I began a new Camera Obscura portrait project a few weeks back. Here are a few. For those I met: the project got delayed due to a covid outbreak on the summit that layed me up and now a wildfire evacuation. I will resume this project when the chaos settles.

4 new edition Basecamp Boxes, 2024

New water tripod series, in blue. Humboldt Toiyabe Natl Forest. Spring 2023.

Water Tripod (from a series), Oct 2022. Sierra Nevada 7,300 ft

Some photographs hanging in Quincy Ca. Plumas Arts-March 2022.

I placed a few objects from a new series of site objects. These two of 3 (seen) are holding water bladders in the Plumas National Forest. This series is not quite resolved. These locally sourced tripods are meant to hint or glance a visitor against the preciousness of water…a kind of offering for (whom?)?

Abby and Jack using the Balance Brace. Sept 2021.

Technique:

Place the inside foot, facing each other, side by side with the feet aligned so that heel meets toe. Place the outside leg/foot back for stability and balance.👉🏾(In the images you can see Abby and Jack don’t have their inside foot aligned properly. They shuffled a bit, but their feet as seen are not where they would be at the start.)

Each Person holds the alternating recessed grips (one uses the colored grips, the other uses the non-colored grips) closest to each person’s body.

Begin by holding the brace at the core of the stomach.

On a count, attempt to throw the other person off balance. Off balance can be determined before engaging. It can be as slight as one foot having to be lifted off the ground in order to prevent being pitched downward. Perhaps allow for a foot slide?

This is a Base Camp Box Collaboration with the Lost Sierra Company of Plumas County. This box will test the Lost Sierra Co. fans’ interest in a Lost Sierra Base Camp Box. If people bite then a limited first edition of 5 boxes will be made to specs a little different than the one here, using different ply. This box was made using all reclaimed plywood in conjunction with another made for a client. The first editions will be with top shelf finished ply with some different interior dims.

Base Camp Box with built-in isobutane stove. Winter 2020/21

First set of objects from a new series. These are hunting tools. 2021

Plumas National Forest- Winter 2021

Small object to be placed.

Various prints, darkroom and digital, finding homes here and there.

Summer 2020, Select Photos

Mule deer archival inkjet print, framed and hung.

Looking west to the Pacific coast mountain range from high in the northern Sierra Nevada, across the Sacramento valley.

A recent project. PCT with four viewers and four words: Polymath, Protean, Sisu, Telos.

Several years ago I had to set aside a project dear to me and my overall practice. The project trailer, Capere, sat covered.

I began taking it apart at the end of last year, knowing how I would approach the re-design and re-build for two years. The timing had to be right with such a large project. I wanted to begin it knowing I could finish it in a proper time frame.

It is now completely dismantled down to the floor. Next month I will begin rebuilding it. The main issue in the initial design was the floor span relative to the metal frame of the trailer. It required many structural issues I no longer need. It was originally conceived having a first life as a live-in trailer. It would then just be used as a mobile project trailer and exhibition space.

The initial use was no longer needed, so all the structural issues could be eliminated.

The key part of the redesign is to simply shrink the foot print to the metal frame dimensions. My studio practice and other experiences have also excitedly led me to fabric as the material for the exterior walls, rather than using metal siding as originally intended, however it will still have the metal roof I envisioned and design touches that make it an intriguing vessel in the landscape. In all, I no longer have to design the structure with weight as a worry which will make a more intuitive design-build process with aesthetics still in mind.

Near the Hoover Wilderness Area...fabulous sub-alpine and high desert wide angle trip.

Casey Clark is taking over, so to speak, the Pottery that has been known as Great Basin Pottery. His mentor, Paul, passed away unexpectedly. Paul and his community built a giant anagama kiln. Paul, with the kiln, was the center of a large pottery community. Casey's property is next to Paul's. He is in the process of building out his studio from a pretty decrepit barn while he lives in a prospector's tent. Here Casey is in the studio Paul used while he is in the process of moving out of his studio in Reno.

J. Mohr catching and releasing browns in the Owens Gorge. Winter '19. He works on his own fly designs, veering from some conventional wisdom, based on research of fish habits, water flow and other natural variables. Here he used a midge pupa.

Last of the 5th ed. Base Camp Box, charcoal and blue. 2019

Plumas National Forest.

