Laurels for Lamb

Dimensions of the past take a new form.If art is in the details, David Lamb’s work is truly a very high art. His creations combine the skills of a master furniture maker with the craftsmanship of a wood carver, tempered by the insights of a true artist. His work is more than the culmination of 35 years experience, it is a synergistic combination of historical re-interpretation, contemporary vision and exquisite detail work.

Expert joinery of complex geometrical shapes is a skill gained from his early apprenticeship with cabinetmaker Alejanro del al Cruz, a neighbor who saw his potential as a young man. The carved details, including dimensional plant forms twining around furniture legs, reveal his skill as an artist.

His workshop in Canterbury is within the shadow of Canterbury Shaker Village. He actually lived there in his formative years with his stepfather, Bud Thompson, as Thompson transitioned the village from home of the last living Shakers to a museum. Along the way he absorbed practical Shaker sensibilities.

Recently Lamb was nominated by Governor John Lynch and confirmed by the Executive Council to serve as N.H. Artist Laureate until March 2012. He hopes to help promote the state as a international source for finely crafted furniture and other traditional arts.

Lamb is a founding member of the N.H. Furniture Masters, established in 1992. Their annual gala auction fundraiser will be held Sept. 12 at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester. Lamb’s work and that of 17 other remarkable furniture masters can be previewed now at the N.H. Historical Society in Concord.

– Susan Laughlin