Stephen Dolan: Journey of a Designing Eye

Stephan Dolan's six-foot-five inch frame barely fits under the doorframe of his woodshop, but it's his bubbly personality that fills every room. The studio walls are full of imaginative paintings and sculptures, some of which are his while others are created by his wife, artist Jain McClain, who shares the studio space. The floors are covered in finished and unfinished pieces of furniture, exotic slabs of wood and stacks of McClain's paintings.

Fifty-one-year-old Dolan is a furniture maker, painter, sculptor and woodworker who describes himself as a third-generation designer. His grandfather, William Joseph Dolan, designed the interiors of many of Boston's Catholic Churches in the 1920s. His father, Paul, designed the interiors of many buildings and banks in Kansas City, Missouri. His father's mantra, "Stick with the classics," stays with Dolan today.

Dolan has traveled an eclectic art and design career on his way from Kansas City to Incline Village. In his hometown, Dolan's design/construction company was chosen to renovate historic Mabry Hall. After the success of that project, Dolan was singled out to renovate another historic building in Frankfurt, Germany.

After moving to San Francisco in 1980, Dolan became a patron of the arts, as the founder of two non-profit galleries. Twin Palms opened in San Francisco in 1980 and Gallery 44 opened in Oakland in 1987. Both were accredited and funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. And both were stepping stones for artists like Randy Hussong and Michael Gregory who were later accepted at blue chip galleries in San Francisco including Paule Anglim and John Berggruen.

"Art is the influence of my contemporary sensibilities," says Dolan whose paintings have been shown in San Francisco's New Langton Arts and Napa Valley galleries. In 1992, he and his wife Jain decided to start a family and thought Tahoe would be an ideal place to raise kids. Although Dolan had started designing furniture in 1988, his move to higher ground inspired a larger commitment to the craft. He started a furniture company that he eventually named for his two Tahoe-born children, Grace/Thomas Design.

The formula for Dolan's furniture combines beautiful exotic woods and classic lines to create contemporary statements. His enthusiasm for the different woods is contagious. He lights up as he explains where the spotted maple from Canada gets its color, or as he points out the difference in grain between two types of walnut. "The woods for my furniture are researched, hand picked, and environmentally considered," he explains. "When I use exotic and endangered materials, I create shop-produced veneers that are stronger than those that are commercially produced to help preserve this natural resource."

Dolan's artistic journey has been consciously multiplicitous and individualistic. "I avoided 'formal' art education at the university," says Dolan, "and instead focused my studies on writing and psychology. The 'outsider' is the way in which I view my participation in the arts. Although surrounding myself with art, artists and intellectuals in the art arena, I remain outside the genre with my furniture designs."

This artistic position pays some interesting dividends in the art and craft of his furniture design. A recent Dolan table called Antonia's Window was inspired by Tibetan calligraphy. Turning Dog, a table from a collection he designed for The Village at Squaw Valley, resembles a dog looking over its shoulder. His latest furniture series, "Whirling Dervish," is based on his view of our geo-political condition. Other of Dolan's works have a completely different feel, including pieces inspired by French designs from the 1920s and 1930s, such as the works of Michel Dufet. "This was an exciting time period for furniture," he says.

Dolan has a skilled team that helps him turn his illustrations into reality. "Everyone in my studio (up to eight at one time) has lots of talent, some formal education and an artist's ability to articulate and illustrate the same ideas," he says. "We build it, joint it, dovetail it, plane it, sand it, water it and sand it again. I touch every millimeter before we oil, lacquer or in a rare case, stain it. It's amazing how your hand can feel less than a thousandth of an inch. Our eyes are too close to our brains, so at times our vision is cluttered."

When a piece is near completion, Dolan says he feels a rush of joy, and a fear of rejection. It is a fear that is put to rest when each visually stunning work fits like a handin- glove into its new home.

—Brit Flanigan

Dolan's work is available by commission or through Bentley Interior Design in Incline Village and Vista Gallery in Tahoe Vista. Visit www.gracethomas.com or call (530) 546-0151 for details.