Auto Body is pleased to present its next show Studio Furniture, which explores the decades-long career of the Brookhaven based craftsman David N Ebner at The Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Society in Bellport, NY. The show opens August 3, 2019 and will run through September 1, 2019. Auto Body has paired a space with its former inhabitant; David N Ebner returns to the location of his original Bellport woodshop for a show of his furniture spanning back 45 years. From 1986-1996 Ebner worked out of and renovated BBHS’s Bell Street gallery space, jacking the entire building up and restoring much of the façade woodwork. As a way to honor the space and the artist and in line with Bellport’s 2019 theme of ‘An Artist’s Place,’ Auto Body shines a light on a truly inventive, skilled, and unique craftsmen local to this town for over four decades. To quote Wharton Esherick, “The craftsman's mark is one who can find things that grow in his own backyard,” and Ebner does just that, often working with sticks and trees from his surroundings and subtly letting them inform the character of his works. Most notably are the ‘twisted sticks’ stools and chairs made from Sassafras trees that have been strangled by honeysuckle, giving them a natural and playful curved form. Working these natural curves into a piece of furniture is no easy feat. "I've explored a variety of directions and themes over the years, but each piece is treated as an art object with concern for my material and honesty to its inherent qualities. For me, one's creative ability is demonstrated in the diversity of the pieces and what one learns from change".