MICHELLE M. POST
Born March 5, 1955
Basically a self-taught artist, she seeks out those who have the knowledge she desires and learns directly from the source. Post apprenticed in 1976 with Stefan Martin for wood engraving, a finely detailed, yet rare, relief form of printmaking that has the mastery of only a select few in the country. Her engraving, The Watch, is included in Engrain- Collection of North American Wood Engravers, published by Barbarian Press, British Columbia. Wood engraving was her primary artistic interest before coming to the Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture in 1986. It was here where her sculptural interests took hold and blossomed.
After 21 years as part of sculptor J. Seward Johnson’s organization, she is currently the Director of Museum Display and Installations for The Sculpture Foundation where she designed, produced, directed and installed Mr. Johnson’s traveling museum show, Beyond The Frame, debuting at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC in 2003. She is currently working on the design for Johnson's new museum show "Icons Revisited."
Ms. Post’s work took a dramatic turn when her accumulation of salt and pepper shakers got out of control and thus was born the Shaker Furniture Collection series. Shaker Furniture and Lamps For All Seasonings are a divergence from the strict realism of Ms. Post’s sculpture and printmaking that precede it. Quick and colorful, these concoctions allow her freedom to have the fun of creating with existing materials.
In 2006, Michelle met printmaker Barry Wilson in Jacksonville, Florida from whom she learned the complicated technique of reduction linocuts. Fast and fun, this form of printmaking has proven to be an outlet where Post can experiment with color and form that had been missing in her woodengravings. What she sacrificed in detail, she makes up with the bold use of color.
Along with her husband, Dave Carrow, Post curates the Highwater Sculpture Invitational that travels to different venues in Cumberland County and surrounding areas. This highly provocative sculpture show brings together artists that the couple have known thorough out the many years that they have been involved with the Johnson Atelier and Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ.
Born March 5, 1955
Basically a self-taught artist, she seeks out those who have the knowledge she desires and learns directly from the source. Post apprenticed in 1976 with Stefan Martin for wood engraving, a finely detailed, yet rare, relief form of printmaking that has the mastery of only a select few in the country. Her engraving, The Watch, is included in Engrain- Collection of North American Wood Engravers, published by Barbarian Press, British Columbia. Wood engraving was her primary artistic interest before coming to the Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture in 1986. It was here where her sculptural interests took hold and blossomed.
After 21 years as part of sculptor J. Seward Johnson’s organization, she is currently the Director of Museum Display and Installations for The Sculpture Foundation where she designed, produced, directed and installed Mr. Johnson’s traveling museum show, Beyond The Frame, debuting at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC in 2003. She is currently working on the design for Johnson's new museum show "Icons Revisited."
Ms. Post’s work took a dramatic turn when her accumulation of salt and pepper shakers got out of control and thus was born the Shaker Furniture Collection series. Shaker Furniture and Lamps For All Seasonings are a divergence from the strict realism of Ms. Post’s sculpture and printmaking that precede it. Quick and colorful, these concoctions allow her freedom to have the fun of creating with existing materials.
In 2006, Michelle met printmaker Barry Wilson in Jacksonville, Florida from whom she learned the complicated technique of reduction linocuts. Fast and fun, this form of printmaking has proven to be an outlet where Post can experiment with color and form that had been missing in her woodengravings. What she sacrificed in detail, she makes up with the bold use of color.
Along with her husband, Dave Carrow, Post curates the Highwater Sculpture Invitational that travels to different venues in Cumberland County and surrounding areas. This highly provocative sculpture show brings together artists that the couple have known thorough out the many years that they have been involved with the Johnson Atelier and Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ.
"Take This With a Grain of Salt"
Follow the link below for a news article announcing my current show at the Clay College on High Street in Millville:
http://www.thedailyjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080918/LIFESTYLE/809180305
http://www.thedailyjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080918/LIFESTYLE/809180305
Been There, Painted That
As a documentary painter, Robert Beck has captured scenes from operating rooms to 'Good Morning America.' His work is paired with Michelle Post's 'Shaker Furniture' at Ellarslie.
By Ilene Dube
Posted: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 8:07 PM EST
ROBERT Beck is one of those painters who creates a world you really want to be a part of. Take “Sunday Morning,” an oil portrait of a rosy cheeked, bright-eyed woman in a silk kimono, reclining in a wing chair. Now that would be a relaxing way to while away the first day of the week. It’s not just the situation, but the colors — the way the light shines brightly through a window, glinting off the bare limbs of a tree, and the warmth the subject must feel inside the reddish-purple robe.........
