

“Michael Hurwitz: Recent Furniture,” reception Fri., June 6, 7-9 p.m., exhibition runs through July 19, Temple Gallery, 45 N. Second St., 215-782-2776.