A World of His Own:
The Uncommon Artistry of Chester Cornett
A new exhibition at the Mathers Museum of World Cultures celebrates the creativity and craftsmanship of Chester Cornett. Best known as a gifted chairmaker from Kentucky, Cornett (1913-1981) was a strong advocate of the virtues of traditional woodworking methods and a prolific folk artist. A World of His Own: The Uncommon Artistry of Chester Cornett is the first museum retrospective on Cornett’s work. The exhibit capitalizes upon the extraordinary pieces of handmade furniture and tools of the museum’s extensive collections, to illustrate Cornett’s unique folk aesthetic and to explore his idiosyncratic and innovative woodworking style.
Curator James Seaver, graduate student in History at Indiana University, reconstructs Cornett’s outdoor work area in order to emphasize the creativity and versatility of Cornett as a folk artist. The exhibit highlights the beauty of utilitarian objects and facilitates their understanding not only as crafts, but as art objects, too. The exhibit also examines the tools and techniques used by Cornett to create his pieces.
In an age when factory-made furniture dominated the market, Chester Cornett developed his own distinctive way of woodworking, mastering the dying art of handmade furniture in the southern Appalachian tradition. Famous for his chairs, Cornett crafted also bookshelves and bed frames, table lamps, benches, and dining tables, fashioned guitars or banjos or simply created art for art’s sake, as a wooden sculpture of the Crucifixion.
Favorite son of the folk arts movement in the mid-1960s, Cornett created art works embodying the cultural traditions and methods of his predecessors while simultaneously exhibiting a remarkable degree of innovation. No two chairs that Chester Cornett made were ever exactly alike. Unsatisfied by producing simple replicas of an already made piece, Cornett found his artistic reason in the permanent experiment and search of new designs.
The tools and techniques that Cornett used to create hundreds of artifacts are of an astonishing simplicity. The workbench, shaving horse and presses displayed are crudely constructed from rough wood by Cornett himself to suit his specific needs. Some axes, mallets, wedges and knives were used to smooth and shape the wood. The rulers and measuring devices were never found in Cornett’s workshop, the artist using his own hands and thumbs. Also, no nails or glue were needed. Learning the science of seasoning wood from his ancestors, Cornett assured firm bonds and sturdiness for his piece of furniture by exploiting the qualities of different types of wood.
A World of His Own: The Uncommon Artistry of Chester Cornett will be on display at the Mathers Museum through Sunday, December 20, 2009.
The Mathers Museum is located at 416 North Indiana Avenue in Bloomington, and is open Tuesdays through Fridays, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and Saturdays and Sundays, from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Admission to the Museum is free. Free visitor parking is available by the entrance on Indiana Avenue, and on surrounding streets (during weekends). Metered and IU Permit parking spaces are available at the McCalla School parking lot on the corner of Ninth Street and Indiana Avenue.
An access ramp is located at the corner on Ninth Street and Fess Avenue, at the entrance to the Glenn Black Laboratory of Archaeology adjoining the Mathers Museum. Reserved parking spaces are available on Ninth Street, between Fess Avenue and Indiana Avenue. If you have a disability and need assistance, special arrangements can be made to accommodate most needs. Please call 812-855-1696 for assistance.
For more information, or to schedule a guided group tour, please call
812-855-6873 or e-mail mathers@indiana.edu.
