polishing the Dining Commons tables at MLK Jr Middle School in Berkeley You might be surprised to find well-polished, handmade wooden furniture in a public middle school dining commons, let alone any lunch to serve upon it. You might be equally surprised that the tables, benches and stools of Martin Luther King Jr Middle School […]
Tag Archives: deep craft
The Week in Bloom
“There’s nothing that keeps its youth, So far as I know, but a tree and truth.” -Oliver Wendell Holmes, The Deacon’s Masterpiece, 1858 After last year’s bumper crop of apples and the disarmingly early drop of the Gravensteins, we vowed to do our best not to let any go to waste this season. Our Gravensteins […]
Expedition Cabinet
sketch/proposal for the Expedition Cabinet I have nothing against Fine Furniture, except that I typically favor the opposite. Give me a scavenged roadside pie safe over a Biedermeier sideboard any day. It’s not that I’m into ‘outsider art’ per se, or even collecting antiques, or that I find comfort in reverse snobbery. It’s just that […]
Introducing Pappy
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 […]
Rigorous Fun
After a day of rides at the amusement park with my daughter and her friend, my last thought on the last day of her summer vacation before the first day of the first year of high school, goes something like, structural rigor is most robust when in the service of Fun.
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 […]
Conspicuous Skies
Perseus cluster (image by Ken Crawford, Rancho Del Sol Observatory) I do my best to court coincidence, but would not consider myself superstitious. Like anyone, I just find it reassuring when cosmic events complement the task at hand and try to pay attention to patterns as they emerge. ??????? ???????? I did not plan to […]