Resources
Bungendore Wood Works Gallery prides itself in the level of service it offers its visitors and clients. The Gallery makes freely available information on a wide range of subject matters, including articles and editorial comment, descriptions of timbers, recommendations for finishing and care of product.
There are also links to woodworking schools and New Artist and Media information kits.
Craft Arts: 30 Years in the Making
Monday 27 August 2012
We just completed a full page ad for the upcoming Craft Arts International. It was exciting to introduce the 2013 exhibition program celebrating our 30 year anniversary.
Come ride with us through 2013 as we present an exhibition program that delivers on our promise – to offer our space to encourage woodworkers and fine artists, past, present and future, to display their workmanship, skills and ideas, whether they work with wood or on canvas, paper or board.
Read moreArriving in Bungendore from Manhattan, a journeyman in the making, with a desire to show wood works to everyone, I created a gallery in 1983 for woodworkers to display their works; where diversity is encouraged and fine craftsmanship essential.
Australian Wood Review: Wood work courses and Schools
Thursday 26 July 2012
The Australian Wood Review has an extensive list of Wood work courses and schools. Click on the link below for more information.
http://woodreview.com.au/woodwork-courses/
Read moreGet beachside in Bungendore for a swell time
Sunday 19 February 2012
February 19, 2012, MICHAEL INMAN Canberra Times
THE END of summer may be in sight, but Canberrans still have the chance to hit the beach today.
The venue may be kilometres from the ocean, but all the fun of the coast is on show at the Beached in Bungendore art installation.
The Bungendore Wood Works Gallery will today be converted into a beach, complete with sand, surfboards, barbecue, board shorts, Hawaiian shirts and surf music.
Highlights of the day include a historic surfboard display, beach made of sand from Stockton, near Newcastle, dance demonstrations and lessons on how to do the surfers stomp, the twist and the limbo.
It will be a nostalgic day for gallery exhibitions co-ordinator Stan d'Argeavel. Mr d'Argeavel joined the surf culture as an youngster in Newcastle in 1959 and has amassed a large collection of surfboards over the past five decades - 16 of which will be on display today.
Carbon and Wood
Friday 03 February 2012
A new television commercial airing at the moment highlights the fact that wood stores carbon and that this is an environmental positive.
Read more about wood and carbon
Read moreKunos Natural Oil
Friday 03 February 2012
Here at the Gallery we use KUNOS Natural Oil Sealer No 244 as the finish on all of the Gallery’s product. Kunos is made from natural safe ingredients that do not pose any danger to personal health or the environment and is suitable for treating timber food preparation utensils such as bench tops, salad bowls etc. Kunos is a waterproof product to allow for washing of utensils. We use the same finish on furniture, sculptures and other items found in the Gallery that are made of wood.
Individual makers may use other finishes such as two-pack lacquers etc. and you will find some of those are listed here where applicable.
The gallery has a continuous supply of the pre-prepared oil in small jars for sale.
Read moreMakers mark
Friday 07 October 2011
Recently we have been focused on documenting what we do and how we do it. To help with this we have designed and produced samples of a "Maker's Mark" that will be attached in an inconspicuous place to furniture designed and hand crafted by David Mac Laren Artistic Director. Check out the samples above laser engraved by the Canberra Trophy Centre .
Read moreCraft Valuation
Friday 07 October 2011
Meredith Hinchliffe
Meredith Hinchliffe is a freelance arts advocate and writer living and working in Canberra. She began work at the Craft Association of the ACT in 1978 and has been actively involved in the crafts since that time. She is approved to value Australian ceramics glass textiles jewellery leatherwork wooden objects and furniture from 1970 for the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program.
Meredith has been a strong supporter of Bungendore Wood Works Gallery since it opened and has written many reviews and articles about exhibitions and exhibiting artists.
Email Meredith: meredith@canberra.teknet.net.au
Read moreOn the Making, Recording and Provenance of a Piece
Friday 07 October 2011
Presented to the Studio Furniture 2010 Wood Conference - Towards Professionalism. This is a fictional Story of a 'best practice' chain of events leading to a complete provenance of a commissioned piece of fine furniture.
This is my story to date.
I was made in the late 1970s by a highly respected furniture designer/maker whose name is Billie, as a commission for a family whose name is Cash. The family dealt with a commercial gallery that Billie exhibited with and sold work through regularly. They had seen a piece of his work in an important group exhibition, similar to the one we will see tonight.
Read moreTimber combines knockout looks with ethical kudos
Monday 11 July 2011
In last weekends Sydney Morning Herald Spectrum there was an interesting article about the ethics and aesthetics of wood that we thought was particularly relevant given all the recent debate about carbon pricing.
Read more"Timber combines knockout looks with ethical kudos, writes HELEN GREENWOOD.
Trees are nature's carbon storage. So says Peter Maddison, the architect and host of LifeStyle Channel's Grand Designs Australia, in a recent television ad. By using wooden products made of sustainable timber, we help tackle climate change.
The logic goes like this: growing trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, emit oxygen and store carbon. The carbon remains locked in the wood for the life of the piece of timber until it rots, decays or is burnt. By planting trees and using wood rather than other materials, we invest in a long-term way to sink and store carbon for Australia.
