September 27, 2024 – January 8, 2025
Visit and experience a presentation of extraordinary cabinets, credenzas, and casework as Best Case Scenarios opens at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship!
Best Case Scenarios, a survey of contemporary casework, will be on display at the Messler Gallery of the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, in Rockport, ME, from September 27, 2024 – January 8, 2025.
The exhibition was curated by a trio of furniture makers from across the country: Owain Harris (Gonic, NH), Laura Mays (Fort Bragg, CA), and Brian Reid (Rockland, ME). These makers and educators find casework to be fertile ground for creative expression and strove to show a wide cross section of work being produced today. “From traditional to contemporary, sculptural to minimal, whimsical to functional, we wanted to include it all. The only rules were that the design had to be exemplary, and the craftsmanship top-notch,” says Harris. “The balance [of casework] between service and objecthood is endlessly intriguing,” adds Mays, “Ultimately we wanted to show the spectrum of possibilities rather than premise one approach over another.” In light of the Center’s educational mission, Reid points out that what he wanted most is “to show students who have mastered basic construction techniques the incredible variety of ways they can strive to embellish their work.”




