Mostly finished mobile Sheep Shearing Stand for Sarah Lillegard, winter 2019. Sarah and the sheep stand on the platform with the shearing motor over head. It can be transported to remote sites that may not offer a place to hang the motor. The height of the motor can be changed by sliding it up and down the vertical spine. The motor is heavy so pins are used (throughout the build as well) to allow for it to be detached with ease. I added a few finishing finer touches after these photos were taken, but this is basically the project in whole.

OG Base Camp Box, Ventana Wilderness base camp- Fall '18. The heat up above the ocean was surprising this time, flies galore, a strange camp visitor hiking with large loppers, too-violent waves down below and just amazing wilderness that can tire one out. Glorious nonetheless.

Spec drawing for Sarah Lillegard's Sheep Shearing Stand. This mobile support for her shearing motor will be done in the next few months.

 

I delivered a new custom Base Camp Box this week. It will be on a sailing boat on the ocean for the next 4 months. The client wanted an empty vessel, and I added some twists: such as an oak top that can be used as a cutting board if desired.

 

Scouting a location along the PCT to place the optical viewers I showed in Toronto. I have to make stronger vertical elements after this effort to place them and come back to the PCT at another location. Unfortunately I've missed the high season for thur-hikers.

 

A fiber print in fixer, part of my PCT thru-hiker series. This is Bull Frog, who had to get off the Pacific Crest Trail due to an injury. I gave him a ride to the closest town for a bed and shower before he flew back to France.

 

Back from Toronto and the very well put together, curated, Grow Op 2018. My optical viewers were placed throughout the 3rd and 4th floors of the Gladstone Hotel, an arts and culture leader in the city of Toronto.

 

Heading up to Toronto for this great mixed discipline annual gathering of ideas, art and architectural/urban planning. I shipped a new series of wood opticons with color slides to be placed on site.

Some head shots of the optical slide viewers heading to Toronto. Each has a curated color slide relative to the idea and reality of "Territory", today. The image of the base shows the supports I made for their placement in an exhibition space. Outside, on site, these will just be pushed into the ground.

 

The wood optical viewers I'll be sending to Toronto are almost together. Color slides teasing out the idea and reality of "Territory" in our time will be inside them.

 

I recently built a wood truck deck for camera work and outback porching. Not quite finished...

Completed commission: three book cubbies and a fireplace mantel with supports. Winter '17-18. (I'm waiting to post an image of the mantel after I mount it. The clients are redoing the wall around their fireplace.)

One darkroom print from a series of Pacific Crest Through Hikers. Summer 2017, continuing. This dude was resting at the Old Highway 40 intersection of the PCT on Donner Summit.

 

A commissioned fireplace mantel and supports was dropped off to the clients. I'll mount it after they re-build the wall around their fireplace.

 

I took the new ed. Base Camp Box out with me to try it out.

Eastern Sierra Nevada.

 

Lime Base Camp Box, 5 ed.-winter '17.

Jovi and Misty claimed two of the five 5th ed. Base Camp Boxes. These are Bankson Lake blue. I made a bright yellow green paint for the next one I am putting together which I will use for marketing. All the panels and bones are made for the series.

 

Preliminary sketch for a new Base Camp Box, edition of 4- winter 2017-18. Two are claimed by Jovi and Misty. The Camp Box design has moved to a place where I will make cubbies (with open backs) as components that slide into the main form rather than use shelving supports for horizontal pieces of ply. This more modular design adds a little weight to the box, but will also increase the vertical strength. I'm going to play with using corner wedges as fastening points for the cubby walls as well as connecting points for whatever the user desires: a tight line to hold back items inside the cubbies, etc. I'll probably also paint these slightly different colors.

 

Two completed metal stands for mirrors. A Patagonia commission.

 

       

I'm working on a new optical viewer series, for color slides. The viewer-slide holders are longer,  more elegant and the vertical support is much more svelte. Each viewer head will rest on a small horizontal wood piece attached to the stand that ultimately is meant to be planted in the ground (another Pacific Crest Trail destination). I'm exhibiting 6 of this series in Toronto. These will be supported by svelte legs-as-tripods.

One of three commissions in motion: Metal mirror stands for Patagonia. Cut, weld, grind. Two heavy mirrors were brought in from the Portland store, but there isn't any wall space left in the brick industrial space in Reno. Metal stands on casters.

