As an artist trained in industrial design, Christine Dentremont’s work explores the intersection of art and function.
Born and raised in New York State, her connection with Maine, started on summer vacations in the 1980s. Two days after finishing up at Pratt Institute, in Brooklyn, N.Y., she jumped at the chance to relocate to an island off the coast of Maine, and she happily spent the next few years earning her living as a sternman on a lobsterboat.
Still, design remained a strong pull. She found herself viewing the environment in terms of form and function—the waves of the sea, the curve of a hull, the creatures of the deep.
She returned to a concept begun at Pratt—a wave-shaped bench balanced on “rocks” cast in cement, an aesthetics of power, grace, and movement grounded in immobility and mass.
This multi-year project was characterized by the robust manipulation of industrial materials. The creation of the bench involved forming laminates from long strips of luan, forced over jig into complex curves. For the base, she traded the rock idea for an I-beam. Cut to size and elegantly finished, this became the perfect grounding piece, tied together with arches excised from discarded treadmills.
As the project evolved in design and construction, it allowed her to explore new tools and techniques—at first taking over a bedroom (thanks to her family’s patience!), then moving to a studio that has allowed her to expand her repertoire in a variety of genres, including sculptural furniture, home décor, giftables, and fine art.
Her work has appeared at the Wayne (Pennsylvania) Art Center’s 15th Annual International Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Craft; and Belfast, Maine’s ECO-Motion and Clifford Gallery at Waterfall Arts.
In March 2015, Christine was honored to be named the Maine Arts Commission’s 2015 Functional Craft Arts Fellow.
Born and raised in New York State, her connection with Maine, started on summer vacations in the 1980s. Two days after finishing up at Pratt Institute, in Brooklyn, N.Y., she jumped at the chance to relocate to an island off the coast of Maine, and she happily spent the next few years earning her living as a sternman on a lobsterboat.
Still, design remained a strong pull. She found herself viewing the environment in terms of form and function—the waves of the sea, the curve of a hull, the creatures of the deep.
She returned to a concept begun at Pratt—a wave-shaped bench balanced on “rocks” cast in cement, an aesthetics of power, grace, and movement grounded in immobility and mass.
This multi-year project was characterized by the robust manipulation of industrial materials. The creation of the bench involved forming laminates from long strips of luan, forced over jig into complex curves. For the base, she traded the rock idea for an I-beam. Cut to size and elegantly finished, this became the perfect grounding piece, tied together with arches excised from discarded treadmills.
As the project evolved in design and construction, it allowed her to explore new tools and techniques—at first taking over a bedroom (thanks to her family’s patience!), then moving to a studio that has allowed her to expand her repertoire in a variety of genres, including sculptural furniture, home décor, giftables, and fine art.
Her work has appeared at the Wayne (Pennsylvania) Art Center’s 15th Annual International Juried Exhibition of Contemporary Craft; and Belfast, Maine’s ECO-Motion and Clifford Gallery at Waterfall Arts.
In March 2015, Christine was honored to be named the Maine Arts Commission’s 2015 Functional Craft Arts Fellow.