AT THE COMPLETE opposite end of the spectrum is the whimsical “Shaker Furniture” by Michelle Post. “Salty Tears” is a sculpture of, essentially, a tissue box, but the box is adorned with a remarkable collection of salt and pepper shakers: a lobster claw, a toucan, a milkmaid, a cow, a monkey, a cat atop an 8 ball, and even good old plain glass shakers. A cutout of the inside of the tissue box shows how it is lined with a completed jigsaw puzzle of a sailboat, and a doll of a sailor stands inside. There are even tissues coming out the top!
A room has been set up with Ms. Post’s furniture: two chairs encrusted with beads on top, salt-and-pepper shakers below; a table covered with jigsaw puzzles, Popsicle sticks and beads, and a martini glass made of Popsicle sticks and beads. Underneath the furniture is a rag rug with a fringe border made up of child-size socks in all colors and patterns. A lamp, too, has a shade made of Popsicle sticks, beads and tassels, and a crystal salt shaker serves as the finial. Shakers line the pedestal.
A china cabinet, painted orange and red, has a Popsicle stick and marble creation inside the glass doors, and one drawer is pulled open to reveal the jigsaw puzzle, Popsicle stick and bead work inside. On top are more shakers and a large bust.
The other two galleries at Ellarslie are filled with even more of this furniture, and with the dizzying quantity of shakers here, one can only wonder if there are any left on this planet that the artist did not use.
Until this exhibit, Ms. Post was mostly known for her representational woodcut and bronze birds. Twenty years ago Ms. Post’s daughter, Sara, went to a fair and bought a gift for her mother — vintage salt-and-pepper shakers in the form of fish. Thinking they were cute, Ms. Post decided to begin collecting shakers, but with one restriction — they had to be fish.
So she collected and collected, and then in an antique store one day fell in love with a set of Grandma and Grandpa donkey shakers. So, now, donkey shakers could also be included.
As with so many collections, it exploded beyond the original limits set, and Ms. Post found herself the owner of all kinds of shakers. “Being an artist, you collect things,” says Ms. Post, who is production director for the museum division of Seward Johnson’s Sculpture Foundation — she designs and installs Mr. Johnson’s exhibitions. “I love animals and vegetables, especially vegetables with people’s bodies,” she said, pointing to some on a chair. “For some reason, vegetable people really get to me.”
Several years ago, Ms. Post bought a collection of 1,500 pairs of shakers at an estate sale. From it she gleaned the shakers she considered special enough for her personal collection. Her husband, sculptor David Carrow — she refers to him as “the curmudgeon,” and there is a sculpture atop one of her china closets made in his image — suggested she make armatures shaped liked tables and chairs, glue the shakers to it and call it “Shaker Furniture.”
In the summer of 2006, when the Trenton After School Program asked artists to decorate chairs for its Chairs for Children fundraiser, Ms. Post had the chance to put her Shaker Furniture concept to use. Wanting to set the chair on a pedestal, she got the idea to set it on a box, faux painted to look like a packing crate with nails and stamped “Shaker Furniture Company, Trenton, N.J.”
From there, she went on to create all the furniture for this exhibit, including a china cabinet custom made for Museum Director Brian O. Hill and his wife, Linda — inside its drawer is a jigsaw puzzle of Santa Claus, Mr. Hill’s alter ego.
Ms. Post collects puzzles, beads, shakers and Popsicle sticks everywhere from flea markets to eBay. Ms. Post also collects Popsicle stick lamps from the 1950s, which is what inspired her own Popsicle lamps.
When Mr. Hill originally paired Ms. Post’s work with the exhibit of Mr. Beck, he was expecting her bronze birds. “Life is what happens when you’re making others plans,” he says, quoting John Lennon. He compares the pairing of Mr. Beck and Ms. Post to living in the 21st century: “Wherever you turn, there’s a serious side and a comic side, a wonderful vignette that makes you smile while something serious happens, a comedy on TV with a commercial for Pepto Bismol. It’s the yin and the yang, and you have to have both.”
POST-BECK is on view at The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion, Cadwalader Park, Parkside Avenue, Trenton, through Jan. 6. Hours: Tues.-Sat. 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Sun. 1-4 p.m. (609) 989-3632; www.ellarslie.org
As a documentary painter, Robert Beck has captured scenes from operating rooms to 'Good Morning America.' His work is paired with Michelle Post's 'Shaker Furniture' at Ellarslie.