A fall Yosemite excursion brought us to an eastern Sierra Nevada cirque lake. I have to process film from Yosemite.

 

I don't regularly profile my student's projects here, but I'm beginning to shift what I do on Instagram to this online presence. My 3-D art class is in progress. This is an object from John. The objective or parameters to work within were to use fabric to create an object that holds volume and has mass (or suggests it). I also included an image of Sherri's larger object in progress.

New curatorial project: Tent of Curiosities. Plumas Sierra County Fair 2017. I inserted contemporary art into the fair-carnival context. Eight art objects from eight artists inside small plywood boxes that had to be opened. An optical viewer I built for the Tent of Curiosities was placed outside as bait to draw people towards the tent. This project also served as a warm up towards using the tent in other contexts for other objects and work, specifically near the Pacific Crest Trail as an extension of my work in that Sierra Nevada context.

(see my New Genres page)

   

Commissioned Base Camp Box (winter 2017) I believe out in Wyoming, in use by Casey and Sarah.

I had two great darkroom photography groups this semester (2 out of 3). As I fear the demise of this darkroom I've been teaching in for 7 years, I celebrate what kind of educational, emotional and artistic work space it has been. Seen is a preliminary 8x10 print from Nathan. He then moved on to print a 16x20 image of the same negative seen in the developer tray. I gave these two groups of beginning photo students the name Darkroom Dames, one dude included. A darkroom is a communal work space that cooperates with also being a very private place to pause, think, evaluate. It's this dynamic interchange that in part makes it allow for plumbing deeper photographic understandings in a shorter time frame than a digital studio  (set up like digital typing labs in almost all higher education fine arts departments... which doesn't help the cause).
I'm finishing up a new limited edition optical viewer (4th in a series since 2015)  intended for site placement on/off trail in the northern Sierra Nevada. The objects will be even more svelt than the prior edition I placed near the Pacific Crest Trail. I will likely find a snow trail due to the tremendous snow pack from this wild winter.    
As part of my series of photographs I'm working on that document work spaces, I recently stopped by a former industrial shop space that sits next to the transcontinental rail. Three artists are moving into this space. It's now being retrofitted to accommodate three distinct spaces with a shared use space in the mix. A painter, new genres artist and ceramicist are moving in. This shop space is part of a string of older industrial shop spaces that have been mined by artisans, tradesmen and other artists. It's a self- grown (urban organic growth rather than a bureaucratically fabricated possibility) economic and creative corridor.  

This large Camp Kitchen, for Casey Clark, is just about done. It's beefier than the editions I've made in small batches. I wanted it to hold up to being stood on, sat on, etc.. I sacrificed a lighter weight unit for this kind of interior structure however. It will be heavy when full of gear and provisions. I also made custom cubbies for all of Casey's camp kitchen gear. This is a one of a kind. The 4th edition Base Camp Box I'll produce in a small batch came out of my studio just a few months ago in fall 2016.

Winter 2017

Guiding with the Gateway guide group at the summit. Clair Tappan Lodge was  basecamp. A group of youth from tribes north of San Francisco got to experience the high alpine environment at the summit, buried in snow.

Quinzhee built by Jen in the Sierra Nevada this large winter 2017. Of course a sleep over.

"Quagmire" -2016, taken in the Plumas National Forest, is up at the Patagonia in Reno for a time. The frame is my own design.

56"x 36"

quagmire_exhibit

I took some of my photography students to visit Cuddleworks, an urban studio collective in a still active industrial district of Reno. Casey Clark and Sarah Lillegard were present to talk about their work and the space.

5 days in the high elevation Nevada Great Basin, Nov. 2016: Arc Dome Wilderness to the Ruby Mountains.

New edition Base Camp Box (The Scout). As the first it's a bit of a warm up to better options. I still want to keep these simple (reasonably affordable goes, in part, along with this design mindset). I made this new version with remove-able (and with all future Scouts, moveable within the box) cubbies.

           

I returned 15 months later to see how my 2015 wood opticons were fairing on the PCT. I didn't expect to see any one of the five I planted in the ground early in the summer of 2015, but there were still two there. They were placed in the ground several feet from where I had initially installed them. Awesome! This meant individuals had interacted with them with some degree of curiosity and care. The slides were no longer in the viewers however. And one of the slide holders was on the ground...no longer attached to the top of the vertical element. Last month in August while camped down from the trail I came back the next morning after the initial find to see that a PCT backpacker had already interacted with them and placed the slide holder on the ground back up on top of the vertical element. So this interplay happened just overnight from when I first spotted them... which makes me wonder perhaps if one or more of the other wood opticons are elsewhere, placed by a backpacker's hand with a curious eye.

