“The Lincoln Maxwell Project”

Pop-Up Show at Oak Hill Iron Works Showroom to showcase solo works by John Ferguson, furniture designer and builder,  and Professional Crafts Wood Instructor at Western Piedmont Community College.

Friday, June 18, 4 until 6PM:  Join us for wine & cheese and a chance to visit with John Ferguson as he shows us his latest creation, The Lincoln Maxwell Project, named after his 2 ½ year old grandson.   The work will also be on display on Saturday at the showroom during regular business hours, 10 until 4.  The showroom is located in downtown Morganton at 107 S. King Street.

John has been a furniture designer and builder for over 40 years, and is the current president of the Burke Art Council.  John is looking forward to seeing more artists getting out & showing what they have been up to the last year.

About the project and its inspiration in Ferguson’s words:  “My relationship with Lincoln began in eastern Utah along the Colorado River, in the shadow of Fisher Towers.  My daughter Anne and son John met me in Grand Junction, CO the spring of 2018 & we followed the river out into the desert.  Along the road, Anne – and her husband Peter, via Facetime – let me know they were pregnant.

Rather than make something for just a child, I decided to build some things that could follow him about.  There is a twin sized bed, a nightstand, a blanket chest/toy box and a bed step.  Though these pieces will be there with him as he grows up with Mom & Dad, Master Lincoln’s bedroom set is also for a young man getting ready to strike out on his own. 

To ol’ Granddad, they are those things, but also a bit more.  They are an artist’s rendering of that first meeting between Lincoln & me – out there on the edge, where you can feel the curve of the earth; and the hush of the desert is laced with the quiet rustlings of ghosts and angels. 

These four pieces are a rich mixture of desert colors & tones, turned & angled lines, rounded ledges & sloped outcroppings.   They are a concoction of Patagonian Cherry (Lenga), northeastern, flamed Black Cherry, our southern region’s own deep red, Black Cherry – and a dash or two of bright curly maple highlights.”

Thank you to Lynn & Dean Curfman of Oak Hill Ironworks for sharing their space & making this showing possible.