joe norman sculpture
blue boat home design studios
My work isn’t about the tables I make. It is about the people that are sitting around them.
I have come to the realization that we do not need more stuff in our lives that does not bring us together. The things that we buy and use don’t have to keep us apart -- it is around kitchen tables and coffee mugs that we have some of our most important conversations.
I focus on handmade and site-specific furniture and sculpture, specifically that which builds environments that support and promote communities. Many of my designs are direct results of working with schools, families, and businesses to develop places that encourage people to work and be together in positive ways.
I mainly use found materials. Often times these materials have lived their ‘useful’ life and are discarded. Many still have an emotional resonance, though; they are like the smell of a favorite food from childhood that crops up unexpectedly. We’ve spent our entire lives building relationships with bicycles, ammunition casings, and plywood even if we’re never owned any of them. We know what they were used for, and when presented in a new and beautiful way that relationship continues.
An on-going journal of my work can be found at:
Joe Norman, 2012
Joe’s work is exhibited at the following venues :
Gallery MAR, Park City
Sugarhouse Gallery, Salt Lake City
Private and Corporate collections,
NY / CA / UT / NV / MA / CO
(client list and references available upon request)
List of previous shows:
2007
* NOLS Honorable Mention
2008
Intentional Art Show, Salt Lake City
Provo Gallery Stroll featured artist, Provo
2009
NYC Art v. Design competition, New York
Face of Utah Sculpture Exhibition, West Valley City
35x35 Juried Exhibition, Salt Lake City
2010
The Sketchbook Project, Brooklyn, NY
The Intentional Living Project, Europe and Western US
Burning Man Entheon Symposium, Black Rock City, NV
* ‘Best Recycled Works’, City Weekly Arty Awards, UT
* Juror’s Award, Utah Statewide Annual Competition, UT
2011
Bountiful/Davis Art Center Statewide Competition, UT
‘Homage’ Exhibit, Rio Gallery, UT
Lawn Gnomes Exhibition, Salt Lake Art Center, UT
Pecha-Kucha 20x20 presenter, Salt Lake City
Spiritual Art Exhibition, Springville Museum of Art, UT
* Great Basin National Park Artist-in-Residence, NV
2012
New Balance Excellent Makers campaign, MA/UT
All material on the blue boat home design site © 2008-2012
by Joe Norman except where otherwise indicated.
All rights reserved.