A client commissioned a Base Camp Box as a gift. I used it as an opportunity to redesign the chuck box as the first of a new edition I've had on the back burner. There are a few details I'll change for the new edition, but the cubbies as removable inserts will remain as well as a few other details. It's basically the same volume as the 3rd ed. Base Camp Box. I also built a smaller camp box as a marketing object that I will keep for a while and use. It has the yellow panels.

scoutbox2scoutbox3scoutbox4

My co-hiker and I met these "Frontier Boys" at the Rainbow Lodge, northern Sierra (for private use now). They served us beer as we walked in on their gathering. A dozen of 80 were there and on their way to north of the Ruby Mountains in northeastern Nevada (high elevation Great Basin mountains) to pack into the high country with horses.

frontierboys1

The Temple family commissioned me to design and build 2 wall size shelving units (each in 3 parts for move-ability) and a desk. I used reclaimed lumber except for the actual shelves.

I co-curated (with Megan Kay) an exhibit of Jack Chapman's (Bay Area) documentary work as well as a celebration of the short film format in Serva Pool project space at Holland Project Gallery. The screening included: A 16mm print of Carolee Schneemann's Fuses, Valerie Bischoff's Derby Kings, a short short video from Tucker Rash, raw super 8's from Dane Haman and a video piece from Audrey Lee Love. July 2016

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jack3

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Kitchen tent in the northern Sierra Nevada. Ranger station restoration, summer 2016. I volunteered with Historicorp to help with the restoration.

 

Pinon Bottle, a new business in Reno, purchased one of my custom 10ft. long benches (reclaimed redwood and douglas fir). They just opened their doors for business.

pinonbottle2

pinonbottle3

I participated in the restoration (as a volunteer) of 3 of 5 buildings that were once a Forest Service ranger guard station. The buildings haven't been used since the early 1980's. Historicorp lead the volunteer effort. Folks from as far away as Alberta Canada, Denver and the Los Angeles area came to help. The guard station is in the northern Sierra Nevada.

The guard station buildings were built in the early 20th century. One was a cabin built in the teens. The Forest Service then built the other 4 structures by the 1930's. There is hope that the Pacific Crest Trail Association will use them as a base camp for PCT hikers. That location is a stop over, food re-stocking and take stock juncture along the PCT.  This would provide a legitimate base camp for a location that has historically always been a prime spot for one. The nearby town of Sierra City has provided, informally, this role.

 

I'm beginning to fashion a series of Obscura Cases, primarily for education purposes, but for fun... Pinhole lens.

ObscuraCase1

ObscuraCase_neg

From a late March, early April excursion to the Palisades, southern Sierra Nevada. I attempted to bivouac a Wood Opticon from 2015, but the right spot didn't present itself. (And a camp from another time in the Ruby Mountains.)   pallisades_wide2 r-bv

A new wood opticon with a medium format (6x7) color slide... March 2016- a commissioned object for Russell.

The slide image was captured near the North Fork American River in the northern Sierra Nevada. It's a 19th century hand cut timber cabin, one of two, that the forest service has managed to save from wildfires. The canyon flat near the river on which it sits is reachable by hiking or on horseback.

                         

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A new edition slide viewer, medium format: the viewer in the shaping process, the base for the sculpture and the slide holder/viewer close to completion- edition #1. 2016 mediumformat3

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Studio Bunkhouse faucet arm.

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Young Blood exhibit, Feb. 2016. Holland Project Gallery.

This is THE exhibit for high school art stars, up and comers. Art works are for sale, and the kids show up ready.

     

Digital photos taken in South Beach, Miami during Art Basel- Miami. 2015: a side project while I worked the gargantuan art fair.

The neighborhood is ripe with Art Deco details and the intermingling of wealth with working class.

Olympus om-d

8,591 ft. and at the base of the Sierra Buttes. fall 2015

Olympus om-d

   
A return to the Sierra Buttes is around the corner... waiting.

basecampbox_Oct2015website

website_BaseCampBox1        
A new series of prints from the darkroom. Seen: Mt. Baldy, LA area.

