Arts on Main to display work of furniture maker
 |
Andrew Pitts of Heathsville developed his taste for furniture making when he was an ensign in the Navy. During his 30-year career in the Navy he was a nuclear trained warfare officer.
He started making furniture for his house and continued during his Navy career when he wasn’t at sea. In 1979, when he was in Philadelphia, he found a book by James Kernov called “The Fine Art of Cabinet Making.” This book was the only available source of the latest furniture-making techniques at the time and Pitts found reading this book was like a religious experience. Today, most of studio furniture makers, including Pitts, are disciples of Kernov.
Studio furniture makers create one-of-a-kind or limited edition furniture. Pitts probably is one of the best examples of this type of furniture maker since he monitors every step of the creative and building process from kiln-drying the wood using sunlight and a dehumidifying chamber, to creating a design which fulfills the clients needs. He often will use the client’s wood or wood he has harvested from others.
His studio, which is about 1,300-square-feet, is on the top floor of a building near his house. It has 10-foot ceilings, windows all around for daylight, and the machines are arranged like the weapons on the deck of a battleship—starting with planers, joiners, circular saws and belt sanders on one end to hand planes, drills and files at the other end next to the room where he does his staining. Underneath his studio is a vacuum system that sucks all the sawdust from whichever machine he is using as well as several rooms of dried wood ready to be made into furniture.
 |
The end product from a studio furniture maker is completely unique and is of museum quality because of all the care that has gone into creating that piece of furniture from proper wood humidity, the selection of compatible and visually enhancing wood varieties, to the formula for the stain or varnish used to give it the final finish.
Pitts recently was awarded an honorable mention in the 19th annual Custom Woodworking Business Design Portfolio Awards competition for his sideboard buffet in the residential furniture freestanding category.
Gloucester Arts on Main in Gloucester Court House will have a reception for Pitts on Friday, January 6, starting at 6 p.m. His work will be on display for the month of January.
“We are excited to be able to feature this unique woodworking artist and look forward to being an active part of opening a new marketplace for special craftsman,” said an Arts on Main spokesperson.
