Pappy likes to repair things, preferably without spending money, using things diligently saved and gleaned, collected in coffee cans and baby food jars. Pappy is a uniquely American archetype, a perennially frugal character forged by hardship, perseverance and optimism. We all hopefully still have a little bit of Pappy in us. ????? ????? Between projects […]
Category Archives: daily handwork
The Art of Becoming Independent
painting by William Eley of Becoming Independent Communicating by making pictures must be among the oldest, most primal human instincts. For people born with severe developmental disabilities, the realm of art-making sometimes provides the only tangible outlet for the depths of thought and emotion. ???????? ?? ???????? I studied at RISD and the Art Institute […]
Craftitude
Just as clothes suggest a particular attitude or posture, tools lend themselves to a certain stance and reinforce a way of moving. The appropriate outfit complements the set of tools required for a sequence of moves, and ‘craft’ becomes a performance tailored to the task at hand. ????? ?????? ??? ???? I find myself creating […]
Bicycle Composter Comes Home
Ene spins the composter above our vegetable garden MIX, our bike-powered compost tumbler, has found a final home on the Wowhaus compound, perched atop what remains of a pool deck, above our vegetable garden. The tumbler quickly breaks down our kitchen scraps, mixed with ashes and sawdust, and dumps the mixture into a garden bed […]
Scent Memory (Yankee Beach Cottage)
In the powdered donut drawer, a bank’s blue ballpoint pens. Beneath the white pine floor damp sand beds cedar cellar beams. Above the front screen door, the transom’s wavy pane’s trimmed, pinned with enough loving imperfection to shed a season’s rains in a blow, sweetening the chamfered glow.
Field Lab
Bodger’s camp in the Chiltern beech woods, late 19th century (from The English Regional Chair, Bernard D. Cotton, Antique Collector’s Club, 1990) The strategy behind my residency at Mildred’s Lane will be multi-tiered, ranging from the development of a working, craft production facility on site to the promotion and marketing of Goods to be produced, […]
Mowing the Meadow
mowing the high meadow grasses One of my favorite tools is our hand-pushed, mulching mower. As with all of my favorite tools, I like the physical activity and related mental state associated with using it as much if not more than the end result. Mowing the Meadow is a great excuse for taking a long […]