STOW — ”In the furniture world, there’s the artists and there’s the mechanics,” said woodworker Mark Del Guidice. “The mechanics will typically stay with traditional furniture, and they’ll do exquisite work. The artists want to break the rules.”
Del Guidice a studio furniture artist, is a rule-breaker. He fills his tables, cabinets, chairs, and wall-mounted sculptures with unlikely juxtapositions, mixing up woods and surface treatments. His solo exhibition, “Into the Woods,” is at Fitchburg Art Museum through Sept. 8.
Where to find him: www.markedwood.com
Age: 69
Originally from: New Rochelle, N.Y.
Lives in: Concord
Making a living: Del Guidice is a full-time artist, building commissioned pieces and exhibiting his work. “I haven’t gotten a paycheck in 37 years,” he said.
Studio: The artist’s 2,000-square-foot studio in an old mill building along the Assabet River is divided by a wood storage area. He does bench work in the back. The front is the wood shop.
“I can cut, I can resaw things, cut them to finer dimensions. I have a very large table saw for cutting really thick pieces of wood. I got a mortise here for joinery,” he said. “I have 17 stationary machines.”
The space is adorned with inspirations and design ideas: a dolphin’s skull, a fire hydrant, a wasp’s nest.
How he started: When he was at Boston State College studying psychology in the 1970s, his girlfriend’s sister and her husband built a house in Westwood.
“I helped him clear the lot of all the trees,” Del Guidice said. “I was there the whole summer, and we built the house. That is the summer I woke up to my hands.”
What he makes: The artist make jaunty, elegant use of curves in tables, chairs, cabinets, and wall sculptures. Each piece is a canvas for his carvings (hieroglyphs, Morse code) and other adornments, including milk paint.
“Going forward, I want to create more wall pieces that incorporate found objects,” he said. “Where I juxtapose some fine craftsmanship against something a little more raw.”
Trademark: Del Guidice carves his daughter’s name, Ari, into every piece.
How he works: The artist unfurls a 4-foot-tall paper roll and draws his furniture ideas. Sometimes he does it standing up, with the paper against a board.
“I’ll do it by hand and see how it feels: ‘This feels good. This proportion is good.’ And I’ll lay it down on the table, and straighten it out a bit,” he said. “I’ll make a model, see what I think it looks like. Then I’ll go back and clean it up. When I make the piece, I allow myself to make changes along the way.”
“Sculpture is a bit more ad lib,” he said.
Advice for artists: Del Guidice practices the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi. “All things are impermanent, incomplete, and imperfect,” he said. “When you think like that, it allows for mistakes, or not finishing something, or for saying it is finished. And an understanding that it’s really not going to last forever.”
LOST IN THE WOODS: MARK DEL GUIDICE
At Fitchburg Art Museum, 185 Elm St., Fitchburg, through Sept. 8. www.fitchburgartmuseum.org/mark-del-guidice-lost-in-the-woods
Cate McQuaid can be reached at catemcquaid@gmail.com. Follow her on Instagram @cate.mcquaid.
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