The Art of Becoming Independent

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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 of Chicago and have taught and lectured at art and design colleges, but I have never witnessed such focused dedication to the craft of picture-making as demonstrated by the talented people at Becoming Independent during my recent visit.

Cami Weaver, dynamo CEO and twenty year career veteran of Becoming Independent, led the tour of the organization’s labyrinthine 26,000 square foot campus, stopping frequently for intimate chats with the people who participate in BI’s diverse wealth of services. Cami is passionate about “breaking down barriers and de-bunking myths that people with disabilities have limits and are different from people without disabilities.” Among the organization’s extensive offerings are Community Living Support, Adult Education, Employment Services, Family Resource and Advocacy, and Transportation Services. 888 casino arab Cami clearly approaches each client individually and manages to evoke a feeling of extended family for both the BI staff and its over one thousand clients.

Judging from the work hanging on the walls of BI’s galleries, the organization is more than just the largest non-profit in the North Bay, it is ultimately one of its best art schools. ?????? ??? To me, Becoming Independent serves as a model of innovation worth emulating by any business or organization whose goals are community inclusion and good citizenship. I look forward to spending more time working with Cami to develop potential collaborative projects for Wowhaus, and encourage everyone to arrange for a visit that is guaranteed to inspire.

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Conspicuous Skies

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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 make the first, ceremonial cuts in my deodar cedar logs during the Perseid meteor showers this week, it just worked out that way.

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grain of the freshly cut, deodar cedar

My head was literally in the clouds yesterday as I drove down the coast to Evan Shively’s mill, groggy from a night of star-gazing. I munched early apples from our Gravenstein along the way, and watched the whispy mares tails over Tomales Bay on a crystal clear afternoon, eager to meet my client and inspect the cedar logs. I’ve been commissioned to design the interior of a new guest house in Marin, which will feature the air-dried wood milled from over 7000 board feet of deodar cedar salvaged from the local urban forest.

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I thought of Perseus slaying the Medusa as we watched Evan and his crew work in concert to finesse the massive logs onto the bed of the mill to cut the first cant of deodar for the project, the air infused with the wood’s sweet perfume.

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detail from Perseus Rescues Andromeda, by Piero di Cosimo (1515)

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Craftitude

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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 a kind of character when engaged in production handwork, and enjoy the theater of congruency between my craftitude and the thing I’m making, the audience being the end user.

My character’s craftitude is kind of vaudevillian, the comedy being the result of one who ritualizes the mundane skills associated with repetitive handwork, not unlike Norton’s classic antics in ‘The Honeymooners’.

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Art Carney as Ed Norton on ‘The Honeymooners’, demonstrating golf

For me, a Good Day in the studio begins with choosing the right pencil, around which I tend to construct a persona. For drawing I use an HB graphite stick or a Grumbacher charcoal pencil, for drafting I prefer a Staedtler 2H; for fine woodwork I lean towards the Black Warrior 2. bet356 5, and for lofting and rough layout I either use white chalk or a large, blue pencil by Dixon (see above), of which I am running short. I also maintain a collection of pencil sharpeners, including the APSCO ‘Premier Portable’, the Classic ‘Sanford Chicago’, and my favorite, the ‘Giant’, a transparent model made by the Automatic Pencil Sharpener Company. ???? ??? 365 ???? ????? Always start the day with a good, sharp pencil!

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The Week in Bloom

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The King, or Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) travels over 500 miles into the most remote reaches of Northeastern Oregon, where it spawns in springtime in small tributaries like Hurricane Creek. The hatchlings then return to the ocean, following the creek to the Wallowa River, which joins the Grande Ronde before it converges with the Minam, draining the Columbia plateau north of the Wallowa Mountains into the mighty Snake. ???? ?????? ???? 2023

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Hurricane Creek, draining the Wallowa Mountains in Northeastern Oregon

The waters of Hurricane Creek are low this time of year, the snow almost all melted from the mountain peaks. We made frequent stops to cool off as we hiked in 102 degree heat to a waterfall by an alpine meadow, noticing these refreshing flowers along the way: Continue reading “The Week in Bloom”

Post Your Pics and Stories

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Dear Friend of Deep Craft,
I’m excited to announce that Deep Craft is now able to host user-generated content. I’m asking for your help in building an image archive of all things related to the concept of Deep Craft, ranging from your favorite vernacular architecture to jigs, tools, cooking, machines, materials, design, gardening, artisanry and all things handmade. ivermectina yza

To learn more about how this works, please visit the PARTICIPATE page. As Deep Craft grows in popularity, I’m curious to see how it resonates with an expanding network of friends, colleagues and readers. ivermectin safer than imidacloprid I hope you will take the time to upload some images and share your thoughts and stories with the community. The capacity for hosting user-generated content will continue to evolve, so I’d appreciate any feedback as the experiment unfolds. ivermectin pour on goats dosage Also, please feel free to pass this link on to anyone you think may be interested.

Deep thanks,
Scott Constable

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Apricots and Ponderosa

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Looking south over the gorge towards the Seven Devils and the Wallowa Mountains from the tinder dry, high prairie of northeastern Oregon, you’d hardly expect to find apricots and blackberries growing along the banks of the Imnaha as you descend over rocky terrain, past tall stands of Ponderosa pine. Dense pine forests still rim the prairie, and once provided ample material for the early settlers, who built barns using logs and poles of Ponderosa. farmacia guadalajara ivermectina precio The dry climate is kind to the resinous wood, and many old barns are still in use. ivermectin for foxes

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Ponderosa log barn used for horse tack

I love when architecture is reduced to such a simple, durable program. Some of these barns were built over 100 years ago by relatively unskilled hands with simple tools like axes and saws, using materials within walking distance of the grazing meadows. ivermectin cure for coronavirus Part of what sustains a pattern in vernacular architecture is when the constructed thing functions simultaneously as a record of its own making and instruction for its replication.

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Livestock barn framed with Ponderosa poles

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Bicycle Composter Comes Home

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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 in need of amelioration. use of ivermectin in dogs The functional sculpture returns from an exhibition called Terroir: A Sense of Place, curated by Patricia Watts for Art at the Cheese Factory in Petaluma. Last year, MIX debuted at Southern Exposure Gallery in San Francisco, which you can read more about here.

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