During a reception for the 24th Annual Texas Furniture Makers Show on Saturday, November 11, judges Miriam Carpenter, a designer and artist from Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Clark Kellogg, a furniture maker based in Houston; and Jason Thigpen, owner of Texas Heritage Woodworks in Menard, Texas awarded over $8,000 in cash and prizes to furniture makers for their fine crafted furniture pieces on display at Kerr Arts & Cultural Center in Kerrville.
Among the winners in this year’s show was M.L. Bolton from Belton, Texas who was awarded Best in Texas – Traditional Style Furniture Category for Outstanding Design and Craftsmanship.
“M.L. (Mancel) Bolton has been showing at the Texas Furniture Makers Show for years and his exceptional craftsmanship and attention to design and detail have won him several awards. I was not surprised to see that his beautiful ‘Gentlemen’s Valet’ earned him another top award this year,” said Lanza Teague, KACC executive director.
The purpose of the Texas Furniture Makers Show is to present the work of Texas craftsmen to the public in a formal gallery atmosphere, improve the quality and skill of Texas furniture making by formal consultation and by example, and to bring national attention to the one-of-a-kind handmade works of art created by Texas furniture makers.
As in the past decades, a Call for Nominations was issued to professional furniture designer/makers across the entire state of Texas this past June. After all nominations were received, a nine-member panel reviewed all submissions and selected the top furniture pieces for the 2023 Texas Furniture Maker Show and Sale.
This year, only 47 pieces of furniture were juried into the show from all of the nominations.
Furniture was nominated for five major categories: Traditional, Contemporary, Art, Texas Style, and Emerging Artist (for makers with less than two years’ experience). Then three well known judges examined each piece closely and then presented awards based upon their judging criteria and parameters of 40 percent design and 60 percent craftsmanship/finishes.
The Texas Furniture Makers Show will be on exhibit at the Kerr Arts and Cultural Center’ s Art Gallery through December 15th. Gallery hours are 10-4, Tuesday – Saturday. KACC is located at 228 Earl Garrett in Kerrville. For more information, contact (830) 895-2911 or visit https://www.texasfurnituremakersshow.org/.
