Adriance Furnituremakers
Cart 0
Testimonials
Dining Tables Occasional Tables Desks Chairs, Stools, Benches Beds Chests of Drawers, Cupboards Bookcases Sea Chests, Blanket Chests Box, Mirror, Clock How to order
Handmade to Last Directions & Hours Awards and Media Antique Restoration Furniture Styles Adriance Craft Culture & Padanaram History
Workshop Videos Workshop & Showroom
Custom Dining Tables Custom Occasional Tables Custom Desks Custom Chairs, Benches, Sofas Custom Chests of Drawers Custom Bookcases, Cupboards Custom Sea Chests, Blanket Chests Custom Cabinetry Custom Bathroom Vanities Custom Beds Custom Boxes
John Magnan - Sculptor Milton Brightman - Artist Francisco Rapoza - Artist
Cart 0
Shop Online Dining Tables Occasional Tables Desks Chairs, Stools, Benches Beds Chests of Drawers, Cupboards Bookcases Sea Chests, Blanket Chests Box, Mirror, Clock How to order Testimonials About Us Handmade to Last Directions & Hours Awards and Media Antique Restoration Furniture Styles Adriance Craft Culture & Padanaram History Workshop Videos & Photos Workshop Videos Workshop & Showroom One-of-a-Kind Portfolio Custom Dining Tables Custom Occasional Tables Custom Desks Custom Chairs, Benches, Sofas Custom Chests of Drawers Custom Bookcases, Cupboards Custom Sea Chests, Blanket Chests Custom Cabinetry Custom Bathroom Vanities Custom Beds Custom Boxes Guest Artists John Magnan - Sculptor Milton Brightman - Artist Francisco Rapoza - Artist
Adriance Furnituremakers

Adriance Furnituremakers is delighted to showcase an exceptional selection of thoughtfully curated artworks by talented local artisans in our Showroom Gallery. Each piece reflects the creativity and skill of its maker, bringing warmth and character to our space. We invite you to explore this vibrant collection, where artistry meets craftsmanship, and discover the unique stories behind each work.

John Magnan began his formal art study upon retiring early from a successful technical program management career. After completing the post-Baccalaureate program at Maryland Institute, College of Art in Baltimore, he attended the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth where he earned an MFA in sculpture. John created three solo exhibitions which were shown at multiple venues. In addition to his traveling exhibits, John created over a dozen permanent sculpture installations in hospital, corporate, urban, and private settings. His works include a full permanent installation in the Atrium Lobby of the UMass School of Law, and a national project with Eli Lilly and Co., creating three public sculptures to honor clinical trial participants. 

“Carving Wildlife”
Buzzards Bay Coalition

Posted November 19, 2025 · By Scott Lajoie

Wildlife can be very graceful, whether it is birds in flight or in repose, fish swimming, or eel grass wavering in the ocean. When nature’s creations and motions are captured in sculpture, the three dimensions come to life with the energetic striations of the wood with which they are reproduced or reflections of a certain metal.

Artist John Magnan uses a small tool to shave away at the heron’s neck.

Artist John Magnan has tackled all of the above for the Buzzards Bay Coalition.

His fish sculpture “Abundance” features a school of wooden fish swimming above the top floor conference table at the Coalition’s New Bedford headquarters. “Habitat” is a permanent outdoor public sculpture of seven stainless steel sculptures representing eelgrass in its habitat in the walkway outside of those headquarters (Magnan designed them; New Bedford steel fabricating outfit Horacio’s produced them). He is also the woodworking talent behind the Coalition’s unique bay scallop Guardian Awards.

Now, in a collaboration with furniture maker Gary Adriance, Magnan is producing three works that will be sold at Adriance’s furniture studio in South Dartmouth, of which a portion of proceeds will go to the Coalition.

Magnan has already completed Blue Heron in Flight, which has a 40-inch wingspan, in mahogany. His current project, a yet-to-be titled standing blue heron produced from the same slab of wood, is in progress in his Mattapoisett basement studio. A significant challenge with having a standing heron is whether the bird’s accurately sized skinny legs will support a body of solid wood. That is why Magnan had bored holes in the legs to buttress them with thin but strong metal rods.

He says that getting the overall shape of the bird right is the hardest part, and that once he is satisfied and moves on to the surface details, he can relax a little. “It is subtractive sculpture, so I can play with the feathers,” he explains. “If it is not to my liking, I can sand it down and try again.”

