Atavistic Memories: The Studio Furniture of Sam Forrest explores the American Studio Furniture Movement through the hands of furniture maker Sam Forrest (1936–2021). Bringing together furniture, painting, and archives, the exhibition considers the intellectual statements of an artisan outside the constraints of the past and the advanced technology of the twentieth century. For Sam, his craft was a quality or state of being in which he permitted his subconscious to reveal itself through skillful woodwork.

Forrest devoted more than fifty years to handcrafted woodworking, from household objects to church altars. Showcased are more than forty works locally sourced from family, friends, collectors, and Sam’s last home, the Haiku (Hyco) House, in Mathews, Virginia. Atavistic Memories: The Studio Furniture of Sam Forrest encapsulates the spiritual tenacity and structural process of a man engaged in the delight and dilemma of the resistance of wood.