Furniture that’s off the wall Maine artisans create works that are functional, beautiful

This is not the kind of furniture you’ll find in the latest Pottery Barn catalog. There are no slipcovered couches in soft shades of fern or butter. There are no fauxtique dining room tables (you know, the flea-market look for $900). There are no generic pieces with exposed screws, almost-right joints and unfinished backs or bottoms.

In a world of prefab bookcases and snoozeworthy sofas, it’s hard to think of art and furniture as one and the same. Art usually is something that hangs on the wall over the couch – not the couch itself.

In this exhibit, the furniture is the art, in the form of molded plywood and burled maple, sleek glass and steel, sexy lycra, peeling paint and racquetballs.

Curator Gregory Williams assembled the work of 18 Mainers who are making furniture interesting. The pieces range from a classic Shaker-inspired chest of drawers to a steel and plywood table whose glass top is held up by a couple dozen bright-blue racquetballs.

Some of the pieces are purely whimsical, such as Joshua Eckels’ “Blue Ball Table,” and Joe Hemes’ “Pentaturn Kaleidoscope,” which looks like a giant gauntlet crafted of electrical cable. On top, a pentagon of metal sandwiched between glass holds prisms, marbles, glass pieces, a strainer and metal shapes that can be manipulated with knobs on the side. Light shines through from the bottom, and the piece casts a rainbow of light on the ceiling that vaguely resembles a petri dish.

Hemes’ “Star Mosque” stands beside it like a lace-covered spaceship, waiting to take off. It looks like one of those funky lamps you put on a side table, except it’s huge and free standing, and its light shines in the shape of a star above.

Jack Soley’s “Loveseat” for one stands out like a sore thumb, literally. It’s red, shiny, seductive and curvy, like a big tongue or a high heel. A layer of lycra is stretched tautly over the seat’s frame and held together with a zipper.

Near that, Brian Burwell’s indigo “Counge” is a combination couch and lounge chair that looks like a pair of wings or a sculpture. A pair of yellow and red “Hololamps” by Michael Randazzo hangs above the “Counge” and they shimmer like disco jellyfish.

It’s not all cheeky retro, though. There are crisply modern, minimal pieces as well, such as James Carpenter’s “Cobalt Elliptical Table.” Lit from above, an oval of beveled sapphire glass creates a watery refraction on the floor. The glass rests on intersected arcs of wood and steel.

In Randazzo’s “Star Dining Table,” a circle of smoked glass sits atop a spare aluminum frame whose angles create a subtle star pattern.

C.H. Becksvoort’s music stand reflects the design of a staff in black cherry. It is striking, clean and simple.

Peter Spadone’s “Snake Cabinet” and “Islam Cabinet” in shiny lacquer and burled wood accented with trompe de l’oeil vines are a complex contrast. His work is decadent and alluring, incorporating exquisite detail with function. They’re part display piece, part storage.

The armoires and chests created by Heidi Prior Gerquest and Greg Frangoulis are as rough as Spadone’s cabinets are sleek. They start with architectural salvage pieces and paint them with rich patterns in subtle colors, but they keep the chipped underlayers of paint. They look at once old and new.

The more traditional pieces are extraordinary in their craftsmanship and detail, such as David Margonelli’s lingerie chest in gleaming zebra-grained maple – simple, elegant and beautiful.

Liza Wheeler’s smooth walnut writing chair and Roy Slamm’s “Oxalis Desk” in green, black and white ash and pear wood show two twists on the Mission style.

This show will appeal to furniture buffs and art lovers alike. It highlights the exceptional quality of work by Maine’s furniture makers and it exposes viewers to things they don’t normally see at home. These are high-end, high-design pieces with the utmost attention to detail – a refreshing combination.

“Maine Contemporary Furniture,” through June 10, Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, 872-3228.