By Ilene Dube
Posted: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 8:07 PM EST
ROBERT Beck is one of those painters who creates a world you really want to be a part of. Take “Sunday Morning,” an oil portrait of a rosy cheeked, bright-eyed woman in a silk kimono, reclining in a wing chair. Now that would be a relaxing way to while away the first day of the week. It’s not just the situation, but the colors — the way the light shines brightly through a window, glinting off the bare limbs of a tree, and the warmth the subject must feel inside the reddish-purple robe.........
AT THE COMPLETE opposite end of the spectrum is the whimsical “Shaker Furniture” by Michelle Post. “Salty Tears” is a sculpture of, essentially, a tissue box, but the box is adorned with a remarkable collection of salt and pepper shakers: a lobster claw, a toucan, a milkmaid, a cow, a monkey, a cat atop an 8 ball, and even good old plain glass shakers. A cutout of the inside of the tissue box shows how it is lined with a completed jigsaw puzzle of a sailboat, and a doll of a sailor stands inside. There are even tissues coming out the top!
A room has been set up with Ms. Post’s furniture: two chairs encrusted with beads on top, salt-and-pepper shakers below; a table covered with jigsaw puzzles, Popsicle sticks and beads, and a martini glass made of Popsicle sticks and beads. Underneath the furniture is a rag rug with a fringe border made up of child-size socks in all colors and patterns. A lamp, too, has a shade made of Popsicle sticks, beads and tassels, and a crystal salt shaker serves as the finial. Shakers line the pedestal.
A china cabinet, painted orange and red, has a Popsicle stick and marble creation inside the glass doors, and one drawer is pulled open to reveal the jigsaw puzzle, Popsicle stick and bead work inside. On top are more shakers and a large bust.
The other two galleries at Ellarslie are filled with even more of this furniture, and with the dizzying quantity of shakers here, one can only wonder if there are any left on this planet that the artist did not use.
Until this exhibit, Ms. Post was mostly known for her representational woodcut and bronze birds. Twenty years ago Ms. Post’s daughter, Sara, went to a fair and bought a gift for her mother — vintage salt-and-pepper shakers in the form of fish. Thinking they were cute, Ms. Post decided to begin collecting shakers, but with one restriction — they had to be fish.
So she collected and collected, and then in an antique store one day fell in love with a set of Grandma and Grandpa donkey shakers. So, now, donkey shakers could also be included.
As with so many collections, it exploded beyond the original limits set, and Ms. Post found herself the owner of all kinds of shakers. “Being an artist, you collect things,” says Ms. Post, who is production director for the museum division of Seward Johnson’s Sculpture Foundation — she designs and installs Mr. Johnson’s exhibitions. “I love animals and vegetables, especially vegetables with people’s bodies,” she said, pointing to some on a chair. “For some reason, vegetable people really get to me.”
Several years ago, Ms. Post bought a collection of 1,500 pairs of shakers at an estate sale. From it she gleaned the shakers she considered special enough for her personal collection. Her husband, sculptor David Carrow — she refers to him as “the curmudgeon,” and there is a sculpture atop one of her china closets made in his image — suggested she make armatures shaped liked tables and chairs, glue the shakers to it and call it “Shaker Furniture.”
In the summer of 2006, when the Trenton After School Program asked artists to decorate chairs for its Chairs for Children fundraiser, Ms. Post had the chance to put her Shaker Furniture concept to use. Wanting to set the chair on a pedestal, she got the idea to set it on a box, faux painted to look like a packing crate with nails and stamped “Shaker Furniture Company, Trenton, N.J.”
From there, she went on to create all the furniture for this exhibit, including a china cabinet custom made for Museum Director Brian O. Hill and his wife, Linda — inside its drawer is a jigsaw puzzle of Santa Claus, Mr. Hill’s alter ego.
Ms. Post collects puzzles, beads, shakers and Popsicle sticks everywhere from flea markets to eBay. Ms. Post also collects Popsicle stick lamps from the 1950s, which is what inspired her own Popsicle lamps.
When Mr. Hill originally paired Ms. Post’s work with the exhibit of Mr. Beck, he was expecting her bronze birds. “Life is what happens when you’re making others plans,” he says, quoting John Lennon. He compares the pairing of Mr. Beck and Ms. Post to living in the 21st century: “Wherever you turn, there’s a serious side and a comic side, a wonderful vignette that makes you smile while something serious happens, a comedy on TV with a commercial for Pepto Bismol. It’s the yin and the yang, and you have to have both.”
