For immediate release: December 1, 2002

Contact:  H. Tu, Exhibitions Coordinator

Wood Turning Center : (215) 923-8000

e-mail:

 

THE WOOD TURNING CENTER ANNOUNCES

  Serious Play: The Work of Michael Brolly

January 10 to March 1, 2003

 

Guest curator: Gail M. Brown

Artist's talk: January 24, 2003 from 1 to 4 PM

Reception for the Artist: February 24, 2003 from 1 to 4 PM

 

"I always try to give my pieces personality, and explore new ways to use the lathe."  

                                                                                                            Michael Brolly

 

A climactic event is coming to the Wood Turning Center this winter. On the heels of a two-year national tour, renowned lathe artist Michael Brolly is ending his first mid-career museum retrospective at the Wood Turning Center .  Slightly modified by guest curator Gail M. Brown for the Center's space, the exhibition will include twenty-two works of diverse scales that span twenty years of this artist's distinguished career.

  A native of Philadelphia , Michael Brolly is unarguably one of the most innovative and imaginative lathe artists working today. Intrigued by what he calls "fragmental and multi-axis turnings," Brolly demonstrates remarkable technical skills and audacity in using the lathe to transcend traditional turning forms into visionary sculpture. Brolly's allegiance to the lathe never stops him from taking a beautifully turned piece of wood to the saw or freely mixes carving, mechanical joints, and arcane wood working techniques to achieve his peculiar and often humorous vision.

Brolly received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Kutztown University , Kutztown , Pennsylvania in 1981. Since then he has exhibited in numerous one-man and group exhibitions. He received numerous awards, including first place in the American Woodworkers show at Fort Washington , Pennsylvania in 1999.

This extraordinary exhibition also marks a new beginning for the Center. It will be the first one-person show ever organized and held at the Wood Turning Center since its incorporation in 1986.

  The Serious Play: The Work of Michael Brolly is supported in part by generous grants from the Anonymous Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the William Penn Foundation, and Friends of the Wood Turning Center .

  For further information please contact the Wood Turning Center at 501 Vine Street , Philadelphia , PA , 19106 . Tel: 215-923-8000/Fax: 215-923-4403/email:

For more information, email

Slides and exhibition catalogue available upon request

Also, read the article by guest curator Gail M. Brown about this exhibit.
And view a short preview of the exhibit.