Kyle Kinser received his training from the highly-celebrated Swedish cabinet maker and wood theorist James Krenov. Kinser’s forms are simple and elegant, the work of a craftsman who believes that design must never dominate materials. Their clean lines result from hand shaping and sculpting, as power tools are shunned. The soft rich colors and textures of his furniture come from the natural grains of select woods, enhanced with oils rather than varnish or wax. Andrew Bae discovered Kinser’s work at a local studio and immediately brought him into his fold, encouraging the craftsman’s emerging style — a perfect marriage between the graceful asymmetry of Japanese design, and the honest, clean aesthetic of his Swedish training. The Kinser furnishings now reflect this creative union and include small cabinets, a credenza whose tabletop is fashioned from a cross-section slab of a log, and sublimated forms of Japanese tansu, or cabinetry, in which the Asian influences are most pronounced.

 

BACKGROUND & EDUCATION

 

1982   MFA, College of the Redwoods, Fort Bragg

1973   Western Illinois University

1951   Born in Chicago, Illinois

 

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

 

Helmut Kohl, Chancellor, Germany

United States Embassy, France

Family of Senator Paul Simon, IL

 

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

 

2011   “Remains of a Day”, Andrew Bae Gallery, Chicago, IL

1997    The Woods at Hand: Furniture by Kyle Kinser from 1982 to 1997, Illinois State Museum,              Chicago and Whittington, IL

1993    Craft Currents, Illinois State Museum, Springfield, IL 

1992    Illinois Ozark Craft Guild Exhibition, Southern Illinois Iniv., Carbondale, IL

1990    Furniture as Art Form, Associate Artists Gallery, Carbondale, IL

1989    Craft Alliance Gallery, St. Louis, MO

1986    Hands at Work, John A. Logan College, IL

1985    Owensboro Museum of Fine Art, Owensboro, KY

1984    Kyle Kinser Cabinetmaker, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL