Date: Fri 07-Jul-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDREA

Quick Words:

Chamberlain-twig-furniture

Full Text:

BOB CHAMBERLAINS CREATIVITY IS A NATURAL BENT, with photos (A1)

B Y A NDREA Z IMMERMANN

Travelling around the Adirondacks as a young man, Robert Chamberlain was

struck by the beauty of twig furniture crafted by residents for their own use.

Now, 60 years later, his interest has been rekindled and come to fruition in

the shape of straight back chairs, bar stools, curved-back love seat, and

glass topped table - all made of varying kinds of green wood he gathered this

past winter.

½I always admired it and at that time you couldn't buy that kind of

furniture,¾ said Mr Chamberlain, a carpenter/contractor by trade and former

owner of Chamberlain Construction Company in Newtown. ½When our ancestors came

over here, they didn't bring furniture... Twig furniture was made out of

necessity, not as a folk art.¾

This past Christmas, he saw a short article in Mother Earth magazine that

presented similar furniture that was heavier and without bark. And this

inspired him to research and try to create what he had seen decades ago in

upstate New York.

½Not much material was available,¾ said the woodworker. ½I saw photos of

heirlooms in books, with no dimensions, and had to work that out.¾

But soon he was fashioning his own twig pieces - some chairs had straight arms

and others bent, some were braced differently, and all were made with a medley

of woods. And though each seat is unique, it is similar in style to the other

pieces he has created for his large deck.

½With this furniture, you make do with what you've got,¾ said Mr Chamberlain.

½You visualize where it will go before you cut it down. `Oh, there's an arm,

there's a back.' The fun of it is creativity.¾

The craftsman has used maple, dogwood, yellow poplar, and just about any wood

that has an ½interesting curve¾ to it. One leg of his loveseat is an ash

branch that had a wisteria vine wrapped tightly around it.

½Certain woods are more bendable than others,¾ but any green wood can be used

in some fashion if braced properly, he said. ½You can bend hickory when it's

green, but once it dries, you need a carbide saw to cut it!¾

Mr Chamberlain began gathering wood this January. He decided he wanted the

bark to stay on the twigs, so he cut the wood green before the leaves came

out. Not only has he experimented with design - he is particularly pleased

with a glass topped twig coffee table - but also with structure. Some pieces

are nailed together and others are joined by a tenon and mortise.

½I use an extra dry tenon with the wet wood, which shrinks as it dries. You

will never get it apart,¾ he said. ½But nails are a lot faster than mortise

and tenon!¾

His next project is a twig bed, which he will give as a wedding present to one

of his sons and future daughters-in-law. Having worked in wood all his life,

he said he knows what tools are available and how to apply them. A beginner

might have a little trouble in fashioning and bracing such furniture, he

added.

¾It takes patience. No two pieces are alike,¾ said Mr Chamberlain. ½It's

artistry; it's creativity.¾

Linking Artistic Expression

Mr Chamberlain likes many forms of art. Years ago he took banjo lessons at the

New Haven Institute of Music, Bridgeport branch. ½I took 30 lessons at 50

cents a lesson. And at the end, they gave you a banjo,¾ he said. ½I've been

playing forever - probably 60 years.¾

In the late 1950s, he founded the Easton Banjo Society, of which he is still

an active member. The group grew from the original four members - a fiddler,

and two other banjo players - who were asked to perform in a minstrel show at

Easton Congregational Church, to its current roll of 15. Mr Chamberlain has

played with the group locally, as well as at the White House in the early

'80s, and at the celebration for the refurbishing of the Statue of Liberty.

His next performances will be July 13 at the Westport Italian Festival, and

August 26 at the Durham, Conn., Fair. The Easton Banjo Society is also a

regular feature of Newtown's Labor Day Parade.

Although practice, performances, and family commitments take up a good deal of

time, he always manages to find a few hours each day to spend in his workshop

creating twig furniture. And there is a correlation he sees between his two

forms of artistic expression.

½Music is very creative, anyway. No two banjo players will play the same piece

the same way. Each piece is an interpretation ,¾ he said. Thus it is with twig

furniture - no two craftsmen will make the same presentation, nor will any two

pieces by the same artist be exactly alike.

There has been so much interest in his furniture, the 80-year-old said he has

given some consideration to making pieces to sell.

½I don't want to spoil it, though,¾ he added, thoughtfully. ½It's so much fun

now!¾

GENNEWS

HIGH COURT UPHOLDS STATE JURISDICTION ON INDIAN LAND

HARTFORD (AP) - The state's high court has ruled that the state has legal

jurisdiction to prosecute Indians for crimes committed on federally recognized

Indian land.

The high court reversed an appellate court ruling that stemmed from the 1991

arrest of Lake Spears on the Mashantucket Pequot reservation, following a

domestic dispute at his home on that reservation.

Mr Spears, a Narragansett Indian, was arrested by state police and charged

with two counts of assault on a peace officer, interfering with a peace

officer and disorderly conduct.

In releasing the decision Monday, the state Supreme Court justices said a 1983

act of Congress, known as the Settlement Act, conferred criminal jurisdiction

to the state without requiring tribal consent.

Also, the tribe's own ordinances, enacted after the Settlement Act, ½clearly

indicate that the tribe acknowledged the state's acquisition of

jurisdiction...over crimes committed on the reservation.¾

C. Robert Satti, the former New London state's attorney who presented the

state's case in April, based his argument on the Settlement Act.

½People on the reservation, whether they be Native Americans or non-Indians

are entitled to the protection under the laws of the state of Connecticut,¾

Satti said.

After his arrest, Mr Spears moved to dismiss the charges, claiming the trial

court lacked jurisdiction because the incident occurred on the reservation and

involved an Indian. The trial court denied the motion and Mr Spears pleaded no

contest to the charges on the condition he had the right to appeal the

specific decision on the motion to dismiss.

The appellate court reversed the trial court's ruling in the motion to

dismiss, concluding that the Settlement Act did not give the state

jurisdiction without tribal consent. Mr Spears is currently out on bond.

Officials at the Mashantucket reservation did not return calls Tuesday from

The Associated Press seeking comment.

New London State's Attorney Kevin Kane said the high court clarified an issue

that was a major concern in the region.

½Fortunately, we haven't had a serious crime occur while this crime was in

limbo,¾ Kane said.

Meanwhile, the gambling compact between the state and the Mashantucket Pequots

gives the state jurisdiction over any crimes that might occur at the Foxwoods

Resort Casino on the Mashantucket reservation. Casino-related crimes were

never in question, Kane said.