A hallowed, inherent grace surrounds David Ebner’s sculpted pieces.

His scallion coat racks in cast bronze and bleached and painted ash; his sternum coffee table in zebrawood with glass top; his rocking chair in red oak and other items, all with beautiful, almost otherworldly curves and details. 

“Come back for a second glance, a studied musing, a sale,” they whisper.

Ebner, a studio craft artist from Brookhaven hamlet, is exhibiting his work, “Five Decades of Original Studio Furniture Handcrafted on Long Island,” at the Bridgehampton Museum’s newly restored Nathaniel Roger’s House, beginning Sept. 26 to Oct. 25.

He sat with the Advance in his home, a quiet refuge, perfect for an artist. Ebner’s creations surrounded us, some of which would be delivered soon to the museum for exhibit. His workshop was steps away.

Making things with his hands started in his parents’ Buffalo basement when he was around 10. “It was a place to go to be alone, a sanctuary” he recalled. “It was a small shop, a corner my dad used for mending and making fences and other things. It sat there for a few years before I used it.” Ebner’s promise to clean the tangle of tools, then his eventual creation of two A-frame Christmas mangers—one for his mother, one for his godmother—from scraps he found lying around, began his journey.

It didn’t hurt that he frequently walked past Frank Lloyd Wright homes. Or that The Albright-Knox Art Gallery, now known as the Buffalo AKG Art Museum, was nearby. The museum, in the middle of that city’s cultural district, offering modern and contemporary art, was a virtual wonderland for Ebner.

A high school woodworking course beckoned for four years. His college? The School for American Craftsmen at Rochester Institute of Technology.

Ebner called Blue Point his first Long Island home in 1973, moving to Blue Point Avenue across from Our Lady of the Snow, where he  set up a workshop in his one-car garage. “You want to be close to New York City, with its access to galleries, museums and artists, but also near the artists in the East End like de Kooning and Louise Nevelson,” he said.

One of the first pieces he made from his studio was a rocking horse and a little stool. “That’s in Renwick Gallery [of the Smithsonian American Art Museum],” he said of the latter. “I still make that today.”

Ebner is a calm, modest man, probably because he’s always working, mostly on wood, concentrating on visualizing a piece, producing a thumbnail sketch, then a full-size blueprint, then the actual piece. He was aided by Al Roe, a Bellport Fire Department firefighter, an Ebner assistant for 45 years, in his studio that morning. “He’s very talented,” Ebner said. “I practically think what I want, and he gets the idea.”

He uses a lot of hand tools. “It took me about 15 years to acquire equipment that helps me be more productive,” he said. “But I kind of liked the romance of starting out with basic tools, then building up to the efficient tools.” That would be items like the wide belt sander and the steam bend with boiler. Domestic and imported hardwood are his basics for wood items (oak and ash are easier to bend). “The character of the piece determines the wood,” he said.

No vacation travel, though he’d like to. (“I don’t have the help I used to have,” he said.) He used to fish. Anywhere from 35 to 40 hours a week of bench time, seven days a week is regularly devoted. For one item, it’s three days to a couple of months of creation. But he does tear himself away to listen to local blues bands at Bobbique and The Tiki Bar in Patchogue and People’s Pub in Bayport.

Besides his home, the artistic walk to his 3,000-square-foot studio offers an arboretum’s delight: variegated Japanese red pine, Bergman pine, and other unusual green things. Pots of red geraniums dot the area and there’s an undulating slate footpath rimmed with herringbone brick work. Even the doors to his workshop are beautiful.

Inside, it’s piles of wood parts, tools, lathe tables with skylights illuminating the space. The wood casts a warm glow. You would want to work here.

His first big sale was to Marty Richards and Mary Lee Johnson, facilitated by Elaine Benson, who had a gallery in Bridgehampton. Benson suggested he stop by their house. “They bought my big onion chest and one of my scallion coat racks,” he recalled. “Elaine was really helpful and gave me a leg up.” 

His work can be seen locally at Pamela Lerner Home & Design, where he held his first Bellport village exhibit in 2016. “It was both rooms showing the work,” said Lerner, who still has the exhibit on her website; also, pieces for sale displayed. “The scallion seems to be the big seller. The New York Times did an article on it calling it an iconic piece. (The Bellport has one.)  The rocking chair, the music stand are big sellers, too. It’s timeless and transitional, can be placed with classic and modern.” Ebner’s handmade candlesticks, tables, rockers, lamps and other items have also been exhibited in the Smithsonian Institute, American Crafts Museum in New York, the Cooper Hewitt Museum, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and at Art Basel, Switzerland.

He was cited by the Suffolk County Historical Society with a Living Treasure Award, their first.

Will he wear a tux at his opening night with over 40 of his works? He chuckled. “If I wasn’t wearing blue jeans, people would be disappointed,” he said.