Olympus OM 2n

MtBaldy1

Studio remodel: first wall done, custom shelving.

IMG_20150907_17050920150908_114430_001

 

First wall insulation in the studio.

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20150827_113516    
The project trailer, Capere, is coming out of moth balls. Work will resume on this traveling exhibition space with attention to under the floor framing reinforcements. I began this design-build project a few years back and had to set it aside to make room for other projects.

capere1_2015

 
Last site placement for the Wood Opticons -2015, in the northern Sierra Nevada.
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My "Wood Opticons"- 2015 (June) on site at Fine Arts Dept, Sierra Nevada College Open Space site works series. Northern Sierra Nevada near a historic Basque oven.
My Wood Opticons- 2015, with color slides of various natural sites in the Sierra Nevada, will be installed near the historic Basque Oven at this event--part of series of site events put on by the Fine Arts Dept (low residency MFA- Sierra Nevada College program) at Sierra Nevada College.

Kyburz_Poster

Studio remodel. The floor is finished...base board trim. Entrance steps into the studio are next.

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Wood Opticons- 2015 on the campus of Feather River College, April 30th. The wood slide viewers hold color slides of the eastern Sierra Nevada.

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Studio remodel contd., floor:

studio_floor_green1

studio_newply2 studio_floor_pan1 studio_floor_tear1studio_floor_tear2

Exhibit of my Wood Opticons, March-Feb., at Lake Tahoe. These will ultimately be placed on site near the Pacific Crest Trail in May. Each viewer holds a color slide.

opticon_snc6opticon_snc3opticon_snc1opticon_snc2opticon_snc7IMG_0911

Drawings for a wood chandelier. Los Angeles clients.

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PrototypeIMG_7065

Installed Dutch Door (better pics coming soon) in the Mt. Washington neighborhood, Los Angeles. Thanks to Josh and Cindy for a great install! FullSizeRenderFullSizeRender (11)FullSizeRender (12)  
MistyBox2MIstyBox4                  

Base Camp Box to New Hampshire.

Dutch Door, front door exterior side FullSizeRender (5)FullSizeRender_1
IMG_7518Rogue Village, Dec. 2014: FullSizeRenderFullSizeRender_2FullSizeRender_3
Studio Remodel: FullSizeRender_2FullSizeRender_1

Dutch Door panel boards, glueing. Reclaimed lumber.

Dutch_glue2Dutch_Glue1

Drawing it out.FullSizeRender_2FullSizeRender_3

Prepping wood for a new commission: planing, ripping and finding the boards:door_wood_prep1

IMG_5703IMG_5692IMG_5711IMG_5687IMG_5683IMG_5724Hawaii BBQ Box, custom for Chad on the island. Drop in top tray with handles. Blonde on blonde.

FullSizeRender_4FullSizeRender_1A highly modified Base Camp Box, blonde issue: no paint- just polyurethane, a drop in the top tray, top hinged opening, etc. For a client in Hawaii.

Lumber to be reclaimed for a secret commission.FullSizeRender

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 The studio remodel in progress: a little green on the new reclaimed door window insert and a refreshed work table.
photo 4photo 1photo 2The remodel of my studio has begun... with this vintage door. It wasn't in bad shape. It needed to be thoroughly sanded, trimmed a bit and sealed.
 

photo 2photo 43-Dimensional Art students going after it and the darkroom.

 
Wood Opticon with a back-lit color slide:IMG_5601 IMG_5610IMG_5608                

Hotel Rock Creek.IMG_5575

All_In_HOlland_Poster1Holland Project Gallery Fundraiser. I will have a prototype photographic object in the exhibit, from a new site series that will be placed in the landscape.

wood_opticon_sketch1wood_opticon_sketch2Preliminary sketches for my next photographic object series: "Wood Opticon series-1". I will be showing the first prototype at a Holland Project Gallery fundraiser later in Sept. 2014: "All In".

rockcreek2104Hotel Rock Creek.

Studio_Door1The remodel of the Horse Lazy-Tack Room that is the studio is beginning. The door is being replaced with this new/old wide body door with a window. I'm attempting to keep some of the feel of the little "barn" and yet make it a modern studio.

