ROCKPORT — “Current Student Work” has just opened at the Messler Gallery in Rockport. The exhibition showcases furniture and furnishings created by students attending the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship’s flagship professional training, the Nine-month Comprehensive. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and the public is warmly encouraged to visit.

“If the proof is in the pudding,” said Tim Rousseau, the Comprehensive’s lead instructor, in a news release, “then this is one tasty dish!”

Since September, his students have dedicated themselves to advancing their technical skills and cultivating their creative voices by spending as much as seven days a week in the workshop.

Messler Gallery Director Victoria Allport said, “The work speaks eloquently for what they have achieved.”

This year’s Comprehensive participants range in age from 25-72.

Coming from backgrounds in Buddhist ministry, neuropsychology, carpentry, surgery, cabinet making, finance, baking, and military service, they include Chris Crotty, of Massachusetts; William Dailey, of Texas; Mark Johnson, of Massachusetts; Ben Knoll, of Kansas; Arnaldo Politanski, of Brazil; David Rothstein, of North Carolina; Jeff Stekl, of Michigan; Deven St. Laurent, of California; Madeleine Stewart, of Colorado; Christaan Van Vliet, of North Carolina; Andrew Wilcox, of Washington; and Anastasia Woodruff, from Minnesota.

The nine-month Comprehensive is designed for aspiring professional furniture makers and dedicated amateurs who seek indepth training at the highest standard of excellence.

Students complete sequential projects that take them from woodworking fundamentals through fine points of design and craftsmanship.

During the course, Rousseau is joined by a dozen co-teachers with expertise in specialties such as casework, finishing, carving, drawing, bending, veneering, and chair making.

Instructors from Maine include furniture maker Kendrick Anderson, finisher Seth Bosdell, CNC adept Mark Juliana, marquetarian Jim Macdonald, furniture designer Adam Rogers, architect Matthew Silverio, and carver Valdemar Skov.

Traveling instructors are furniture makers Bruce Beeken, of Vermont; Owain Harris, of New Hampshire; Michael Korsak, of Pennsylvania; and Aled Lewis, from Wales, plus turner Beth Ireland, from Florida.

The Center for Furniture Craftsmanship is a nonprofit, year-round school that offers courses in furniture making and related arts such as carving and woodturning. 

For more information, call 207-594-5611, e-mail victoria@woodschool.org or visit woodschool.org.  The Messler Gallery is located on the campus of the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, at the corner of Route 90 and Mill Street in Rockport.