East Hampton--Pritam & Eames celebrates the furniture art of Wendy Maruyama and Kristina Madsen in an exhibit that opens on August 9 and runs through September 17. Both Maruyama and Madsen draw from the other side of the world in this current body of work, observes Bebe Johnson, partner in the East Hampton gallery. “It is Japan in Maruyama’s case, and Fiji in Madsen’s.” Although their work is a study in contrast as far as style, material, and focus, they share a background of rigorous training in furniture making and status as among the most prominent figures in the American studio furniture movement. Maruyama and Madsen have been friends since the early ‘80s when they exhibited at ArtPark in Lewiston, NY.

Kristina Madsen is a New England woman who studied with British-trained master craftsman, David Powell, at the Leeds Design School, Northampton, MA. from l975 to l979. In l988 on her return home after serving an artist’s residency at the University of Tasmania, she decided to stop in Fiji. There, she came across the work of Makiti Koto, a master Fijian carver. This seemingly random encounter changed the course of her life’s work. She arranged to meet Koto and, after securing his agreement that she could apprentice with him if she returned, Madsen applied for and received a Fulbright grant. She spent l991 in Fiji mastering the art of shallow relief (intaglio) carving. Only men in Fiji carve, and the master is also a priest. But she was welcomed and worked on the same raised floor as the master Koto.

“Madsen has said that textiles offer her endless richness and diversity as sources of inspiration,” according to Warren Johnson, partner in the East Hampton gallery. “The patterns, layout, and colors all intrigue her.” Kristina Madsen’s work is in the permanent collection of The Museum of Fine Art, Boston, MA; Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT; Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, and the Brockton Art Museum, Brockton, MA.

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