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Double slider table made of cherry, fir and mahogany, 2006. Photo courtesy Tim Latourette.

At first glance, it’s the craftsmanship that you notice: the hall table is graced with intricately woven mortise-and-tenon joinery inspired by Chinese design, with a narrow bead of African bubinga wood tracing the delicate arch of the apron. Take a closer look, and you’re mesmerized by the rich color and grain of the rosewood, cherry and bubinga that Tim Latourette used to craft the table. The wood came as a gift from the estate of the late sculptor Steve Hoover.

This table, which Latourette dedicated to Hoover’s memory, is among a dozen cabinetry pieces and two etchings currently on display in the first floor gallery of Vol Walker Hall. The work represents three years of design explorations by Latourette, an accomplished artist, contractor and cabinetmaker who serves as director of the School of Architecture’s woodshop. His work evidences his love for Shaker, Craftsman and Japanese design and a naturalist’s love for found treasures.  In one cabinet, cicada wings and a leaf turned to lace by Japanese beetles are sandwiched between panes of glass; in another, roughly finished cedar logs are scored by insect etchings – “Beetles again,” Latourette said.

Visitors are encouraged to touch and explore these pieces, several of which include gears that move when doors are opened. Other works incorporate copper plates from Latourette’s etchings. Though some of the pieces are practical – a tool cabinet, a beautifully inlaid game table – others exist only to please the eye.

“I go around on that,” Latourette said with a shug. “Sometimes I try to make more functional pieces, but there’s a part of me that really enjoys making non-functional objects in and of themselves.”

Latourette earned an M.F.A. in printmaking from the University of Illinois at Champagne-Urbana and worked in retail and as a self-employed contractor and cabinetmaker before joining the school’s staff in 2002. This semester Latourette is leading a class on furniture and lighting design for School of Architecture students.

“I think of this as research, backing up the teaching that I do,” he said, gesturing at the tables and cabinets. Among the techniques that Latourette is experimenting with at the moment is the use of bent lamination to create graceful curved shapes that are locked into place using continuous joinery.

“A lot of the students are using bent laminates in their lighting projects. They’re doing some beautiful work – I find it quite inspirational,” he said. Latourette’s work is up through Friday, March 13. His students’ furniture and lighting designs will be exhibited in late April.