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					Also this issue: Worlds of Wonder “Cabinets of Curiosities” is a magical journey through time and spaces. -Robin Rice “A Night at the Casbah” -Lori Hill Baseball panel discussion -Andrew Milner Louis Faurer: A Photographic Retrospective -John Vettese Sherman Alexie -John Freeman Bloomsday Celebration -Lori Hill Frankie Avalon -Interview by A.D. Amorosi A Picasso -David Anthony Fox

June 12-18, 2003

art

20/20 Vision

Garry Knox Bennett, Helicopter Descending the Stairs (2002), painted wood and mechanical parts.

Snyderman Gallery celebrates 20 years in the furniture business.

by Lori Hill

Ruth and Rick Snyderman know how to sell furniture (figuratively and literally). It’s not about comfort or style. After 20 years, they’ve realized it’s about craft.

One look at Snyderman Gallery's current show, and you can see why the couple is so well respected in the world of contemporary studio furniture and crafts.

"Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: A Celebration of Studio Furniture" features work by artists who have become associated with the gallery over the years, not to mention being top innovators in the field. They include Garry Knox Bennett, Wendell Castle, Tom Loeser, Wendy Maruyama, Randy Shull, Derek Bencomo and Howard Werner.

The timing was perfect, too. "The idea of doing a 20th-anniversary exhibit fell logically into place when Philadelphia was selected as the site for the Furniture Society's annual conference," says Rick Snyderman.

The Snydermans may have 20 years' worth of experience now, but they always had their fingers on the pulse.

"We were very involved in the development of South Street as an artists' space in the '60s and '70s. This was just when furniture was coming into its own," Rick Snyderman says. Ruth Snyderman had opened her Works gallery in 1965, showing ceramics and glass, as well as furniture -- and many of the artists she represented were graduates of the University of the Arts.

"The creation of Snyderman Gallery was part of a larger development that began in the 1970s, as media-specific galleries came into being, focusing on particular areas of artist-designed and built work such as ceramics, glass, fiber, jewelry and furniture," says Rick Snyderman. "Philadelphia was always one of the major centers for these activities, largely because of the high concentration of art schools with significant programs in these areas of the studio arts."

By 1983, the couple had acquired more space and began to show contemporary studio furniture and sculptural glass at Third and South streets. The gallery became known for innovative and wide-ranging exhibitions, including one of the first shows to include Robert Venturi's witty designs for Knoll and the "Masters of 20th Century Studio Furniture" exhibit. Shows were created around important publications of the time. "We were interested in getting together with scholars of this work," Rick Snyderman says, remembering a 1986 exhibit of important furniture pieces by Wharton Esherick, George Nakashima, Wendell Castle and Art Carpenter, among others.

But by the late 1980s, "we were beginning to find that South Street was changing its focus," he says. That uncertainty, combined with a growing number of artists and insufficient space in which to show them, led to a move.

In 1991 a magnificent 6,000-square-foot space at 303 Cherry Street became available. It took about a year to finalize the arrangements, but the Snydermans used the time and space well. "We had this building, but weren't ready to move in yet, so we let artists do First Friday happenings on the first floor for about a year," Rick Snyderman says. Now, with Ruth Snyderman showing cutting-edge glass, jewelry and fiber art on the gallery's lower level, Snyderman-Works is a force to be reckoned with.

Up-to-the-minute examples prove Snyderman's viability in the community. American Craft magazine will feature Jon Brooks' recent show at the gallery in its July issue. And when Steinway & Sons was organizing its "art case" series, it commissioned longtime Snyderman artist John Eric Byers to make a hand-carved piano. It's on view now as part of the Furniture Society conference, and will be at Snyderman until July 19.

A Philadelphia booster, Rick Snyderman says, "There are real solid things going on in Philly. With proper direction, much more could happen.

"One of my dream exhibitions is to do 100 years of furniture design in one block," he says, and he thinks it’s entirely possible, given the range of modern furniture galleries and antique stores in Old City alone.

When Rick Snyderman muses about the future of visual art in Philadelphia, he ventures, "There will be [the] Calder [museum], there will be [the] Barnes [museum]. With these, [the Parkway area] will be a world-class museum district, a destination." With the Avenue of the Arts and Old City, he says, "put it all together and Philadelphia becomes much more interesting."

"Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: A Celebration of Studio Furniture," through July 15, 303 Cherry St., 215-238-9576.