Another Look at the Work of the Artists and Makers From Smokestack Studios

Works by Mark Bokelman, Gail Fredell, Wu Hanyen, Tyler Inman, Christine Kim, Joyce Kutty, Peter Lutz, Isabel Mattia, David Richardson, Gabriel Richardson, Brooks Saltonstall, and Wes Sanders

September 8–October 20, 2022


This exhibition has been in the making for a long time. We had planned to launch a show in the fall of 2020 that would feature work by makers and artists from Smokestack Studios, but the pandemic forced us to table the project.

A few months later, we created an online version of the exhibition for the gallery’s Instagram page with the hope that we would revisit the project once the gallery was able to open again. Finally, two years later, I am so pleased to welcome a dozen current members from Smokestack Studios into the gallery.

Smokestack Studios is located in Fall River’s historic Metacomet Mill. Built in 1847 by Colonel Richard Borden, the structure is Fall River’s oldest standing textile mill. Constructed of native field stone over the Quequechan River, which originally provided power to the complex, the mill was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Part of the Quequechan is still visible at the mill site; most of it was diverted underground during the construction of Interstate 195 which today surrounds the mill complex.

Smokestack Studios was established in 2007 and, over the years, has housed numerous artists, artisans, filmmakers, photographers, and woodworkers who work in a variety of materials and styles.

Smokestack is a collaborative space as well, with individual studios that open onto shared working and communal spaces such as a wood-shop, metal-shop, spray booth, an exhibition space, and kitchen.

The exhibition’s title, Fall River Makes!, is an ode to the legacy of Fall River as a manufacturing city. It is still a city of mills, and many have been converted into housing or light manufacturing businesses. Smokestack is an example of the wonderful potential that resides in the city, and its transformation into a dynamic arts community is integral to the ongoing commitment by Fall River to reimagine itself as a beacon for the arts.

That’s why Smokestack is so important. It is a foundational cornerstone of the arts and culture sector and is significant to the revitalization of downtown Fall River.

Kathleen Hancock
Director

Artists and Makers

Mark Bokelman

Mark Bokelman transitioned away from a career in finance & trading when he enrolled in the Furniture Making program at the North Bennet Street School in Boston and trained in the traditional craft of joinery and hand skills. He currently makes furniture at the Smokestack complex.

Gail Fredell

Gail Fredell’s work is informed by an upbringing grounded in the natural landscapes of the West, a life-long interest in Japanese design, and by her architecture studies at UC Berkeley. She designs and executes projects ranging in scale and scope from functional, residential furniture to public sculpture installations, for both interior spaces and landscape settings.

Wu Hanyen

Work in Use was founded by Wu Hanyen in 2019. Work in Use is a Providence based design studio committed to the production of high-end movement tools. Each piece is handmade with attention to detail in their studio and in collaboration with a community of fabricators in New England.

Tyler Inman

Tyler Inman is continually inspired by materials and conventions around their use and his work strives to allow those intrinsic qualities self-expression with the goal to design objects that are formally and structurally single-minded. He earned his BFA in furniture design from RISD and is currently on the faculty at RISD. He is also the studio manager at Smokestack Studios.

Christine Kim

Christine Kim is a a mixed-media artist. She has a BFA in Jewelry & Metalsmithing from RISD. Her skill set and experience is in precious metals and stone setting but her current form of artistic expression is costume design.

Joyce Kutty

Joyce Kutty is an Asian-American bladesmith/metalsmith from Providence. Her family has a tradition of preserving and using artifacts and tools that were created to be passed down from generation to generation. Kutty’s work involves making modern artifacts that extend her family’s tradition to the lives and homes of others.

Peter Lutz

After receiving a fine arts degree, Peter Lutz spent years working as a fabricator in a variety of disciplines: mold-making, production machining, interior yacht carpentry. Peter infuses a broad range of skills and a deep understanding of material into his furniture designs. The result are works that meld traditional techniques with an unadorned aesthetic, accentuating natural materials and handcrafted details.

Isabel Mattia

Isabel Mattia is an artist, fabricator, teacher, perinatal support professional, and parent. She lives on a small farm in rural Rhode Island, and works at home and in her space within Smokestack Studios. Mattia is an adjunct lecturer in Brown University’s Visual Art department and teaches in the Welding department at the Steel Yard in Providence, RI.

David Richardson

David Richardson is a furniture maker and artist working in Fall River and New Bedford. He has worked over the last several years on a body of contemporary furniture that takes the Japanese tea bowl as a starting point as the “perfect object”, combining utility as well as high art.

Gabriel Richardson

Gabriel Richardson graduated from Lesley Art and Design in 2015 with a BFA and recently completed his MFA from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Gabe works primarily in print, with his current work combining intaglio and relief techniques.

Brooks Saltonstall

Brooks Saltonstall’s Untitled is a collection of work exploring material combinations and transformations. The series is centered around 3d printing filament and its possible companions, including paint, cardboard, wax, metal, wood, and high heat.

Wes Sanders

Wes Sanders is an interdisciplinary artist and designer whose work seeks to rethink assumptions of the built environment. Through sculpture, installation, furniture, and exhibition design, he centers space making as the primary vehicle for stimulating imagination, building community, and creating change.