John Dunnigan in The Arts Fuse

June 1, 2025
by Mark Faverman

Gallery NAGA, one of the few remaining art galleries on Boston’s Newbury Street in the Back Bay, was founded as an artist cooperative in 1977. In 1982, Arthur Dion was hired as its director. Often considered the godfather of studio furniture, Dion led the gallery for 30 distinguished years. Meg White now serves as director, continuing the gallery’s legacy.

NAGA’s primary focus is contemporary painting, as well as exceptional contemporary photography and printmaking. It has also assumed a special position in the local, regional, and national art world as a premier showcase for studio furniture, presenting unique and limited-edition handcrafted pieces.

Studio furniture combines furniture design and sculptural creativity with a painterly flair. Studio furniture practitioners are master craftsmen dedicated to making handmade functional objects of the finest quality. These pieces, while usable, also reflect a distinctive intellectual and emotional vision. The best studio furniture is aesthetically complex, marked by individual expression, metaphorical resonances, and even a touch of social conscience. For decades, Gallery NAGA has represented one of the world’s premiere studio furniture creators, Judy Kensley McKie.

From June 6 through July 11, Gallery NAGA will present recent work by John Dunnigan. A longtime professor at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where he co-founded the Department of Furniture Design, Dunnigan has worked as a studio furniture artist for over five decades. His works in the show Possible Necessities demonstrate brilliant craftsmanship, exemplary technical skill, and an eye for physical grace. However, the pieces, which include chests and chairs, while extremely elegant, also reveal a certain soullessness. Their titles  — such as “Rising Water Chairs,” “H2 Chairs,” and “Wildfire Loveseat” — suggest a strong concern about climate change, though this does not necessarily translate into an effective environmental message. A chair remains a chair; three chairs stacked together do not serve as an effective warning about global warming. Still, the finely wrought objects in this exhibit are well worth appreciating for their beauty.

— Mark Favermann

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