From childhood forts to gallery furniture with emerging local artist Ric Geyer

For years, Ric Geyer has been creating spaces for artists to thrive and grow. But this Friday, December’s First Friday, he’s having a coming out party as an artist himself, an artist who works in wood to craft distinctive pieces that are as much art as they are furniture and that express his honed woodworking skills and an evolving, imaginative sense of design.

Geyer’s artist studio complexes, gallery spaces, music and event venues and street art/graffiti spaces have stretched from Detroit to Atlanta to Macon. Regardless of their exact form and emphasis from place to place, Geyer considers that first and foremost they’re art incubators in much the same way business incubators are designed to meet the needs and help small businesses thrive and grow.

The Detroit Free Press once called his 4731 Grand River complex the best arts facility in the city. In Atlanta, one of his spots, 787 Windsor, was voted Best Event Venue by Creative Loafing Magazine. It was home to the annual Afropunk Festival, concerts, corporate events and product launches for the likes of Red Bull, Miller Beer, 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios and others while still giving artists a place to work and develop.

In Macon, he created Triangle Arts on Lower Elm Street in Macon’s industrial east side. It’s primarily an artist’s haven with studio spaces, art markets and other events featuring talents such as rising folk artist Rhonda Miller and established painter and muralist Kevin “Scene” Lewis.

Forbes Magazine called Triangle Arts “a creative hub like no other.” As it evolves, a number of the sprawling site’s warehouses and Quonset huts are being used for art of an even different sort: Macon Classics booming auto restoration and customization work.

There’s much to say about the philosophy and work of Geyer’s art incubators, but this Friday is about Geyer the artist-woodworker-furniture builder. His work is on show all month at the McEachern Arts Center, 332 Second St., with a 6 p.m. Friday reception and artist talk following. It is free.

“I’d rather have my work be in a museum than a furniture store,” Geyer told me. “Every piece I do is a prototype. It’s a finished piece of furniture, but it’s something I probably won’t repeat, not exactly anyway. Once I’ve done it, I’m ready to move on to the next piece, the next design, the next challenge.”

Geyer said what he enjoys more than woodworking itself is designing a piece and then, much like a painter, solving problems that arise trying to make what he’s envisioned come to life. He doesn’t consider himself a traditional carpenter and doesn’t use many of the age-old, pre-industrial, classic techniques like intricate dovetail joints to join corer pieces of wood together.

“That takes too much time,” he said. “I’d rather spend the time thinking up what to do next or how to solve problems.”

Of late, Geyer’s furniture is typified by flowing curves rather than angular lines. This is in part due to his discovery of bendable plywood.

“I’m interested in finding new materials and then figuring out the best ways to use them,” he said. “Bendable plywood has been a game changer. You really can truly bend it but when you glue two pieces together it’s firm and strong.”

Also unlike most traditional carpenters, Geyer said he doesn’t work from premade plans or even ones he creates for his own work. For that, he works from what he envisions with some simple drawings that can as easily be ignored as used.

“Part of a chair may end up entirely different than what I originally thought or drew,” he said. “When I start working with the wood, I may see it go in a very different direction and I’m happy to follow that.”

And he does it with skill. There’s nothing haphazard about bringing a piece to life, just as a sculptor does fine work by plying tools to stone.

And another late addition to his work, due largely to the colorful influence of Miller’s paintings, he’s begun using color in new, expanded ways in what he makes.

Geyer first started building things when he was a kid. By the time he was 11 or so, he said he’d built a 22-foot-tall fort from 4x4s and 4×8 sheets of plywood. He got them from around his home and it got him into trouble.

“My dad was a sales guy, but he was a frustrated architect-builder, too,” Geyer said. “He built things and built a couple of houses. I got the lumber from what he had around but it wasn’t from the scrap pile. It was good wood and I got grounded. Still, my friends and I always had the best forts.”

Young Geyer continued to make things until he went to school to get his accounting degree at the University of Akron and later an MBA in marketing strategy and strategic planning from the Wharton School. From there, it was corporate work with Ford Motor Co. and consultant work with Deloitte. He’s worked for the mayors of both Detroit and Atlanta.

“When I started doing the art incubators, I started including wood shops and that got me back into it. I’ve shown my furniture before but, being surrounded by artists, I never considered myself one or what I make as art. But that’s changed now.”

While working with the Atlanta Mayor’s Office, Geyer added another layer to his woodworking resume. Assigned to a project at Warm Springs, where Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt took advantage of the restorative, naturally heated waters, he discovered Eleanor’s defunct furniture company, Valkill Furniture. Remarkably, and against the odds, he was able to secure the trademark from the Roosevelt family and now produces a separate line of tables and furnishings bearing that marque.

Whether it’s making furniture or other aspects of Geyer’s work, he said he’s found value and greater creativity results when there’s a particular supportive community involved.

“When I worked at Ford, I was surrounded by very conservative executives in shirts and ties,” he said. “I found out the really good, creative ideas came from the people who didn’t look normal like that. Guys who dressed a little differently wore leather ties and didn’t worry too much about fitting in. You’re more creative when you’re in a diverse group where not everybody is like you. We have decals at Triangle that say what we say all the time: diversity drives creativity. The more diverse the people who come together the more likely you are to get a crisp, new, good idea.”

Geyer’s website is ricgeyer.com. The McEachern exhibit is titled “Progression: From the Archives of Ric Geyer” and it follows the overall progression of his work from early days, including a book of photos of significant periods.

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Other announced First Friday art options include the ongoing holiday gift show and sale, “Favorite Things,” at the 567 Center. It’s from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on 1st Street. Complementary beverages are available.

At Gallery West on 3rd Street, an exhibit featuring Doug Miles, one-time rock and roller and member of the Boogie Chillun, Orgone Zable and Raggs, is set for 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. This is Miles’s first solo show at age 75 and those coming are advised to expect the unexpected. There will also be complimentary food and beverages.

Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com. Find him on Instagram at michael_w_pannell.