I am Kevin Shea, the craftsman and designer at Barn and Mill Gallery. We make live edge furniture. Our products include one-of-a-kind dining tables, sofa and entryway tables, benches, bedside and living room side tables.
I find art in wood and turn it into functional home décor items that everyone can enjoy.
My process begins with “wood hunting”: I seek the unusual and the imperfect. These characteristics, which often are rejected by large-scale wood processors, show how art can be produced within an organic, natural environment. I view myself as a custodian of this natural art. My focus is to create designs that bring this natural art into people’s homes.
I roam New England looking for live-edge slabs, visiting many mills and talk to many sawyers. In these travels I meet a lot of interesting people, and we all have one thing in common: the love of wood. While examining piles of wood, we often talk about burl, chatoyance, bugs, spalting, curly, and other natural processes that alter trees. By engaging in conversation using these words, I have built relationships with several local sawyers who enjoy my search for the unusual and the imperfect.
After acquiring these naturally-occurring pieces of art, I craft them into furniture and home décor items that bring out each piece’s natural beauty. My goal is to simply hear “WOW” when people see and touch my work.
“The art is in the wood … created by nature.”
Website: https://www.barnandmillgallery.com
Social: https://www.instagram.com/barnandmillgallery/ and https://www.facebook.com/barnandmillgallery
Makers on Main 2024 Dates:
May 4
June 1
Location: 22 Main, corner of West St & Main St
