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Grant Recipient

Hands pairing down a tenon for a workbench.

Robell Awake and Charlie Ryland

Craft Research Fund—Artist Fellowship

2022

Carving New Histories: Toward a More Accurate Woodworking Imaginary

Awake and Ryland's research project “Carving New Histories: Toward a More Accurate Woodworking Imaginary” aims to assemble a more accurate understanding of and community within, period furniture and green woodworking by centering the life, work, and contribution of Black and Indigenous makers through research, documentation, and object making. Throughout the course of this project, Awake and Ryland will visit the Whitney Plantation (the only plantation that focuses on the lives of enslaved people), the Yale Furniture Collection, the Winterthur Museum, and Tlingit master carvers of the Pacific Northwest. These trips will be documented with photos and text about the untold stories of Black and Indigenous craft folks and their enduring green woodworking practices that continue to this day. Awake and Ryland's research will culminate in a body of work such as a chair and other objects using methods learned through their research.

Awake and Ryland's research project Carving New Histories: Toward a More Accurate Woodworking Imaginary aims to assemble a more accurate understanding of and community within, period furniture and green woodworking by centering the life, work, and contribution of Black and Indigenous makers through research, documentation, and object making. Throughout the course of this project, Awake and Ryland will visit the Whitney Plantation (the only plantation that focuses on the lives of enslaved people), the Yale Furniture Collection, the Winterthur Museum, and Tlingit master carvers of the Pacific Northwest. These trips will be documented with photos and text about the untold stories of Black and Indigenous craft folks and their enduring green woodworking practices that continue to this day. Awake and Ryland's research will culminate in a body of work such as a chair and other objects using methods learned through their research.

Bio of the Artist

Organization Background

Location

EDUCATION

SPECIALIZATION

Woodworking

Institution

Grant amount

$20,000

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Selected works

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