The art of furniture: Ann Arbor exhibit spotlights Adrian woodworking school’s grads

This story is part of a series about arts and culture in Washtenaw County. It is made possible by the Ann Arbor Art Center, the Ann Arbor Summer Festival, Destination Ann Arbor, Larry and Lucie Nisson, and the University Musical Society.

You probably don’t usually think of art as something you might sit on.

But that’s precisely why the Adrian-based Sam Beauford Woodworking Institute (SBWI) has teamed up with the Ann Arbor Art Center (A2AC) to present an exhibition called “Michigan Contemporary Craft,” running Aug. 29-Oct. 5.

“That is the whole goal, right there: Bridging these two different cultural expectations that society has, and putting it out there and saying, ‘Hey, [functional objects and art] can be the same thing,'” says SBWI co-founder and exhibit curator Luke Barnett. “Our students are certainly artists. And although we are a trade school, come down and look at the furniture yourself, and tell us if it’s not art in the purest form.”

Barnett and his partner, Dena Koehn, founded SBWI as a nonprofit in 2017. Its reputation and applicant pool have since exploded. The school offers beginner classes, as well as two-day and five-day continuing education courses, for which attendees often travel from all over the country and the world. The upcoming exhibition marks A2AC’s second collaboration with SBWI, which pitched in last year when a replica of a Notre Dame Cathedral truss was raised on Liberty St. in Ann Arbor.

“That’s when I met [A2AC Executive Director] Jenn [Queen], … and we talked about this idea” for a woodworking exhibition, Barnett says. “Then she reached out to me and said, ‘Let’s do it.’”

The exhibition will feature about 30 pieces – mostly high-end furniture (tables, dressers, chairs, etc.) built by SBWI graduates, some of whom are now instructors.

“I hand-selected … the best representations of the craft and the future of craft,” Barnett says. “Obviously, they have very high-quality work, but they also embody the attitude I believe is needed to bridge that skilled trades and art stigma that people have.”

SBWI’s crown jewel may be its one-year accredited college program, which now attracts 250 applicants to compete for 24 available spots annually. SBWI was one of only 11 institutions recently named a School of Distinction by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges. (SBWI is now taking steps to expand, and thus accommodate more students in the near future.)

“[Woodworking schools] are pretty rare, especially at the level that we do it,” Barnett says, noting that he can only name a couple of other accredited woodworking trade schools in the U.S. “… People are starting to realize that working with your hands and creating things is very rewarding. It’s very respected and very much needed.”

Indeed, before launching SBWI, Barnett had been a wildly successful, award-winning furniture maker who’d earned an international reputation for his Windsor chairs.

“When you say the word ‘woodworking,’ people typically imagine, like, their grandpa in the basement, making knickknacks,” Barnett says. “The goal is to break that stigma and say, ‘No, this is a viable career path.’ And in fact, it’s a huge part of our economy in Michigan.”

Barnett cites the Michigan Department of Natural Resources’ 2023 valuation of Michigan’s forest products industry: $26.5 billion, a number slightly larger than that of the state’s cannabis industry ($3 billion) and that year’s state education budget ($23 billion) combined.

“People have no idea about that,” Barnett says. “And if you think about it, it makes sense. I mean, I don’t know what you’re sitting on right now, but I can guarantee that if you look around, most of what you’re seeing is made out of wood or forest products. … Your floor, your cabinets, your table. It’s a huge industry.”

If you search Barnett’s name online, you’ll see several examples of his functional art. But if you search for SBWI’s namesake, you’re not likely to find much.

Why? Because Sam Beauford (Barnett) was the name of a beloved dog Barnett once had.

“It’s kind of an inside joke that you have to dig for,” says Barnett, who adds that he didn’t want to make SBWI all about him by giving it his own name. “… In hindsight, there are probably better names we could have come up with, but it’s fine. We’ve now earned this reputation throughout the world as one of the top furniture-making programs, and I think … when people actually learn what it is, they kind of like the name.”

More information on “Michigan Contemporary Craft” is available here.