Jon Yarnall views George Nakashima table

The steady flow of summertime visitors to the Portsmouth campus continues and will do so even though the official end of summer is upon us. The beginning of autumn on Saturday, September 23, falls within the time stamp of this week’s issue (Sept. 17-23) and we take this opportunity to mention one recent visitor in particular, who spent the night of Sunday, August 27, in the Manor House after spending a few days in Newport for his nephew’s wedding. I met Jon Yarnall last March on a long solo drive from the Midwest back to Rhode Island. The trip happened to coincide with a white-out blizzard and a Nor’easter, the former which I encountered in Ohio and parts of Pennsylvania, but thankfully not in Bucks County along the Delaware River.

That is where I first met Jon in New Hope, an historic river town, where he resides with his wife, Mira Nakashima-Yarnall, daughter of the late George Nakashima, founder of George Nakashima Woodworkers. Mira was also on our guest list of expected visitors that late August weekend but had to cancel after deciding to self-quarantine at home after contracting Covid-19 while traveling in the Southwest. On a visit to New Hope in July to deliver a 1960’s Portsmouth Nakashima chair in need of refinishing and seat restoration, I had mapped out with Jon a brief itinerary for their day at the Abbey. The couple had been interested in looking at the wood altars situated in the upper gallery of the Abbey Church, part of the ensemble of early edition Nakashima pieces which grace the campus in the form of Refectory dining tables, monastic choir stalls, coffee tables, credenzas, arm- and side chairs, stools, sanctuary ambos, sofas, and benches, as well as hand-made crucifixes. Jon sadly arrived alone by car from Newport, but was in time to participate in the monks’ 9:30 a.m. Conventual Sunday Mass. After meeting and speaking with Abbot Michael Brunner following Mass, Jon surveyed the various furnishings still in place throughout the church and sanctuary and was astounded at how well they had withstood the decades of daily use by the monks, students and others.

Moving into the claustral enclosure and down the hallway to the Refectory where the monks dine, he identified two live-edge tables out of the seven which line the perimeter of the room as not being from the Nakashima workshops. He ascertained this by pointing out the use of metal legs, as well as the type of wood and the thickness of the planks. The same room holds a slant-top reading table and accompanying armchair which is a distinctive variation which the firm developed in the 20th-century based on 18th-century Windsor chairs. The table and chair are used on most weeknights by the monk assigned on any given week to do the reading at dinner from a book, as prescribed 1,500 years ago in the Rule of St. Benedict. After noting that the chair’s style of armrest is no longer used in current production, Jon said that it proves the provenance of the ensemble as an early edition, as ordered by the monks in the 1960’s. Turning the chair upside down, he pointed out the extant word “Portsmouth” handwritten in cursive with a dark crayon or marker when it was finished in the workshop. He recognized the writing style as that of Mr. Martini who was a carpenter years ago, and whose same marking was discovered underneath other chairs in the office of the Head of School, Matt Walter.

During a lively discussion over Sunday lunch with Fr. Paschal Scotti, Jon marveled at the 15th-century English oak linen-paneled wall installed during construction in 1960, as well as the Florentine della Robbia Madonna and Child hanging over another Nakashima piece, a live-edge credenza with 3 sliding doors concealing storage below. The vertical battens used as a design motif on those doors are found on the doors of a second credenza in a main conference room across campus. The batten furniture design echoes that of the exterior and interior wall treatment in much of Italian-American architect Pietro Belluschi’s work at Portsmouth.

Matt Walter and Jon Yarnall examine George Nakashima chairs

Walking into the Cortazzo Administration Building, essentially the main entrance portal to the school for prospective students, their families, and other visitors, Jon was delighted to see the walls lined upstairs and downstairs and in the Winter Garden with Nakashima sofas of all lengths and with matching single-seat chairs. He was assured that during the school year, students take excellent advantage of their comfort and sturdiness. A first-floor corner parlor holds more Windsor-style chairs, these lower to the floor, and a massive, and massively heavy, coffee table sporting distinctive yet practical butterfly joints of laurel wood. Matt Walter made an uncharacteristic summer Sunday afternoon appearance in the building, met Jon, and immediately ushered him upstairs to his office to show off his own suite of chairs.

Fr. Paschal Scotti with Jon Yarnall

After an afternoon of upending furniture all over campus, it was time for a bit of a rest before Vespers back in the church. Later, Jon joined the monks for dinner that evening in the Paneled Room. Other guests were Stephen and Stephanie Devaney, new faculty hires this year living on campus with their seven children. Upon discovering that Stephanie teaches English, Jon made a few book recommendations, including one which she has followed up on – Shakespeare’s Sonnets and the Bible – for her Form III classroom. Several weeks after meeting and dining with Jon, Stephanie sent the message, “I am noticing the Nakashima sofas, chairs and tables everywhere and am grateful to be living among such beauty. I am certain that when students recall their everyday moments of living at PAS, they will have absorbed the spirit of the Nakashima furniture as well. At least as a mom, I am hopeful that whatever I give to my children that is good and beautiful, they will carry with them into their adult lives.”

As for our newly-restored chair, Mira wrote, “We look forward to returning the chair to you and seeing you again one way or another! Thank you for your hospitality to Jon!” And we, too, look forward to the next visit by Jon, but with Mira accompanying him this time.