Crowe River Studios

Crowe River Studios is located east of Peterborough, Ontario, near Havelock off Highway 7 halfway between Toronto and Ottawa. We are also based, in Toronto. The Studio combines woodworking and furniture-building, with art and sculpture. A recent project in the Toronto Distillery for AvantDerm clinic, involved 12 pieces made from reclaimed 300 year old fir combined with steel elements, salvaged from the Gooderham warehouses during renovations. These works were shown with lightworks called Earth Skins. (Images are at AvantDerm.com in the Culture section under Gallery. The Distillery wood has a particular "flavour": it has been smoked by the distilling fires and smells slightly sweet like whiskey when cut. The outside patina is dark like the chiarascuro in old paintings, the inside gold. Furniture made from it has a sense of character and history. Steel elements are handmade; the style evokes Toronto warehouse history. The "Earth Skins" are translucent "paintings", or lightworks, made by layering rubber tree sap (vulcanized latex) and gauze onto surfaces in the Canadian Shield: rock faces, trees, abandoned architecture, old wooden boats and canoes. These can be seen as x-rays of the earth's surface warming. The work relates to climate change, water, energy, and the environment. Other pieces, including steel sculptures based on boat and canoe forms, and "animals" made from altered vintage Toronto water main valves, are at RawArt2.com