Madera Fine Decorative Furnishings is where your ideas become a reality. Carlos Taylor-Swanson has 25 years experience building objects of lasting beauty and utility. From high-end cabinetry to yacht interiors to fine custom furniture, Taylor-Swanson has the creative vision and technical know-how to complete your project. Explore our website, get to know our work, and give us a call or email. We look forward to working with you.
This fall we will be hosting re-Art ‘08. A juried group show about re-USING, re-NEWING and re-THINKING our throw-away minded culture. As Americans, we produce on average 4 ½ pounds of garbage each day and for every can of trash we haul out to the curb, 70 cans of waste were produced “upstream” to make the junk we are throwing away.[1] It’s time to re-CONFIGURE our mindset, to re-EVALUATE our priorities! And we believe ART is the best way to START!
Art will be for sale with a portion of proceeds going to local organizations focused on fostering sustainability and healthy, lasting prosperity grounded in community.
The show will be juried by 3 individuals well versed in Tacoma’ s art community. We are asking artists to submit multiple entries by Saturday September 20. (Please use reasonable judgment regarding the quantity of entries. One of the goals of re-ART ‘08 is to explore the vast spectrum of creative talent of our community.) More information to come!
Leonard, Annie; Story of Stuff, http://www.storyofstuff.com/pdfs/annie_leonard_facts.pdf
We are excited to present a show perfectly suited for the arrival of summer! From the Garden features new works by painter Lili Kin and ceramicist Gene Phillips.
Ms. Kin’s history with Madera goes back to our first show - Square One. With The Garden, she has taken a departure from her large, colorful and flowing abstracts to embark on a journey of expression that in her words, “has been within me for years and may continue to evolve for some time to come.” This journey, across 11 major paintings, begins in that most famous of gardens with the ominous serpent eager to bring to an end what could be taken as nothing less than pure reverie. From the accompanying text Kin writes,
There is no other sunshine
brightening the shadows
our darkest nights
Dancing with the drops of rain
Their sweet communion
Realizing the beauty of our dreams
Peace hidden in the colors of the bow so bright
The leaves dance in the wind
Along with the perfume of nature
in my memory
to songs of the winged
Virtuosos in The Garden
We were once blessed to attend.
Portland ceramic artist Gene Phillips also finds much of his inspiration in nature. A successful production ceramic artist for nearly 30 years, Phillips has personally created over 100,000 pieces that have sold in gift shops throughout the US. Recently “retired” Phillips has found opportunity to seek his own expression through his art. Many of his wonderfully textured sculptures sway to some inner rhythm. Others are stately. His colors are from Nature: a grey sky blue, a green straight form a Northwest spring, aubergine - rich yet earthy.
Join us for an artists’ reception Saturday June 21 from 5 - 8 pm. The artists will be present.
Keeping up with the times and keeping YOU informed is what this new “What’s Happening” blog will be about. We’ll tell you about current and upcoming gallery shows, pass along interesting news about our artists and even share some details about exciting projects underway in the wood shop! Plus, we want to know your thoughts, too. So please feel free to use the comment feature. We are excited to have this opportunity connect with you.
Madera’s craftsman extraordinaire, Steve Lawler, has launched his own new line of custom furniture made from 100% recycled plywood. The first available piece in Steve’s “Re-Ply” line, a coffee table, is now on display in the gallery, and is available for $1,250.
It’s been a few months, but I’d like to share The News Tribune article about Madera that came out in last November. It was pure fortune that the article was published the same day we hosted an open house in conjunction with Tacoma Art @ Work Month. It was quite a turnout!
One of our current projects of interest is a unique entry door for this condo project (Stadium 302) in the Stadium district of Tacoma. The door is 42″ wide be 98″ tall and 2 1/4″ thick! The design calls for a frame of “blackened” stainless steel and 3/8″ horizontal metal accents across the face. It has been great collaborating with US Sheet Metal on the project. Here’s a shot of Madera’s Steve Lawler doing the final clean up of the slots for the horizontal steel reveals.
And here is Madera’s Matt Tribe and me checking the fit of the latch and strike in the solid walnut jamb. The face of the door is 1/16″ bleached walnut veneer and the jamb is bleached solid walnut (it measures 2 1/2″ thick by 5″ wide!) 
And as usual Jason Stensby did a fabulous job with the finish. He sealed and filled the grain with multiple coats of epoxy for weather resistance. A couple coats of a “dull rub” top coat finished it off perfectly.
The door will be installed as soon as the metalwork is complete. It’ll have to be soon since the condo is to be featured on KIRO! We’ll get some more pictures.
Our current exhibition features 8 up and coming artists from the Tacoma Artworks Group. The show, inspired by our 6th letter, is a fund raising effort in support of the Tacoma Community College Foundation Arts department.
TAG is a sanctioned club through the Associated Students of Tacoma Community College (ASTCC). The mission of TAG is to provide TCC students with real-world opportunities to showcase their artwork at venues in the Puget Sound region, and hold activities to enhance their exposure to the diverse mediums of the world of art.
The artists featured are: Jessica Atal, Jefferson Elliott, Joey Freer, John Gordon, Lizzie Gulick, Jessie Krett, Jimmy McDonough and Mahta Shakib.
The show will run through May 31. You can see images of selections from the show in our gallery slide show!
This fall we will be hosting re-Art ‘08. A juried group show about re-USING, re-NEWING and re-THINKING our throw-away minded culture. As Americans, we produce on average 4 ½ pounds of garbage each day and for every can of trash we haul out to the curb, 70 cans of waste were produced “upstream” to make the junk we are throwing away.[1] It’s time to re-CONFIGURE our mindset, to re-EVALUATE our priorities! And we believe ART is the best way to START!