POST-BECK is on view at The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion, Cadwalader Park, Parkside Avenue, Trenton, through Jan. 6. Hours: Tues.-Sat. 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Sun. 1-4 p.m. (609) 989-3632; www.ellarslie.org
Millville artist uses sculpture to add variety to arts district
By JOYCE VANAMAN For The Press of Atlantic City
Published: June 29, 2007
With a mischievous glint in her eye, sculptor Michelle Post said she named one of her Shaker furniture series "The Curmudgeon Cabinet" after her husband, Dave Carrow. Post and Carrow, in addition to having some of their work on display, were curators for the Highwater Sculpture Invitational being featured now through July 14 at the Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, or RRCA.
"You might call it a caricature of Dave," Post said. Although the head, which sits on top of the Martha Washington sewing cabinet, looks like a woodcarving, it's really made of Styrofoam. The cabinet is decorated with close to 100 salt and pepper shakers. "I bought a collection of around 1,400 pairs of salt and pepper shakers a few years ago," Post said. "The turkey is because Dave cooks the turkey at Thanksgiving; the sailor is a sea captain and Dave loves sailing. I'm the red she-devil."
"The sculptures are visual puns, with an added touch of written puns," Post said. The sculpture, "Lamp for All Seasonings," has a lampshade made of Popsicle sticks and marbles, which she called "a poor man's stained glass." There are watermelons, birds, dogs and a variety of "seasonings" on the lamp's base. The third sculpture, "Salty Tears," was a tissue holder to which Post added a base and put in a nautical puzzle and appropriate salt and pepper shakers. "I've loved puzzles since I was a child, and I line parts of the insides of the furniture with them," Post said.
For the Highwater Sculpture Invitational, "There are about 48 works by 13 artists, which show how much variety there is in sculpture," Post said. "This brings in another element of art to the arts district in a concentrated way -- from my whimsical salt and pepper shakers to "The Boatman" by Bill Logan." The latter is a very detailed, complex sculpture. Carolyne Krull, executive director of the arts center, said: "The arts community in Millville has been enriched by Michelle Post's presence. She has a rare combination of exceptional talent, training and creative energy."
Examples of Post's printmaking talents will be on display in Gallery 50 in Bridgeton from July 6 to July 28. In addition to the work that she does in her studio in Lawrence Township, Post, 52, spends four days a week in Trenton, where she is production director of the Sculpture Foundation-Museum Division. The work of world-renowned sculptor Seward Johnson is handled there, and Post is one of his employees.
Post's interest in art dates back to her childhood. She recalls making a marionette dragon for her teacher in the fifth grade and decorating bulletin boards for her sixth-grade teacher. "We had a very good art department at the high school I attended in Pompano Beach, Fla., and I still correspond with my art teacher, June Capstack," Post said. She was a good teacher -- one who nurtured talent, without stifling it."
Post moved back to New Jersey in 1974, but couldn't afford to go to college. "When I wanted to learn something, I went right to the source," Post said. "I've been very fortunate that all of my jobs as an adult have been art-related."
"As a child, I loved painting and drawing people, but later I discovered birds." Post said. She apprenticed with an outstanding wood engraver, and then worked on porcelain objects of art for Boehm, Cybis and Ispanky in Trenton. In 1986, Post went to work as a staff member of the Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture. "I got to use the facility after production work hours to do my own work and just had to pay for the materials," she said. "That's when I took up sculpture and got hooked." It's also where she met her husband, Dave.
The couple learned about Millville's arts district about three years ago and decided that they wanted to move from Trenton and be part of it. They wanted more property, however, than was available in the arts district and found what they needed in nearby Lawrence Township. "We each have separate studios," Post said.
Post serves on the RRCA Exhibitions Committee and is an enthusiastic supporter of the arts center and the arts district. "I hope we can attract more galleries and sell more art," Post said. "We want to raise the bar of the quality, and we want to introduce new artists to Millville -- for them to get to know Millville and for Millville to get to know them."
Published: June 29, 2007
With a mischievous glint in her eye, sculptor Michelle Post said she named one of her Shaker furniture series "The Curmudgeon Cabinet" after her husband, Dave Carrow. Post and Carrow, in addition to having some of their work on display, were curators for the Highwater Sculpture Invitational being featured now through July 14 at the Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, or RRCA.
