# Crossings Gallery ## Familiar Faces | Living Spaces At the Gallery September 11-October 23, 2025 artist: Hugo Nakashima Brown [ Behind the Scenes: Watch here arrow\_circle\_right ](https://youtu.be/RmSlSeuz1vQ) ![wooden figures in art exhibition by Hugo Nakashima-Brown](/sites/g/files/omnuum12051/files/styles/hwp_21_9__1920x825/public/2025-09/hugo-show-header.jpg?itok=NPi7f6pC) ***Familiar Faces | Living Spaces*** invites you into a world where global craft traditions meet contemporary design. Artist Hugo Nakashima-Brown’s graceful Ming-inspired Chinese chairs sit in conversation with bold wooden portraits, sculptural yoga figures, and delicate hand-bound books made in the 4th-century Coptic tradition of Ethiopia and Egypt. Influenced by Japanese aesthetics, American folk art, and centuries-old woodworking techniques, Nakashima-Brown reimagines everyday objects as portals to history and culture. This exhibition brings art and function together in surprising ways, highlighting the beauty of form, material, and craft. Oct 15 | 5:00-9:00PM ### Wood + Thread: Bind Your Own Book Discover the joy of making your own hand-bound book in this beginner-friendly workshop led by local woodworker Hugo Nakashima-Brown. Using simple tools and techniques, learn how to sew together pages and attach sturdy wooden covers using the classic “Coptic” binding style—famous for its beautiful exposed stitch and a spine that lets books open completely flat (perfect for sketching, writing, or creative journaling). You'll leave with a unique journal created by you and a new appreciation for one of the world’s oldest bookmaking traditions! Timely arrival is expected, as this is a structured class--not a drop-in. [ Learn more & RSVP arrow\_circle\_right ](https://edportal.harvard.edu/event/wood-thread-bind-your-own-book) ![threaded wooden books](/sites/g/files/omnuum12051/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-09/cropped%20example%20of%20books.JPG?itok=GhtXwOU3) ### Meet the Artist **Hugo Nakashima-Brown** is a teaching artist, designer, and woodworker with a background in painting and furniture making. He holds a BFA in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and a degree in Cabinet and Furniture Making from the North Bennet Street School. His multidisciplinary experience spans woodworking, design, curation, and production studio management, allowing him to blend diverse perspectives into his craft. *Headshot by Jo Sittenfeld* [ Learn more arrow\_circle\_right ](https://www.nakashima-brown.com/) ![Artist stands next to a wooden furniture piece](/sites/g/files/omnuum12051/files/styles/hwp_1_1__480x480/public/2025-07/Headshot%202%20by%20Jo%20Sittenfeld%20%282%29.jpg?itok=Hw4KzcMz) ![Two wooden chairs next to each other, black and wood](/sites/g/files/omnuum12051/files/2025-07/20240530%20Hugo%20Nakashima-Brown%2C%20round-back%20chairs%202%20%282%29%20%281%29.jpg) Trained as a 17th-19th century woodworker, Nakashima-Brown draws on historical precedents and centuries of craftsmanship to create furniture that balances timeless aesthetics with the functional needs of the 21st century. Inspired by the Japanese Tea Ceremony (*chanoyu*), where design, function, and aesthetics converge, he uses chanoyu and Japanese/American Folk Art as frameworks to explore the intersection of art, craft, sculpture, and performance/installation. His current research examines the overlooked, bidirectional influence between Chinese and American furniture traditions. Nakashima-Brown’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and has been featured in Monocle, Architectural Digest, and Fine Woodworking. He has received support from institutions including the Penland School of Craft, Winterthur Museum, Mt. Fuji Wood Culture Society, Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, Oak Spring Garden Foundation. He also serves on the selection committee for the Alex Brown Foundation. ## Artist Statement My current body of work can be broken into two major ongoing series: what I call my "Heads" series, a body of folk marquetry portraits which range from small wooden artist books to life-size figures; and a body of furniture inspired by the Ming Chinese tradition. ### Read more from the artist expand\_more In "Heads", I reimagine Folk Art and Americana through the lens of Old Master techniques—a process I call “Re-Rembrandtification.” This idea comes from Georgia artist Howard Finster, who once likened his work to that of Rembrandt. Inspired by that comparison, I use the fine Italian technique of wood veneer marquetry—often called “painting with wood”—to create primitivist portraits in Finster’s spirit. The portraits push against the paint-by-numbers look often associated with marquetry by allowing the natural wood grain to define form more than photorealism would. My first piece in this series, Elvis at Three, depicts a life-size portrait of toddler Elvis Presley on the back of a Bretstuhl chair—an Appalachian form with Germanic roots—a tongue-in-cheek comment on a trend in the woodworking world to remake these primitivist forms as finely carved and joined pieces of craftsmanship. My latest Heads works are small artist books made in the Coptic tradition—an Ethiopian/Egyptian Christian form dating to the 4th century. Known for its chain-stitched headband, flat-opening structure, and intimate scale (~3.5 x 5”), this format allows for a more linear, zine-like narrative. These books reference the original Coptic books’ devotional function, designed to be kept hidden and close to the body during times of religious and cultural persecution. Throughout my career as a furniture maker, Ming furniture has served as an aspiration and a metric to push my work further. My interest stems from my time in period furniture school, where I came to admire the clarity of its lines and structure. Compared to Western traditions like Queen Anne (itself influenced by Ming design), Ming furniture has a striking lightness and contemporary feel. Its puzzle-like joinery results in construction that is difficult to lay out and executer but rewards the maker with strength and elegant lightness. With few existing resources on its construction, Ming furniture today mostly remains the domain of a small group of specialists devoted to solving difficult—and sometimes overbuilt—problems. But as a professor, I want my students to engage with traditions outside the Western canon, and I see in Ming furniture an incredible resource: not just for woodworking, but as a design approach that could inform everything from glueless flat-pack furniture to packaging systems. As someone who works primarily on commission, I rarely have the time to develop more experimental or personal work. Familiar Faces | Living Spaces is an ambitious expansion of both of these distinct series—bringing them into spatial dialogue for the first time. While their juxtaposition may seem stark, they are unified in my mind by craft, historical period, and a shared sense of staging. [ Follow on Social Media arrow\_circle\_right ](https://www.instagram.com/nakashimabrown/) ## About Crossings Gallery The Crossings Gallery showcases work by contemporary Allston-Brighton, Harvard, and Boston artists, complemented by artist talks, panel discussions, and interactive workshops. Open during Harvard Ed Portal hours, the gallery also features street-facing exhibitions for public viewing anytime.