IW_1IW_2IW_3IW_4My Inventor's Workshop young inventors' highlights, The Tech Museum, Bay Area 2014.

campbox-sb2campbox-sb1My camp box, kitchen, in full use. Below the Sierra Buttes.

greens4greens7greens5greens10Off to the Bay Area and to Pennsylvania.

greens23rd edition Camp Box delivered- Bay Area.

mms2mms3Commissioned Maker Merchant Stand for Laura Beach. Reclaimed Douglas fir and cedar mixed with off the shelf lumber. Rolling, portable and collapsible!

laura_stand_progresslaura_stand_progress3Maker Merchant Stand, in progress:
Two of 10 birch plywood boxes for Laura Beach with her letter press work contained: _________________________________________________________________________________ laura_boxcards1laura_boxcards2photo 4

mission_rocker2mission_rocker1Antique mission rocker wood (mild) restoration for Gretchen:

georgia2Another 3rd edition Camp Box... this one heading to Georgia.

laura_stand2laura_stand1Maker Merchant Stand for Laura... soon.

photo 4photo 3Two of 10 wedding invitation boxes for Laura Beach.

vanity_done1vanity_done2Vanity for Lizzie and Paul. Reclaimed lumber. It's waiting for a concrete top.

vanity_lumber7.vanity_lumber8vanity_lumber4vanity_lumber5photo 3photo 4Reclaimed lumber for a vanity, in progress.

IMG_5122IMG_5132IMG_5116Another new 3rd edition Camp Box. This one is heading, soon, to Georgia! The 3rd edition is finding it's way back east: Georgia, W.DC.-Alaska and Chicago.

image(2)imageimage_1Vanity for Lizzie and Paul.

imageimage(1)Charcoal black 3rd edition camp box taking shape.

image_4image_1image_2Another commissioned 3rd edition Camp Box, charcoal-black color, heading to Washington DC soon. Flat-pack design. I changed the base design to shave some weight.

bike_stand_card1I worked out the issues with the Bike Stand prototype. They are now ready to order with a one week turn-around, and there is one currently one available while on display at the Public House. I am also taking orders for a two bicycle stand. The design is basically the single Bike Stand back-to-back.

IMG_0672aBig Sur series. Exhibit coming up.

IMG_5411IMG_5422IMG_5433IMG_5427Details of a commissioned cabinet.

IMG_5393Finished commissioned cabinet/shelf for Scout. Reclaimed vintage barn lumber. One hot linseed soak, 3 Tung oil rubs and a top buff of bees wax.

image_1Cabinet just about finished.

PrintClick on image to link to my essay for this exhibit (pg. 29):

photoFeet for a cabinet.

IMG_5368Select projects from the Design-Build Workshop at Holland Project. No fasteners were used- only counter points of tension were used for structural integrity.IMG_5365IMG_5371

photo 4Cabinet in progress. For Scout.

IMG_5351IMG_5354Hot linseed soak into reclaimed IMG_5341vintage lumber, for a cabinet.

IMG_5335Vintage barn wood for a cabinet is close to a fine sanding.

image_1Reclaiming vintage barn lumber photo(1)for a cabinet.

photoThe National.

image_2Finished antique table legs repair and bolster as well as the repair of a chair back.

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image_4Antique table repair for Heidi.

IMG_5249IMG_5274IMG_5270IMG_5271IMG_5257Bike Stand Prototype:

bike-stand1Free-standing bike stands in progress. Parts:

tumblr_mtuff4w8CO1r0ww0oo1_500 Andrea Rekalidis Design Studio.

Modular bench:

http://www.andrearekalidis.it/

TWIN-Bench-1-600x409TWIN-Bench-6-600x795tumblr_mtuff4w8CO1r0ww0oo3_500

CampBox-3rd3 CampBox-3rd1CampBox-3rd2Working on sketches for pre-order schemes:

pen-?pen-sf2pen-sf1From a Pen half frame:
sarahL-mumford-camp1tramp-camp1The kitchen at the first annual artisan's Tramp Camp at the Boeger Winery, Sierra Foothills. And further up into the Sierra Nevada, our Mumford Trail Head campfire- north fork of the American River.