Artist John Magnan lays a photo of a heron on the sculpture’s face for reference.

He uses a lot of templates for visual reference, and has loved studying the shape of a heron. After completing his second heron, he is moving on to another wildlife species. “It’s not that I am sick of it,” he says. “I’ve expressed its life as best I can.” He is thinking of tackling the cormorant, specifically one drying its wings, a very familiar but haunting pose associated with the native bird. Other sculpture subjects have yet to be determined.

Magnan has not been an artist his entire life; he came to it through a career reset. After 28 happy and successful years as a National Security Agency senior executive, Magnan, a long-time woodworker, realized he had a craft skill but no art training. “I took advantage of early retirement buyouts to pursue formal art training,” he says. He attended the Maryland Institute College of Art and then UMass Dartmouth for his Masters in Fine Arts in 1999. When I asked him what brought him here, he replied “a state art school on the water.”

In addition to the Buzzards Bay Coalition, he has produced permanent public installations for Eli Lilly and Company, Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, UMass Dartmouth School of Law, and Southcoast Hospital Group. His traveling exhibits have appeared locally and toured nationally, and he enjoys working with private clients to create unique installations for their homes. Magnan credits his prior management experience with giving him the skills to handle more complicated art projects and coordinating the tours of large and complex exhibits.

Magnan has produced all of the Coalition’s Guardian awards.

If you would like to see Magnan’s current project or purchase one of his project’s pieces, please visit:

ADRIANCE FURNITUREMAKERS
288 Gulf Road, South Dartmouth, MA
Showroom Open Tuesday thru Friday 9-4.

On a computer, click & hover over artwork for more info…

"Blue Heron in Flight"

"Blue Heron in Flight"

$9700

by John Magnan

Hand-carved wall sculpture in Mahogany.

~ 36”W x 38”H

Custom Heron Commissions Accepted

Magnan2-1152x1536.jpeg
"Blue Heron in Flight"

"Blue Heron in Flight"

$9700

by John Magnan

Hand-carved wall sculpture in Mahogany.

~ 36”W x 38”H

Custom Heron Commissions Accepted

"Blue Heron in Flight"

"Blue Heron in Flight"

$9700

by John Magnan

Hand-carved wall sculpture in Mahogany.

~ 36”W x 38”H

Custom Heron Commissions Accepted

"Infinite Love" - Möbius Strip

"Infinite Love" - Möbius Strip

$5000
“INFINITE LOVE”

Möbius Strip with Hand-Carved Mayflower Blossoms & Leaves

Solid Cherry Wood

John Magnan

               

"Blue Heron in Flight"

"Blue Heron in Flight"

$9700

by John Magnan

Hand-carved wall sculpture in Mahogany.

~ 36”W x 38”H

Custom Heron Commissions Accepted

"Blue Heron in Flight"

"Blue Heron in Flight"

$9700

by John Magnan

Hand-carved wall sculpture in Mahogany.

~ 36”W x 38”H

Custom Heron Commissions Accepted

Magnan4-1152x1536.jpeg
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Previous Next
"Blue Heron in Flight"
Magnan2-1152x1536.jpeg
"Blue Heron in Flight"
"Blue Heron in Flight"
"Infinite Love" - Möbius Strip
"Blue Heron in Flight"
"Blue Heron in Flight"
Magnan4-1152x1536.jpeg

“After 40 plus years of handcrafting heirloom furniture and cabinetry, we have learned it’s all about beautiful wood, fine craftsmanship and You!

We look forward to meeting you in our showroom.” … Gary S. Adriance

Adriance Furnituremakers
288 Gulf Road,
Dartmouth, MA, 02748,
United States
(508) 993-4800 gary@adriance.com
Hours
Mon closed
Tue 9:00 to 4:00
Wed 9:00 to 4:00
Thu 9:00 to 4:00
Fri 9:00 to 4:00
Sat closed
Sun closed
Contact Us

ADRIANCE FURNITUREMAKERS WORKSHOP & SHOWROOM

288 Gulf Road • South Dartmouth, MA

Located in Padanaram on the SouthCoast of Massachusetts between Newport, RI & Cape Cod, MA

Showroom Open 9-4 Tuesday through Friday • 508-993-4800