Iowa Artisans Gallery presents work by David Puls and Jocelyn Chateauvert in a show entitled “Side by Side.” Puls and Chateauvert create furniture and accessories, plus sculptural handmade paper lighting. The show opens during the downtown Iowa City Gallery Walk, June 3, and runs through July 18, 2005. The artists will be in attendance.

Papermaking has been at the core of Chateauvert’s creative work for many years. She incorporated her papers in unusual ways, first with sterling silver jewelry and later into more sculptural yet functional forms that are lit from within. Currently a resident of Charleston, SC, Jocelyn Chateauvert was raised and educated in Iowa City. At the University of Iowa she studied Spanish, dance and design, earning a BA. Her MFA from UI emphasized metalworking, handmade paper and sculpture. After teaching in London at Middlesex Polytechnic and establishing herself as an artist in San Francisco, she returned to Iowa where she met her husband David Puls, a contemporary furniture maker. Chateauvert is a current recipient of a South Carolina Arts Commission Craft Fellowship as well as a finalist for two 2004 Niche Magazine Awards. She has been featured in various publications, including Ornament, American Craft, Metalsmith and American Style. She participated in the prestigious Smithsonian Craft Show earlier this year.

Awards in numerous national student competitions encouraged David Puls to pursue his vision of furniture made from alternative materials. “I made the decision to forego working in traditional hardwoods and instead chose to use the new engineered wood products available. These included plywoods, particleboard, laminated veneer and oriented strand lumbers. Each material is unique and allows great freedom in form and structure. My furniture designs grow from understanding both the structural properties and the aesthetic possibilities. The imagery I use is a reflection of my surroundings, subject to change, and not intended to be taken too seriously.”

Puls exhibits nationally through the American Craft Council and in private galleries. Recent exhibitions include “Rocking Chairs” at the Kentucky Museum of Arts and Design, and the 35th annual Celebration of American Crafts, at the Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven, CT, as well as numerous one-of-a-kind furniture shows. He is also an Iowa native.

 

Jocelyn Chateauvert