IMG_5131The first of the 3rd Edition Camp Box, commissioned by Leanne of Chicago.Flat pack design.IMG_5139IMG_5122

box-flat6box-flat7box-flat8box-flat43rd Edition Camp Box. Flat pack design, for Leanne.
image(12)image(13)Camp Box- 3rd edition, Flat Pack. Commission for Leanne.
My Kickstarter Fundraiser to finish the project trailer Capere is now launched.
Click: Capere Kickstarter
Capere-KS-website

IMG_3779Building a second, matching, bench for a dining room table commissioned in May. IMG_4753

I came across Heatherwick studio's designs recently and found a few of the projects to be significant standouts. Below are two that, wow! Although the interior of their World Expo project, as seen via their website, feels remote and cold. But... the subtlety of the design as encountered inside are lost, for the most part, in the documentation. See their description: http://www.heatherwick.com/uk-pavilion/.

rolling_bridge-3arolling_bridge-3brolling_bridge-3crolling_bridge4

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Expo2010-Heatherwick-1Expo2010-Heatherwick-2

Just about ready to release the Kickstarter fundraiser for the project trailer, Capere.

capere-panorama2
mobile-Obscura-bman1 mobile-Obscura-Camera1 mobile-Obscura-Camera2Mobile Camera Obscura. Playa- 2013. 
(Deeper into 3-5 o'clock. 15 second exposure.)
  For those who want a digital copy of your portrait, just about all of the portraits are on the New Genres page. Best, j. damron
IMG_4624 IMG_4626IMG_4621Mobile Camera Obscura. (missing the wheels)  

KickStarter Fundraiser starting in a week or 2!

IMG_4258a Ventana Wilderness, Bivouac-summer 2013.
IMG_4537aMobile camera obscura:
group-Inventor1-pos-agroup-Inventor1-neg-aNegative direct contact print on photo paper with positive from a student's pinhole camera in Inventor's Workshop-2013 Tech.
IMG_4514Another camera obscura is about done. This one is mobile. The preliminary rendering (not entirely accurate) is courtesy of Matias.
IMG_3987Industrial Re-Design student...pure coolness. (micro-fiche data glasses)
IMG_4282aVentana Wilderness- summer 2013 Bivouac
IMG_4170a5 days in the Ventana Wilderness- Pacific. Photographing and filming, strategy and convos with Logan Lape, a Fine Arts Bivouac and surfing.
IMG_4128aIMG_4326aCamp in the Ventana Wilderness-2013. Logan disappearing into the marine layer.
IMG_4267aFine Arts Bivouac Big Sur- 2013:
Big Sur, soon.IMG_0590a Bivouac, soon.  
IMG_3829IMG_3854IMG_3857IMG_3831Design-build commission: 42 inch table with two extension leafs, bench (reclaimed lumber):
IMG_3779Bench. Reclaimed oak top, reclaimed douglas fir legs, reclaimed oak skirtingIMG_3776
IMG_3646Legs to be for a dining room table and bench (reclaimed vintage Douglas Fir):
IMG_3595IMG_3604Bench for a dining room table. Reclaimed oak top, douglas fir or oak legs and skirting. (not to scale)
PrintCLOSING FOR EXHIBIT @ HOLLAND PROJECT GALLERY: Friday-May 10, 6-8 pm
CAM00298CAM00301Vintage lumber, reclaimed, for a dining room table and bench. Douglas fir.
IMG_3496Dining Room Table and Bench for Andrea and Brett. (The bench in the drawing is just a stand-in for establishing the "front.") The table will be a smaller square, 42 inches, for daily use, but two extension leafs will allow for expanding the table size if friends and family are over and for a potential move into a larger home. Their kitchen is an old school size- intimate.  Brett and Andrea also wanted a cool little bench for daily use.IMG_3327
IMG_3089Walk-in camera. Holland Project Gallery:
IMG_3085Walk-in Camera. Holland Project Gallery:
balanceb2Silly object for the Reno Bike Project annual auction, no "kick stand":
c-obscura2c-obscura1Lens housing for walk-in camera obscura- Holland Project Gallery: Tête-À-Tête Emulsion, April 19- May 20  
nma-design2 Nevada Museum of Art, Design-build Workshop:
sdr1fr-frc2Holland Project, April exhibit:
fire_06Design-build projects, murals and objects by Simon Hjermind Jensen, SHJWORKS. Design Boom profiles this project. I took particular note of the emphasis, via DB, on the fact that Simon Hjermind Jensen did this without institutional support (read dilution of intent and efficacy of purpose) yet through independent propulsion and volunteer help. It's a project the community has access to. And although I don't necessarily think public access is always something to note or is needed for validation of value, it becomes more relevant within DB's introduction of this project as an independent project.  
ph-car1forest-van1Two photographs for the upcoming Holland Project exhibit:
IMG_2683IMG_2670       IMG_2695    
IMG_2660Capere windows, in progress: IMG_2664  
IMG_2652Walk-in camera obscura for April Holland exhibit.
IMG_2624Curatorial project, Fine Arts Bivouac: "Giant's Head".
IMG_2602Finished projects from my students in the Design-build workshop at the Nevada Museum of Art:IMG_2611
modular stretcher3-d sketch of the modular units designed and built by a student in the Design-build workshop at the Nevada Museum of Art:modular-stretcher2  
IMG_2494Windows next:        
f-sketch17f-sketch10Two pieces of a composite image for Holland exhibit:
holland-spaceHolland Project Gallery: April
capere-back-windowThe back swing up door (wall) will have a swing out and up window above the smaller entrance door.
capere-windowsThree windows on each side, from rear to front, will be sliders, and a slightly shorter window foremost on the trailer will swing up and out.
IMG_2336Wood I "milled" for the Capere windows:IMG_2373
nma-workshop-image3@ Nevada Museum of Art  Starting January 14th--Spots open.
Kaufmann_outline-furniture2Oskar Kaufmann / Albert Ruf- design/architecture: "Outline Furniture" Also, see their folding structure concept: Kartonhaus  
SF-MOMA-microhubFine Arts Bivouac, my curatorial project, posted on SF MOMA's Art Microhubs page. (Logan Lape's object is seen.)  
a-m1New student photography flow online: http://capture-edit.tumblr.com/  
Jakob-timpe_stand_1Jakob Timpe's 8 piece interlocking wood stand, using points of tension for any top. I'm fond of some of his objects and spatial projects. http://www.jakobtimpe.com/objects/objects.php?topic=objects  
Looking back at the first phase, as I begin the next phase of designing and building the windows, painting the bathroom, securing all the ply under-layment on the outside, etc. IMG_1524
             
