Mark Gower

 Mark is originally from the central Rhode Island town of Coventry where he spent his childhood and early adult years in a log home situated within a mixed conifer/deciduous forest. Mark found early inspiration within this environment and spent countless hours in, up and amongst the trees in the tracts of forest outside his front door. Mark learned and grew to appreciate the distinct differences in color, grain, bark and even odor of various species while chopping and stacking cord after cord of firewood for the winter. These early experiences provided the foundation for Mark’s eventual decision to pursue a career in woodworking.

Although mark had been actively designing and constructing pieces for pleasure since 1997, his career officially began in 2005 as an apprentice with Rhode Island furniture maker Hank Gilpin and his assistant Sylven Medyesy. During the two-year apprenticeship, Mark was taught processes used to create custom furniture from sketches to working drawing and completion, always allowing the wood to have an active role design.  Through his four year tenure with Hank, Mark contributed in construction of over 100 unique pieces of furniture constructed from approximately 40 different species of wood.  

Mark was chosen for the John D. Mineck Furniture Fellowship in 2008. Since that time, he has distinguished himself with decorative and functional bowls created from one piece of wood and formed by hand (without the assistance of a lathe). His philosophy towards design and construction of his pieces is fluid.  Mark allows the shape and grain of the wood to dictate design and construction. Initial designs are often altered mid-construction as the intricacies of the grain are unearthed.   Mark enjoys Focusing on smaller pieces with the idea that art can be weighty without being huge in size. Mark predominantly uses Domestic woods (hard and soft). He is an avid hiker and loves to find wood everywhere, from pieces of driftwood found on local beaches to curiosities in a friend’s fire wood pile. Mark has constructed pieces from a cutoff of straight grained Spanish cedar fence post to domestic exotics like Cuban mahogany reclaimed from trees fallen in hurricane Andrew.

Mark’s English brown oak bowl was included in the Readers Gallery of Fine Woodworking (Issue No. 215, December 2010).  Mark’s work has been shown in east coast galleries such as Naga Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts, MADE in Easthampton, New York and the gallery at Somes sound in Somesville, Maine. Mark currently resides in the heart of the coastal redwoods in Eureka, California with his daughter.

Mark is actively designing and creating pieces for all budgets and aesthetics