Along the Studio Tour: Daniel Mack

The Orange County Arts Council blog will be doing a series on the artists that you might see while following your open studio tour map. The first of these is Daniel Mack, a talented artist from Warwick who is often a teacher and writer as well. While you drive along Welling Avenue, you'll come along the Victorian Carriage House that Dan has made into his studio (which happens to be safe, accessible, and have a public bathroom). On display will be sculpture and furniture made from nature. In the artist's words he "explores the forms, textures and deformities of the trees. [He] separates the trees from the forest, re-present and re-member them. [He] wants to keep the history of the tree present in the work and still reflect the hand and heart of the maker.

Dan has been working on a series of Memory Chairs (part of the Mnemosyne Series) that incorporate found objects to tell a story, whether that story be about nature, life, or golf. He says this idea makes sense, because "chairs are part of the story of life. They witness events. They become part of Memory and Family History." The Memory Chairs are his way of making a chair's role in life more evident. These chairs often end up in museums, but during the Open Studio Tour you may be able to see some that are in the process of being created, and perhaps become part of its story yourself.

Dan's imaginal artifacts (misnamed sculptures by society) also tell a story. He believes that when people make something, like a sculpture or a chair or a friend, it is their way of being in the world. He says that "Making is a way of outering or uttering what we know, feel, believe, desire." When he creates things, he's telling both the story of his unconscious and the story of the materials that go into the sculpture.


all pictures from Daniel Mack's website

If you'd like to talk to Daniel Mack before the Open Studio Tour feel free to e-mail him at rustic@warwick.net. And if you'd like to see the story of his work, be sure to make his studio a stop along your map.