Drawer detail of the table from the entry hall of the David Gamble house, Pasadena, CA, 1908-09.
One more guest blog entry before I finally get my butt back in gear and start writing something now and then. This post is from my friend Darrell Peart. Darrell is a furniture maker located in Seattle. It won’t surprise any of you to learn that like me, Darrell worships at the altar of Greene & Greene. One of only a handful of truly excellent woodworkers who make furniture in the Greene & Greene style, Darrell prefers to make pieces of his own design drawing heavily from the Greenes’ design vocabulary. The result is a collection of stunningly beautiful furniture that you can view at Darrell’s website. Here are some thoughts he was kind enough to put together for me on the topic of artistic evolution.

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Proficiency of any skill or talent is achieved by emulating the master. This is how things have always been and how things will always be. Every creative endeavor owes its existence to that which preceded it. If this were not so, every artist would be compelled to invent art itself: there would be no starting point or any foundation to build upon. Without a starting point art would simply not exist.

The Greene’s mimicked those who came before them, with much of their earlier work being more imitation than original. With experience though, they became masters themselves. The style they developed brought together elements borrowed not only from their predecessors, but diverse sources within their sphere of contact. As master designers, the Greene’s were able to fuse seemingly unrelated elements into a unified body. The Swiss Chalet and the Asian cloud-lift, under their skillful direction spoke the same language. The Greene’s were supreme masters of their creative environment.

Art, at its most rudimentary level is nothing more than imitation. An artist sees something and is inspired to make a likeness. That something can be anything the universe has to offer. The ways in which an artist’s inspirations are presented and arranged is what makes it unique. A style is born when the artist’s vision becomes a cohesive unit – when there is a common DNA connecting all their work.

Art is not meant to be static. It is under constant change. The creative vision is unceasingly restless. The Greene’s work continually evolved throughout their careers. Each new project saw the introduction of new design elements which blended seamlessly with the existing ones. These new elements were things that appeared within the Greene’s field of vision – things they came in contact with either through random chance or focused study.

If Charles and Henry were alive today, and engaged in design, their work would have moved on, bringing in new elements and ideas from their changing environment. Their creative vision would not have been static. It is even possible that their work would not be recognizable as what we consider Greene & Greene.

The truly creative spirit is forever restless: it is an essential part of the mix that makes for a great artist and master. Truly emulating the work and spirit of the Greene’s is not found in producing exact replicas. Take what you will from Greene & Greene : let it soak in and then move forward as they continually did.