Today we’d like to introduce you to R. Michael Hardy.
Michael, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I have always had a strong visual arts background. That continued even as my interest and life turned to music starting in junior high school and continuing through thirty years as a high school band director. I have always loved wood, and toward the end of my full-time teaching career I began returning to that visual art background through woodworking. Now that I am retired, I have been able to expand my work and grow from a hobbyist into a fairly successful fine woodworker.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I am a fine woodworker with a specialty niche in music items. While I build tables, small cabinets, and boxes, I also build music stands and conductor podiums. Woodworking is somewhat unique as an art form in that while there are some that sculpt in wood, most woodworking is first of all functional. A table, chair, frame, box, cabinet, or door is first seen as a functional piece of our life, and as such a woodworker must first be a craftsman. A beautiful chair that collapses when sat upon is not artistic woodworking! The woodworker that brings into his craft the things that any artist uses – a sense of line, form, motion, color – elevates the work beyond the functionality of the piece. That is why I do what I do. I have little to no desire to build a table that simply fits the need for a table. My table needs to catch your attention and most importantly, fit visually into the space where it lives.
My inspiration is simply the beauty of wood. In fact, I have more than one board floating around my shop that I cannot bring myself to cut until I can find the perfect piece for it to become. So that is something I hope that people will always take from my work – the wood is the star and that it is first the beauty of the wood that draws your attention. I use simple lines and forms without elaborate embellishment or carving for that reason.
Another important aspect of my woodworking as art is that it is important to me that a piece works in the space where it lives. That is why I actually prefer to work from commission rather than produce a piece in isolation. I want to see the room and the other things in the room and draw on them as inspiration for color, line, etc. That is also why I really enjoy my collaboration with Cynthia Levine (www.levinefineart.com) on our tables. Cynthia is a resin artist, and I really enjoy making my design draw on her work to create a table where everything just looks right, sometimes with spectacular results.
How can artists connect with other artists?
Be involved with the artist community in your area. In addition to being a member of a woodworker’s club, I am a member and regular vendor in a local art market (the First Saturday Arts Market). It has allowed me to connect with many other Houston artists. Also visit the local small galleries and studios, where you are much more likely to find the artists themselves.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I work out of my home, and because of that do not carry much inventory of larger pieces. You can find me on my website (www.woodworkingbanddirector.com) and social media pages, and at various markets around the Houston area. I am a regular at the First Saturday Arts Market in the Heights, and other shows are listed on my website homepage. Support me as you would any artist – buy something! Seriously, I do take commissions and love to visit with people at the markets about my work.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.woodworkingbanddirector.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rmichaelhardywoodworking/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodworkingbanddirector/
Image Credit:
All photos by R. Michael Hardy
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