Keeping the record straight
Monday 30 May 2011
As part of the Gallery’s upcoming 30th Anniversary Celebrations in 2013, I am about to begin documenting my past furniture pieces and other woodwork. The intention here is threefold: firstly we wish to establish an asset register of all the past and current work produced by me for the Gallery; secondly, we have recently undertaken a role of encouraging ourselves and our contributing makers and artists to adopt a regime of full and comprehensive provenance procedures to comply with a “best practice” situation regarding specific works; and thirdly, as part of the 30th year celebrations I will be publishing a book of my work in conjunction with a general history of the Gallery’s activities, buildings and significant events and exhibitions since its inception in 1983.
Over the next year or two, but beginning as soon as practicable and with the permission of furniture owners, I would like to identify, source and document as many of my past significant pieces as possible.
Read moreSignatures Review
Friday 17 October 2008
SIGNATURES – 25th Anniversary Exhibition 1983-2008, Bungendore Wood Works Gallery, Kings Highway, Bungendore, until November 19, 2008. Open daily 9am to 5pm.
A signature is defined as a person’s name or initials, as a mark or significant appearance. The title of this exhibition has been chosen deliberately – eleven fine woodworkers, most of whom who have been associated with Bungendore Wood Works Gallery throughout its existence, make significant and exceptional work – and generally it is recognisable.
Bungendore Wood Works has a strong altruistic streak to its commercial activities. All those who work there are committed to bringing the narrative of the making of a piece – small or large – to the purchaser. Who made it, where it was made, what timber is it made from: these questions form part of the story behind a work. The Gallery is imbuing the work of its makers with the notion of a ‘signature’.
Read moreStudio Furniture 2008
Friday 23 May 2008
Craft Australia 716 craft·design ISSN:1835-1832 Issue 029 April 2008
Studio Furniture 2008 was initiated by David MacLaren, Artistic Director of Bungendore Wood Works Gallery, as a way to foster the production of unique pieces of furniture by makers and to highlight the important role of commercial galleries. Stan d'Argeavel presents an overview of the competition and exhibition with images of the winning works.
Articles - 31 March 2008
Studio Furniture 2008
Things of Tone and Wood
Thursday 13 March 2008
Canberra Times, Times 2, Friday 25th January, 2008
by Ron Cerabona
Furniture can be regarded as simply functional: somewhere to, literally, hang your hat, or put up your feet, or eat dinner, or just sink down in front of the television after a hard day at work. But the best of it is more than that. It can also be a work of art, something to admire in and of itself.
Bungendore Wood Works Gallery wanted to do something to encourage this latter perception and to give craftspeople a chance to display their talents, with the opening exhibition in their 25th anniversary year, Studio Furniture 2008, which opens tomorrow.
Read moreCelebrating Two Decades of Fine Woodworking in Australia
Thursday 13 March 2008
Craft Arts International Magazine #60 2004
by Terry Martin
In 1977 a young furniture maker named David Mac Laren arrived in Australia from New York. He had a fulfilling life as a furniture maker in America, but he became disillusioned with pervasive materialism and came to Australia to try to establish a more meaningful life. Like many at that time, he dreamt of self-sufficiency, so he bought rural land near the village of Bungendore, 30 minutes from Canberra, and set up his workshop. Eventually Mac Laren decided to open a gallery because he wanted a place to display his furniture and pieces by other furniture makers. It was a simple desire that gave no hint of the success and expansion of the coming years.
Read moreThe Art of Relationship
Thursday 13 March 2008
Canberra Review/Canberra Times, February 12, 2000
by Stan d'Argeavel
Its a long, long way from the Off-Broadway theatre stage to the quiet, secluded streets and lanes of Bungendore village and an even further distance from successful playwright to fine wood worker and gallery director. Bungendore Wood Works Gallery owner and artistic director David Mac Laren revels in just that.
“When I moved from New York City to Bungendore I wanted a place to display my furniture as well as the work of other furniture makers in the region.” says David.
And it’s this relationship with his designer/makers that David now finds the most challenging and enjoyable facet of running one of this country’s finest mixed media galleries - all in a sleepy little village in the Southern Tablelands of NSW.
Read moreDon Burrows invites you to Stop, Look and Liste
Wednesday 05 March 2008
Capital Magazine Issue Twenty Five November - December 2006
by Stan d'Argeavel
A brief look around the walls of Australian jazz musician Don Burrows' studio reveals an impressive portrait of success and recognition in the music business. Looking further reveals the fact that a second artistic medium pervades his creative life.
Burrows is equally at home in the photographic darkroom as he is on the stage. To be blessed with a talent at a level few artists attain is one thing, to carry that talent to a second artistic medium is reserved for a few gifted individuals.
Don Burrows has been treading the boards as a professional musician for 65 years. In 1973 the twice-named Australian Living Treasure received the first Gold Record ever awarded to an Australian jazz musician, instigated the first Jazz studies program in the Southern Hemisphere at the NSW Conservatorium of Music and was awarded an MBE.
Read more