PORTLAND

Thos. Moser is one of America’s finest furniture making endeavors. Thos. Moser: Legacy in Wood surveys their 44 years of engagement with wood: Thomas Moser’s struggle to find himself after being orphaned at eighteen, his learning through long dead masters, his decision to leave a tenured teaching position to pursue furniture making full time, and his aesthetic and entrepreneurial choices throughout life. At a time when artisans are searching for meaningful ways to engage with their work and their audience, which can afford them fiscal independence, Thomas Moser’s journey provides an example of devotion to artistry and craftsmanship that is uncompromisingly ethical while generating a livelihood for his family, a community of artisans and delivering to the world objects of great beauty and utility.

The exhibition will illuminate Moser’s approach to this most democratic expression of artisanship both formally and conceptually through the objects themselves, comprehensive didactics illustrating origins, timeline, influences, aesthetics, his relationship to and respect for wood, displays of tools and joinery as well as a beautiful accompanying catalogue.

“For Maine College of Art to host the retrospective is an honor, ” said President Donald Tuski. “Tom’s career demonstrates how art, craft, design and entrepreneurship can come together.”

The work included in the exhibition spans four decades; in many instances walking the viewer through the growth of a chair from early design iterations through several design changes or variations on a central theme, always returning to what Moser via Plato calls “ultimate chairness.”

Thos. Moser: Legacy in Wood opens in MECA’s Institute of Contemporary Art on July 22 and runs through September 20. The ICA is open to the public, free of charge, Wednesday-Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursdays until 7 p.m. and First Fridays until 8 p.m.

Located in the heart of the Portland Arts District, MECA offers a BFA degree in 11 studio majors, an MFA in Studio Arts, the MAT and continuing studies for youths and adults. The Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA and the Joanne Waxman Library are free and open to the public. For more information, see www.meca.edu or contact rdersimonian@meca.edu.

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