By Betty A. Little
posted
Aug 1, 2012
Robin Gordon Taft restores furniture and calls it "Furniture in
Recovery." A chest of drawers is in the Killington Arts Guild
Gallery at Cabin Fever Gifts (Route 4), pictured on the KAG website
and in the KAG brochure designed by Alice Sciore. Robin's
unexpected solution for damaged and discarded furniture is to
"recover" it. When she is done each piece is resurrected, recycled
and has become functional art…strong, beautiful perfect and often
whimsical.
Robin and her husband live on a farm house in Wallingford and
use there home for furniture work. Every piece is marked with a
logo-a winged heart with the words "Courage My Love." The name
comes from a clothing boutique Robin's mother-in-law once operated
in New York City. The phrase refers to her other passion as an
advocate for allowing natural death. The logo links the two.
Instead of refinishing furniture the old way, Robin recovers it.
Her first piece was a built-in hutch in her living room. She
stretched decorative Nepalese paper over the hutch, glued it and
finished it with polyurethane. That was the start. Her work has an
attractive charm and provides a place for memorabilia. She does
custom work, sells online, at artists markets and in Vermont
home-furnishing stores.
Gordon was a nurse for 25 years and became an advocate for the
rights of aged patients to a natural death. Furniture in Recovery
is a fundraising effort for www.AllowingNaturalDeath.org were
Robins writes blogs.
She says, "allowing natural death is a plan for life's end which
seeks to provide comfort and dignity above all else acknowledges
that death is the inevitable result of the aging process. It
supports a kinder and gentler way to die, relies less on medicine,
technology and hospitalization and more on relief of pain and
comfort."
In June, Megan James wrote an article in "Seven Days" about
Gordon's furniture. She will be showing at Art Hop in Burlington's
South End on September 7. Gordon is excited about her latest idea,
papering doors with memorabilia. We hope to see samples in
the KAG Gallery soon.
"The fun I am having makes these pieces colorful and playful.
But they have a spiritual side too when on closer inspection each
one reveals its hidden message. Courage my Love," Robin says.
See Robin's furniture at www.furnitureinrecovery.org. For More
about KAG see www.killingtonartsguild.org
Tagged:
Killington Arts Guild, Robin Gordon Taft
