"The authors do a credible job assessing and describing the handiwork of untold Canadian craftsmen. Equally impressive are James Chambers' photographs, which impart a fine-art feel to this book in the way they make, say, a simple late-19th century tripod table itself look like a work of art." -- The Globe and Mail.
"Just as architecture catalogues culture, furniture tells us much about a society. Purely functional in its most basic form, tables, beds and even coat hangers are given ornamental treatment to add depth and meaning to the world we live in...The book tackles each group separately and thoroughly." -- University of Alberta folio.
"A fan of the unique esthetics of western folk furniture - simple lines, quirky decorative touches, bright colours, often in daring combinations - Rowan is also a proponent of the objects as repositories of cultural and historic meaning worthy of more expansive museum collections and academic study...Aside from the historic value of these pieces, Rowan says western folk furniture is valued by many fine artists for its intrinsic esthetic qualities." -- Gilbert Bouchard, The Edmonton Journal.
"Many of the pieces represented were saved or salvaged from workshops or barns by the efforts of pickers and museum personnel traveling Canada's western provinces in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as by dealers and collectors who recognized the cultural value of various pieces...[E]specially commended to the attention of folk art collectors, as well as students of Canadian history, art, and culture." -- Reviewer's & Internet Bookwatch(es), The Midwest Book Review, December 2004.
"In the end, there is nothing effete or contrived about any of this furniture. It is as honest, straightforward and workmanlike as the women and men who built it. It is also really quite stunning." -- Marc Horton, The Edmonton Journal.
"[Folk Furniture] contains more than 100 beautiful photos of the four immigrant groups' furniture, showing the skill and variety in the pieces they made. The book highlights the four groups' histories as people subject to religious persecution or severe economic hardship who made a new life in Canada's West, and shows how their experience was reflected in their craftmanship." Canadian Home Workshop Magazine, Winter 2004
"[A]n impressive visual record and commentary on the culture and values of four ethno-cultural groups as reflected in their items of furniture. Many of the pieces represented were saved or salvaged from workshops or barns by the efforts of pickers and museum personnel traveling Canada's western provinces in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as by dealers and collectors who recognized the cultural value of various pieces..[E]specially commended to the attention of folk art collectors, as well as students of Canadian history, art, and culture." -- Reviewer's & Internet Bookwatch(es), The Midwest Book Review, December 2004
"The extraordinary furniture documented in this book represents the history and beliefs, as well as the accomplishments, of Doukhobor, Hutterite, Mennonite and Ukrainian craftspeople, who worked collectively or individually across the four western provinces. It's wonderful furniture, presented in a fine book. I only wish there could have been several hundred more examples included." -- Tom McFall, Alberta Craft Magazine, Winter 2004
"There are more than 100 colour photographs over which to pore in this splendid book. There is, one suspects, a story behind each piece displayed here, stories of hope and love and despair. In the end, there is nothing effete or contrived about any of this furniture. It is as honest, straightforward and workmanlike as the women and men who built it. It is also really quite stunning." -- Marc Horton, The Edmonton Journal
