The Wharton Esherick Museum (WEM) in Paoli, Pa., is pleased to announce the opening of Telling Tales: WEMs 29th Annual Juried Woodworking Exhibition, on view until Aug. 27. Stories allow us to make sense of the world, find new perspectives, and explore how we want things to be, even if that is very far away from how they are. We understand ourselves through the stories of others, and everyone has an impactful story to tell. Telling Tales acknowledges the importance of storytelling in Eshericks life and career through the exhibition of 25 artists whose work is a testament to the power of a well told story. Across a wide array of artistic approaches, Telling Tales showcases how skillfully and effectively wood can be used to tell stories drawn from the expanse of human experience and feeling. First place winner Lucia Garzns Dads Cart not only tells an intimate and personal story of the artists relationship with her father, but also explores the complex narratives and messages around labor, identity, and tradition that shaped her upbringing in a multicultural immigrant household. The ways in which the stories we tell shape our relationships is at the center of second-place winner Suzi Foxs work. Dale Carnegies book How to Win Friends and Influence People lends its title to Foxs sculptural reimagining of the clamp, a device designed to bind or constrict things together, while Gentle Persuaders uses hammers as a metaphor for the ways in which we communicate our ideas. Third-place winner John R.G. Roth tells stories of changing climates, human activity in the landscape, and the ways we care for the earth through the creation of exquisite miniature worlds. Anna Hitchcocks These Hands Are Getting Heavy, the exhibits honorable mention winner, explores what we expect from survivors of trauma and sexual violence as they tell their stories. These are just four of the narratives shared by the artworks featured in this exhibition, each of which use wood to tell stories that range from personal to societal, humorous to political, specific to universal. The writer and cultural anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson said, The human species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories. Each time someone enters the studio, both words and wood allow us to learn new things about Wharton Esherick. As you spend time with the works featured in Telling Tales, the stories these artists share offer the same kind of learning, engagement, and revelation. Details about visiting can be found at www.whartonesherickmuseum.org.