"You might call it a caricature of Dave," Post said. Although the head, which sits on top of the Martha Washington sewing cabinet, looks like a woodcarving, it's really made of Styrofoam. The cabinet is decorated with close to 100 salt and pepper shakers. "I bought a collection of around 1,400 pairs of salt and pepper shakers a few years ago," Post said. "The turkey is because Dave cooks the turkey at Thanksgiving; the sailor is a sea captain and Dave loves sailing. I'm the red she-devil."
"The sculptures are visual puns, with an added touch of written puns," Post said. The sculpture, "Lamp for All Seasonings," has a lampshade made of Popsicle sticks and marbles, which she called "a poor man's stained glass." There are watermelons, birds, dogs and a variety of "seasonings" on the lamp's base. The third sculpture, "Salty Tears," was a tissue holder to which Post added a base and put in a nautical puzzle and appropriate salt and pepper shakers. "I've loved puzzles since I was a child, and I line parts of the insides of the furniture with them," Post said.
For the Highwater Sculpture Invitational, "There are about 48 works by 13 artists, which show how much variety there is in sculpture," Post said. "This brings in another element of art to the arts district in a concentrated way -- from my whimsical salt and pepper shakers to "The Boatman" by Bill Logan." The latter is a very detailed, complex sculpture. Carolyne Krull, executive director of the arts center, said: "The arts community in Millville has been enriched by Michelle Post's presence. She has a rare combination of exceptional talent, training and creative energy."
Examples of Post's printmaking talents will be on display in Gallery 50 in Bridgeton from July 6 to July 28. In addition to the work that she does in her studio in Lawrence Township, Post, 52, spends four days a week in Trenton, where she is production director of the Sculpture Foundation-Museum Division. The work of world-renowned sculptor Seward Johnson is handled there, and Post is one of his employees.
Post's interest in art dates back to her childhood. She recalls making a marionette dragon for her teacher in the fifth grade and decorating bulletin boards for her sixth-grade teacher. "We had a very good art department at the high school I attended in Pompano Beach, Fla., and I still correspond with my art teacher, June Capstack," Post said. She was a good teacher -- one who nurtured talent, without stifling it."
Post moved back to New Jersey in 1974, but couldn't afford to go to college. "When I wanted to learn something, I went right to the source," Post said. "I've been very fortunate that all of my jobs as an adult have been art-related."
"As a child, I loved painting and drawing people, but later I discovered birds." Post said. She apprenticed with an outstanding wood engraver, and then worked on porcelain objects of art for Boehm, Cybis and Ispanky in Trenton. In 1986, Post went to work as a staff member of the Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture. "I got to use the facility after production work hours to do my own work and just had to pay for the materials," she said. "That's when I took up sculpture and got hooked." It's also where she met her husband, Dave.
The couple learned about Millville's arts district about three years ago and decided that they wanted to move from Trenton and be part of it. They wanted more property, however, than was available in the arts district and found what they needed in nearby Lawrence Township. "We each have separate studios," Post said.
Post serves on the RRCA Exhibitions Committee and is an enthusiastic supporter of the arts center and the arts district. "I hope we can attract more galleries and sell more art," Post said. "We want to raise the bar of the quality, and we want to introduce new artists to Millville -- for them to get to know Millville and for Millville to get to know them."
True-to-life paired with the truly lively at Ellarslie
Friday, November 30, 2007
By JANET PURCELL
Special to the Times
Wedding realism with fantasy, the latest exhibit at the Trenton City Museum pairs paintings done in the past 10 years by Bucks County artist Robert Beck with linocut prints and "shaker" furniture by Millville artist Michelle Post.
As museum director Brian O. Hill points out, Beck is "very serious and Michelle has her tongue firmly planted in cheek."
Post, a production director for the Sculpture Foundation -- Museum Division, has an imagination that knows no bounds. Primarily a wood engraver, then a sculptor, she has collected 3,000 salt and pepper shakers and began producing lino cut prints of specific shaker pairs. From that, the "Shaker Furniture Company of Trenton, NJ" evolved. Her prints and quirky furniture displayed in this show are a perfect counterpoint to Beck's paintings.
Stepping into the first room of the exhibit can be unsettling. While Beck's serious paintings lining the walls, there's a living room setting where Post's purple/blue "Bubble Buster Chairs" with glass-pellet seats stand on a large braided rug whose circumference is tasseled with stuffed, brightly colored socks. Dozens of shakers are affixed to the chair backs and sides. Completing the scene is a painted china cabinet whose interior is constructed with Popsicle sticks and marbles. Tiny fairy lights poke through holes in the back wall and light it all up.
