Craig Altobello Artist Reception & Demonstration

Artisans Way, located at 18 Walden St., Concord, is pleased to welcome Craig Altobello, a wood marquetry artist from New Hampshire, for a demonstration and reception celebrating his new body of work. He will be in the gallery Saturday, August 11th from 12-4 to demonstrate his technique and answer questions about his exquisite nature-inspired work.

Marquetry is the art of assembling thin slices of wood to form an image. Craig works with wood's diverse color, grain, and texture to reveal the “inside story.” His path to marquetry grew out of teaching middle school science, where he and his students documented their outdoor explorations through writing and art using cut paper collage. He saw the potential to work with the colors and grain patterns of wood to bring "collage" to his woodworking. Taking a course at the College of the Redwoods in California provided the touchstone experience that launched him into his current work.

His work is inspired by the wildlife, flora, and fauna of the White Mountains and the Monadnock Region of New Hampshire where he has hiked since childhood. He finds the story hidden beneath the bark “beautiful and forever astonishing.” Although Craig prefers to use woods from local New Hampshire trees and lumber milled from storm-damaged trees, he does use other responsibly cut woods from distant places and scraps from other woodworkers. From start to finish, an image can take up to a week to create.

Craig has attended workshops with designer/craftsman Thomas Moser of Maine, Haystack School of Crafts, the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Maine, Shelburne Craft School in Vermont, and the Sharon Arts Center in Peterborough, NH. He is a juried member of the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen and the Sharon Arts Center in Peterborough, NH.

His demonstration will illustrate the steps taken to create a piece of marquetry art using wood and tools from his studio. Craig plans to show the process from lumber to finished piece. Using a scroll saw, he’ll show how he cuts the wood to fit precisely. A variety of woods will be on display for people to handle and imagine how they could be used to represent an image from nature. In addition, Craig’s work will be included in a 10% off store-wide promotion in conjunction with tax-free weekend, August 11-12.

Artisans Way, a fine art and contemporary craft gallery is open Monday – Saturday from 10 am- 6 pm and Sundays from 12 pm- 5 pm. For more details call 978-369-4400 or visit http://www.artisansway.net/events.html.