Rosanne Somerson has been called “a consummate technician, aesthete, and breaker of barriers” who believes that pieces of furniture should be more than utilitarian, inanimate objects. In her work, Somerson seeks to achieve a physical, emotional, and intellectual engagement between what she calls her “furniture object” and the viewer/user.  Her Bench for Smith College is made of wenge, an extremely dark wood native to Africa.  She created contrasting colors in the bench through a bleaching process that whitened the wood in parts of the seat and legs.