"Popsicle stick lamps were a big hobby in the '50s," Post says.
"Bless You" is a cabinet-size tissue dispenser. A crucifix stands on top and a lower shelf is lined with a puzzle of Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper." Opening the front of the unit to get a tissue, one will find two small figures inside that say "Bless You" when tipped over.
Centered under a hanging chandelier in the last room of the exhibit is a kooky table and chairs that Post says she pulled from the trash. She says her base materials are usually discarded "treasures." Her requirement, however, is that her chosen forms "have inherent value, gleaned from good design and stable construction, details that catch the eye and ample surfaces for shaker application."
The top and legs of this table are covered with segments of jig saw puzzles she put together then affixed under an epoxy coating. Yellow chairs decorated with brightly colored flat marbles on their sides and pepper and salt shakers on their backs complete the grouping.
Many of her pieces are perched on upended, faux-painted shipping crates that carry the Shaker Furniture Company of Trenton, NJ logo. These are so expertly painted even the painted-on nail heads look real.
Relaxing on one of Post's quirky chairs at her puzzle-topped table, Hill muses, "I sit here and look at (Beck's) 'Washington Crossing the Delaware.'
"This (exhibit) is very reflective of our society," says Hill. "Because of today's technology, our world is like that. We're pulled in all directions. This is what our society is -- you're having a great time and you blink and it's all very somber and you blink again and you're having a great time again."
And that's why this exhibit works so well. It's realism and fantasy. It's serious and fun. It's the great ying and yang.
By JANET PURCELL
Special to the Times
Wedding realism with fantasy, the latest exhibit at the Trenton City Museum pairs paintings done in the past 10 years by Bucks County artist Robert Beck with linocut prints and "shaker" furniture by Millville artist Michelle Post.
As museum director Brian O. Hill points out, Beck is "very serious and Michelle has her tongue firmly planted in cheek."
Post, a production director for the Sculpture Foundation -- Museum Division, has an imagination that knows no bounds. Primarily a wood engraver, then a sculptor, she has collected 3,000 salt and pepper shakers and began producing lino cut prints of specific shaker pairs. From that, the "Shaker Furniture Company of Trenton, NJ" evolved. Her prints and quirky furniture displayed in this show are a perfect counterpoint to Beck's paintings.
Stepping into the first room of the exhibit can be unsettling. While Beck's serious paintings lining the walls, there's a living room setting where Post's purple/blue "Bubble Buster Chairs" with glass-pellet seats stand on a large braided rug whose circumference is tasseled with stuffed, brightly colored socks. Dozens of shakers are affixed to the chair backs and sides. Completing the scene is a painted china cabinet whose interior is constructed with Popsicle sticks and marbles. Tiny fairy lights poke through holes in the back wall and light it all up.
"Popsicle stick lamps were a big hobby in the '50s," Post says.
"Bless You" is a cabinet-size tissue dispenser. A crucifix stands on top and a lower shelf is lined with a puzzle of Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper." Opening the front of the unit to get a tissue, one will find two small figures inside that say "Bless You" when tipped over.
Centered under a hanging chandelier in the last room of the exhibit is a kooky table and chairs that Post says she pulled from the trash. She says her base materials are usually discarded "treasures." Her requirement, however, is that her chosen forms "have inherent value, gleaned from good design and stable construction, details that catch the eye and ample surfaces for shaker application."
The top and legs of this table are covered with segments of jig saw puzzles she put together then affixed under an epoxy coating. Yellow chairs decorated with brightly colored flat marbles on their sides and pepper and salt shakers on their backs complete the grouping.
Many of her pieces are perched on upended, faux-painted shipping crates that carry the Shaker Furniture Company of Trenton, NJ logo. These are so expertly painted even the painted-on nail heads look real.
Relaxing on one of Post's quirky chairs at her puzzle-topped table, Hill muses, "I sit here and look at (Beck's) 'Washington Crossing the Delaware.'
"This (exhibit) is very reflective of our society," says Hill. "Because of today's technology, our world is like that. We're pulled in all directions. This is what our society is -- you're having a great time and you blink and it's all very somber and you blink again and you're having a great time again."
And that's why this exhibit works so well. It's realism and fantasy. It's serious and fun. It's the great ying and yang.
