This article appeared in The Southern Highland Reader in July of 2008.

From the outside looking in, it seems obvious that Jerome Clark’s life would lead him, as it certainly did, down a path where he would eventually distill much of the knowledge he amassed as a scientist and design engineer into the expert skill and beauty so evident in his fine handcrafted heirloom furniture. Jerome Clark is a master craftsman, with a background that seemed to almost destine him to become so. Although as a scientist he may argue that last point.

Jerome was one of three contemporary designers and craftsmen of fine furniture whose work was featured in a recent show entitled, “Contemporary Furniture: Innovation in Wood from Appalachian Traditions.” The exhibit was hosted by The Fine Art Museum at Western Carolina University and kicked off its summer series. “We are excited to feature three of Western North Carolina’s finest contemporary designers and craftsmen,” said Martin Dewitt, museum director. “This region is blessed with fine furniture craftsmanship rooted in tradition.”

Born in upstate New York, raised in New Jersey, with a stint spent in Vermont following his marriage, and then a move to Michigan where he and his wife would settle for many years, Jerome Clark followed a circuitous route that eventually led him to Western North Carolina. Due in part, he says, “to the fact that this region is a great place for creative craftwork.” And indeed, Western North Carolina’s legacy of finely crafted furniture is quite unique, dating back to the 18th Century. In fact, five very rare and highly unique “Four Corners” cupboards are on display as part of a larger furniture exhibit at the Mountain Heritage Center thru December. The cupboards, chairs and tables on exhibit, many of them beautifully painted and patterned date from 1780-1920, and are a recently uncovered treasure for those interested in determining whether these pieces are indicative of a particular regional style; the “Four Corners” cupboards were made by an unknown craftsman from an area where the four counties of Burke, Catawba, Cleveland, and Lincoln meet. So Jerome Clark is in good company, following in a long line of fine craftsmen and artisans who call this region home; an area of the country that not only appreciates handcrafted furniture, both contemporary and antique, but values the tradition as an integral part of its history.

The decision to become a furniture designer was professionally and personally a natural next step for Jerome, cultivated during his many years as a scientist and design engineer for both the aerospace industry and automotive industry, respectively. But perhaps too, his decision was a reaction to his design background, in that as a designer or idea man, Jerome had little opportunity to work with his hands, and ultimately he says, “I had always wanted to create things, and being a scientist did not satisfy the creative aspect of my life.”

So initially, while working as an aerospace engineer conceiving and designing navigation systems for military aircraft and U.S. spacecraft, and later working as a project engineer in charge of designing fuel management systems for commercial aircraft, Jerome found a way to express his artistry and creativity a little closer to home. “I had always played around with designing homes,” he says, “modifying and changing existing design elements in the houses we’ve lived in over the years gave me a creative outlet.” Sometimes these changes were made out of necessity, but just as often to create a more aesthetically pleasing and harmonious environment in which to live. His love of working with wood grew out of this endeavor, and if it is, in fact true that necessity is the mother of invention, then Jerome’s need to use his hands to express his creative ideas, and to choose wood as the medium to do so, assured him of a new life as a furniture craftsman. But first Jerome needed a push, which would eventually come in the form of the collapsing auto industry in Michigan, and a very supportive wife.

The economy in Michigan is supported, almost solely, by the auto industry; a mono-economy that has been unable to rebound from the loss of so many manufacturing jobs. Detroit, the epicenter of manufacturing and car production in Michigan, has been hit particularly hard. Between 2000 and 2007, Michigan lost 431,000 jobs, nearly a tenth of its employment. More than a quarter of those jobs were cut in the auto industry, concentrated in the Detroit metro-area. It was in this economic miasma that Jerome Clark found himself, just laid off from an engineering job with the largest automotive seat maker in the country, designing and developing car seats for the F150 Ford pickup.

In hindsight, it seems a blessing in disguise that Jerome lost his job. In a classic case of “when one door closes, another one opens,” he was now able to redirect his energy into a nascent passion that had been growing through the years. According to Jerome though, losing his job afforded him lots of time to mope around the house and bemoan his situation, at which he claims, his wife became damn tired of. But finally she convinced him to take a course in furniture design at the College of Creative Studies in Detroit.

Since then Jerome joined the mass exodus out of Michigan, relocated to lovely Sylva, and evolved into a master artisan and follower of a very organic philosophy with regard to furniture design. Seemingly, Jerome Clark’s desire to become an artisan/craftsman, on some levels could be interpreted as a rejection of his scientific background, and yet with an advanced degree in physics and a background in astronomy, he claims, “it is science that taught me how to love and appreciate the natural world, and I’ve grown as an artist because of being a scientist.”

A love of the natural world is clearly expressed in Jerome’s work. He chooses hardwoods of only the finest quality (primarily cherry and oak,) always keeping the finished form in mind. “The wood,” he says, “tells the story of the trees life.” To reveal this story is the job of the craftsman. For Jerome much of the story lies in the grain. The tree’s grain is not revealed in nature, when it is growing in the forest, but can be beautifully expressed by the hands of a skilled artisan. By expressing the grain, the quality of the wood is enhanced and the rich colors of the hardwood are revealed. “It is important for me as a craftsman,” Jerome says, “to display the quality of the wood, show the details of joinery, and to keep the human form always in mind.” All of his furniture is made with use in mind; a form that is functional. When asked how he would describe his furniture, Jerome says, “…it’s made with use in mind. I follow an Arts and Crafts ideal to fit a technological age.”

Ironically, the Arts and Crafts tradition began in the late 19th Century as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution and the mass produced, factory made commodities that began inundating the market as a result. The movement began in England and swept across Europe and America influencing art, literature, architecture, furniture design, and western culture in general. At its heart it was a social reform movement, questioning the industrial machine and its dehumanizing effects. As mass produced, cookie cutter commodities began to flood the market, many began to fear that highly crafted, thoughtfully made, uniquely designed items were a thing of the past. So a design tradition was born; one that aspired to the highest levels of artistry and craft, espousing a philosophy in direct contrast to that of the machine age.

And clearly, Jerome Clark aspires to the same set of standards inherent in the Arts and Crafts ideal. The skill and thoughtfulness of the craftsman is always evident in his designs; whether the beautifully tapered lines on the legs of a desk, the curved armrests of a mission-style chair, or the decorative details of a recessed cabinet, Jerome Clark’s pieces exude a graceful and elegant simplicity, never overdone, with form and functionality in thoughtful balance. It seems he has achieved in his life the perfect moment when science and art meet.

Jerome has lived in Sylva for two years now and has a workshop behind his home on Kitchens Branch. His website address is: clarkwoodworks.com