Don Weber’s Slides (Part 3)

This is the final post in a three-post series featuring images from a carousel of Don Weber’s slides, which he found while working with us on a profile for The Stick Chair Journal No. 4. This post features images of chairs and a wonderful series of photos from a Country Workshops chairmaking class, taught by Don Weber with Drew Langsner in attendance. Some have captions from Don (in quotes), some have captions from us, many have no captions at all.
the hickory bark seat in the slide after the photo of Jennie Alexander is a North Carolina chair she owned, good chance it’s where her chair evolved from. Legend is it was found in an abandoned house in western NC. Now at the Winterthur Museum, along with one of JA’s late-period chairs and her papers.
the hickory bark seat in the slide after the photo of Jennie Alexander is a North Carolina chair she owned, good chance it’s where her chair evolved from. Legend is it was found in an abandoned house in western NC. Now at the Winterthur Museum, along with one of JA’s late-period chairs and her papers.
The chairs are wonderful, but the flat beagle steals the show.

Facts Only

* Images feature chairs and photos from a chairmaking class taught by Don Weber and Drew Langsner.
* One slide shows a hickory bark seat identified as a North Carolina chair owned by Jennie Alexander.
* The hickory bark seat is suggested to be the origin point for her chair.
* Legend states this seat was found in an abandoned house in western North Carolina.
* The item is now located at the Winterthur Museum with other chairs and papers from Jennie Alexander.
* The post mentions several captions, some from Don Weber, some from the publication, and some without captions.
* A specific chair mentioned as "the flat beagle" is noted as standing out among the pieces.

Executive Summary

The post features images from Don Weber’s slides gathered while working on a profile for The Stick Chair Journal No. 4, showing chairs and photos from a Country Workshops chairmaking class taught by Don Weber with Drew Langsner present. Several slides include captions provided by Don or the publication, with some lacking any caption. One slide displays a hickory bark seat identified as a North Carolina chair owned by Jennie Alexander, which is suggested to be where her chair evolved; legend claims it was found in an abandoned house in western North Carolina and is now at the Winterthur Museum alongside other items from Alexander. The post concludes by noting that while the chairs are wonderful, a specific item, the flat beagle, captures attention.

Full Take

The presentation of historical artifacts juxtaposed with craft instruction creates a tension between tangible history and ongoing artistic practice. The emphasis shifts between the beauty of the furniture, the provenance of specific materials (like the hickory bark), and the narrative surrounding ownership and discovery. This structure invites reflection on what constitutes value: the object itself, the story attached to it, or its place within institutional memory. The focus on a single artifact evolving through history suggests a pattern where physical objects serve as anchors for broader cultural narratives about labor, legacy, and material transformation. The concluding juxtaposition of "wonderful chairs" against the specific singularity of "the flat beagle" hints at how attention is channeled—between the general appreciation of craft and the singular, almost fetishistic focus on an anomalous detail. This setup resists simple aesthetic categorization by layering history, craft, and specific visual emphasis.