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Suture by day, cut and nail by night

Artist Statement: “I believe you have to think about it all carefully. You have to plan each step. The components have to be measured at least twice. Once you cut, there is no turning back. I now find it addicting: creating a piece of furniture from shapeless fragments that were just hours ago stacked in piles. The finished pieces are always sturdy and practical. Best of all, they are unique, imperfect and mine.

I started building furniture the summer before I started residency. I had recently moved into my new place and stared at empty spaces day after day. The decision to build my first piece was likely equal parts financial frugality and release of anxious energy. Since then, I have not been able to stop building. Friends and family joke that I must really be a surgeon to cut and suture by day then cut and nail at night. In both crafts, I feel lucky that I simply love the work. With building and operating, I can watch an evolution that my own hands shape.”

Dr. Imeokparia usually uses pine for her projects for many reasons including its ability to hold stains and its affordability. She also uses scraps from old pallets she has scavenged or other ‘throw aways’ from construction sites. Her preferred stain is Miniwax because of its great variety and many shades that compliment one another. She also uses Miniwax finishes and chooses between gloss or matte depending on the intended use and vision for the final piece.