A few years ago I designed a pedestal to be used as either a table base or, when scaled down, to support a bench. I wanted to evoke the grace and solidity of classical Greek architecture, but based my contours and proportions on the native oak and acorn instead of the acanthus of the classical […]
Category Archives: bioregion/vernacular
David McLaughlin
Ene and I were recently invited to be visiting artists at Waterfall Arts in Belfast, Maine. We will be facilitating a three day symposium on Deep Craft from November 13-16. When I was visiting the site over the summer I had the good fortune to meet David McLaughlin, an artist and set designer who lives […]
Radical Generosity
I had to hit the ground running upon my return home from travels abroad. Ene and I were scheduled to deliver the furnishings I made for the new Edible Schoolyard Dining Commons, and I had just one week to pull everything out of storage and prepare for final assembly and installation. The building’s completion had […]
Eggamoggin Reach Regatta
I’ve been a wooden boat enthusiast for over twenty years, so jumped at the opportunity to crew aboard my friend’s recently launched, Herreshoff-designed Buzzards Bay 30 in this year’s Eggamoggin Reach Regatta in and around Penobscot Bay. I flew into Maine from Oslo on a disorienting sequence of flights and arrived at the Belfast City […]
Tallin to Paarnu Countryside
The architecture and wood craft of the rural reaches of this region are remarkably consistent and appear not to have changed for centuries. Traditional wooden houses combine areas for livestock and threshing alongside living quarters under one roof. Roofing in this region consists of thin split shingles of aspen, overlapping in alternating rows, making silvery […]
Vana Linn
Founded as a walled city on a natural harbor in the 13th Century, Tallinn was originally built by the Hansiatic League as part of a network of Northern European fortified towns, unified against the threat of Viking attack. Estonia has ever since been under Danish, Swedish, German and Russian control, with only about twenty consecutive […]
Oslo and the Vikings
We left Tvedestrand for Oslo for two nights on our way to Estonia, leaving just enough time to take in the city and visit museums. With the dollar weak, Oslo is disarmingly expensive and we were lucky to have Unni’s apartment to ourselves, living on bolle, salami, apples and potato salad as we navigated the […]