Janice Smith | |
|---|---|
 Janice Smith speaking on a panel about Women's Woodworking at the American Craft Council Conference in Philadelphia. | |
| Alma mater | Virginia Commonwealth University (BFA 1976), Rhode Island School of Design (MFA 1981) |
| Occupation(s) | Furniture maker, woodworker, sculptor, educator |
| Known for | Furniture design |
| Movement | American studio furniture |
| Website | www |
Janice Smith is an American furniture maker and educator, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [1]
Smith took a women's wood shop class in high school and became hooked on woodworking. [2] She attended Virginia Commonwealth University and studied under furniture maker Alphonse Mattia. She later attended the Rhode Island School of Design, studying furniture making under Tage Frid. [1] [3] Smith is a member of the Furniture Society and was an early artist involved with the American studio furniture movement. [4]
After graduating college in 1981 she worked for a small furniture maker and then a Rhode Island boat builder. Eventually she started her own furniture making business creating custom furniture. Today she continues to run a business, working alongside her husband Reuben Wade to design and build interiors and commercial remodeling. [2]
In her work, Smith uses sculptural forms and aims to engage the viewer in all three dimensions, creating work that is both functional and exciting. [2] Her work is dynamic, often geometric and angular or with sweeping lines and curves. In her furniture work, Smith uses Italian-made composite veneered plywood. To create thickness and dimension in her work, she often uses torsion boxes - hollow structures with a frame-like core and a plywood "skin", veneered to look solid. [2] The financial freedom from teaching at the University of Kansas allowed her to explore new directions with her work. [2]
Smith's work has been featured in Wexler Gallery in Philadelphia and galleries and exhibitions across the country. [2] [5]
Smith taught industrial and interior design full-time at the University of Kansas from 1992 to 1998. [6] [3] She has taught part-time at Bucks County Community College, Moore College of Art and Design, and Drexel University. [1] [7] She also has taught carpentry to Philadelphia youth through the Mural Arts' Restorative Justice program. [8]
At the American Craft Council conference held in Philadelphia in 2019, Smith spoke on a panel about women in woodworking hosted by Jennifer-Navva Milliken alongside woodworkers Laura Mays, Meg Bye, Emily Bunker, Fo Wilson (also known as Folayemi Wilson), and Sarah Marriage of A Workshop of Our Own.
Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinetry, furniture making, wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning.
Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers, having both glued with each other at right angle or at 90 degrees angle. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include medium-density fibreboard (MDF), oriented strand board (OSB), and particle board.
Particle board, also known as particleboard, chipboard, and low-density fiberboard, is an engineered wood product manufactured from wood chips and a synthetic resin or other suitable binder, which is pressed and extruded. Particle board is often confused with oriented strand board, a different type of fiberboard that uses machined wood flakes and offers more strength.
Tage Frid was a Danish-born woodworker, educator and author who influenced the development of the studio furniture movement in the United States. His design work was often in the Danish-modern style, best known for his three legged stool and his publications.
In woodworking, veneer refers to thin slices of wood and sometimes bark that typically are glued onto core panels to produce flat panels such as doors, tops and panels for cabinets, parquet floors and parts of furniture. They are also used in marquetry. Plywood consists of three or more layers of veneer. Normally, each is glued with its grain at right angles to adjacent layers for strength. Veneer beading is a thin layer of decorative edging placed around objects, such as jewelry boxes. Veneer is also used to replace decorative papers in wood veneer HPL.
Wendell Castle was an American sculptor and furniture maker and an important figure in late 20th century American craft. He has been referred to as the "father of the art furniture movement" and included in the "Big 4" of modern woodworking with Wharton Esherick, George Nakashima, and Sam Maloof.
Jere Osgood was an American studio furniture maker, and teacher of furniture and woodworking. He taught for many years in the Boston University Program in Artisanry.
Rosanne Somerson is an American-born woodworker, furniture designer/maker, educator, and former President of Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). An artist connected with the early years of the Studio Furniture, her work and career have been influential to the field.
A cabinet is a case or cupboard with shelves and/or drawers for storing or displaying items. Some cabinets are stand alone while others are built in to a wall or are attached to it like a medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically made of wood, coated steel, or synthetic materials. Commercial grade cabinets usually have a melamine-particleboard substrate and are covered in a high-pressure decorative laminate, commonly referred to as Wilsonart or Formica.
Adrien Segal is an artist, furniture maker, and sculptor who uses data to inform her artwork. She is currently an adjunct professor of Furniture Design at the California College of the Arts and a practicing artist studio furniture maker.
Michelle Holzapfel is an American woodturner and a participant in the American Craft movement. She has five decades of experience turning and carving native hardwoods in Marlboro, Vermont, where she has lived her adult life. Holzapfel fits the definitions of both Studio artist and Material movement artist. A product of the revolutionary back-to-the-earth movement of 1960s and 1970s, she attributes the expressiveness of her turned and carved forms to the idealism of those years. Raised in rural Rhode Island, she has worked alone in her Vermont studio—shared only with her husband, the furniture maker and educator David Holzapfel—since 1976. Her wood pieces which feature intricate carvings have been exhibited in museums and galleries in the U.S., Australia and Europe. Publications featuring her work include but are not limited to House Beautiful, American Craft, Woodworking, and Fine Woodworking.
Gerald Summers (1899–1967) was an American mid-century modern furniture designer. He came to prominence with his design for the Bent Plywood Armchair. Another of his noted works was the Two-Tier Table. Both pieces were designed in 1934 and manufactured by Makers of Simple Furniture, the firm he founded.
Wendy Maruyama is an American visual artist, furniture maker, and educator from California. She was born in La Junta, Colorado.
Judy Kensley McKie is an American artist, furniture designer, and furniture maker. She has been making her signature style of furniture with carved and embellished animal and plant motifs since 1977. She is based in Boston, Massachusetts.
Nancy Hiller was a cabinetmaker, period furniture maker, and author based in Bloomington, Indiana. Hiller owned and operated NR Hiller Design: Custom Furniture and Cabinetry, taught woodworking classes, and was the author of several books including Making Things Work: Tales from a Cabinetmaker's Life.
Ashley Eriksmoen is a California-born Australia-based furniture maker, woodworker, artist, and educator.
Annie Evelyn is a furniture designer and artist known for works that combine an innovative use of materials with humor. She is co-founder of Table Fights.
Joyce Anderson was an American furniture designer and woodworker. Anderson is known for her professional partnership with her husband, Edgar M. Anderson. Together, their works in wood are regarded as early examples of the American Craft movement, specifically for the state of New Jersey. Anderson was one of the first professional female woodworkers in the United States.
Kate Duncan is a Canadian furniture maker and designer. Duncan employs women in her studio, runs "gender-neutral" woodworking courses and created an inclusivity-focused tradeshow for the design industry.
Alphonse Mattia was an American furniture designer, woodworker, sculptor and educator. In 2005, Alphonse Mattia was elected a Fellow of the American Craft Council (ACC).