A major award
Boston’s Society of Arts + Crafts awarded the prestigious John D. Mineck Fellowship to Sophie Glenn. Glenn is a woodworker, furniture designer, sculptor, and metal worker based in Reading, Pennsylvania. Raised in New York City, she earned a BFA from SUNY Purchase and an MFA in Furniture Design and Woodworking from San Diego State University. In addition to residencies at Arrowmont School of Crafts and the Appalachian Center for Craft, Glenn has taught at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Mississippi State University, and A Workshop of Our Own, among others. The Mineck Fellowship is an unrestricted $25,000 prize awarded annually to an early-career furniture artist.
Drawing a blank
I’m building the glass-topped table (Oct/Nov 2022). The Leg Pattern on p. 33 shows the lower leg to be 10” and the upper leg to be 6” long. But the drawing on p. 32 shows a length of 13” for the lower leg and 10” for the upper. Did the table grow, or did something get left out?
Stan Armes, via email
Associate Editor Derek Richmond replies:
The table legs are 16” long, as shown on p. 33, but the upper and lower portions begin as oversized blanks of 10 and 13”, as you state. This gives length for the miter cuts and a little extra to be trimmed off when band sawing the assembled leg to shape before pattern routing. The blanks appear as ghosted rectangles in the Leg Pattern on p. 33.
Hiller’s passing
Renowned woodworker, Nancy Hiller, passed away on August 29 as a result of pancreatic cancer. After studying furniture making in England, she returned to the U.S., where she worked in cabinet shops in Vermont and Montana. In 1995, Hiller opened NR Hiller Design in Bloomington, Indiana. Inspired by the Arts & Crafts style and philosophy, her work emphasizes clean lines and minimal ornamentation, highlighting the beauty of the wood, which was usually locally sourced and sustainably grown. A prolific author, Hiller wrote a number of books, blogs, and articles for Fine Woodworking and Lost Art Press. She held a certificate from the City and Guilds of London Institute and was a member of the Society of American Period Furniture Makers. Hiller was 63.
Rise to the challenge
The 2022 International Woodworking Fair awarded the Challengers Distinguished Achievement Awards to seven products in recognition of technological innovations. Among the winners were Bacci America’s T4MO 4-spindle CNC lathe, Felder Group USA’s Preventive Contact System, which utilizes magnets to lower the blade when contact with human skin is detected, and Northtech Machine’s iDovetail 3-axis CNC machine which cuts fixed-pitch dovetails, mitered mortise and tenon joinery, and other profiles.
Have a seat
The Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, Maine, is hosting “Successful Seating,” a survey of wood chair designs. The exhibition features 16 chairs by 14 designers from seven countries, all of which are currently in production. The show, curated by the Center’s founder, Peter Korn, is open to the public through January 7, 2023, in CFC’s Messler Gallery.
