Kent Perdue

I have been wanting to blog about Kent Perdue for quite some time but have not had photos of his work. I finally stumbled upon some photos of his latest work which I'm pretty excited about. As an advanced woodworking student, I was lucky enough to have my bench next to Kent's. Although his work intimidated me and he always took over my bench, it was great having him near me. I was always in awe of what he was doing and embarrassed of my work next to his. I am still so curious about how his mind works and the ideas he comes up with. Most of Kent's work recycles old materials, furniture, found wood, etc. He has an incredible talent of combining different woods and finishes, something I was always jealous of.

This past year, Kent was awarded the Windgate Fellowship, a prestigious award given by the Center for Craft, Creativity, and Design. Kent is the first undergraduate student in VCU's Crafts and Material Studies department to receive this fellowship. Currently, Kent is a resident at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Upon finishing his residency, Kent plans to do the following with his Fellowship:

I will travel to Japan to study and document traditional architecture, furniture and Asian art forms unfamiliar to my western aesthetic. I will take three workshops at Anderson Ranch and Penland to hone technical skills to learn techniques for curved construction and visit prominent museums related to wood in Philadelphia and New York. Following the building of my studio, I will showcase a body of work developed from the Fellowship experiences.

Keep an eye out for Kent Perdue, I have a feeling his name will become well known in the art world. And please, take a look at his online journal here.

An expandable table in its expanded form, it folds up beautifully, I wish I had a picture.

Bench (I love the legs)

Chair rings, I'm obsessed. He still owes me one.