   

Capere: Project Travel Trailer

Kitchen unit with cherry wood side board, platform for the sink.

Two fold-down bed supports.

Travel Trailer: design-build project

After getting back from the Bay Area, I'm resuming work on the Project Trailer. I think I have a name for it, but it needs to marinate as I get close to getting this beast finished.

I'm designing and finishing the two kitchen units. The blue tape helps me visualize. The tall frame-work is one of the kitchen modular units. I've reconsidered the refrigerator I will use- which has caused me to redesign a little bit.

 

Reclaimed Redwood Table and 2 bench seats

A happy Simon and Sarah with their new table in San Francisco. The tops of the table and the bench seats are made

from reclaimed vintage redwood lumber. The legs are reclaimed douglas fir.

Nevada Museum of Art cafe: furniture

So I finally got to photograph the commissioned furniture pieces for the Nevada Museum of Art cafe, after returning from the Bay Area. The tables are made from reclaimed old oak and reclaimed cedar. And the bar top is made from reclaimed newer oak. The Composition Cafe sous chefs were prepping for the day. [gallery link="file" columns="4"]

Indie Mart--coming soon

I'll be selling my furniture at SF's Indie Mart. Wisconsin St. is taken over, between 16th and 17th- near my old working neighborhood.  

Fine Arts Bivouac

A Fine Arts Bivouac project from Logan Lape, on site 1.

Logan's object is mysterious, and serves a function-art-banality with the quiet presence of monumentality. And it suggests participation in (also found in his body of work)  the slight of hand aesthetic tradition going back to Post-minimal and Conceptual Art. His piece will take place in other locations. This first site is on a mountain rising above ocean and wilderness south of Big Sur in the Big Sur Ventana Wilderness. The site is a wilderness encampment seasoned over the decades, one of many strung along the steep-pitched dirt road rising over the Pacific in oak and redwood wilderness.

 

Furniture Profile- Nevada Museum of Art Cafe Grand Opening

  __________________________________________________________

Nevada Museum of Art Commission: process

tables, unfinished:                                         _______________________________________________ 11.5 ft floating bar (no legs), unfinished:  

New Commission: NMA

The Nevada Museum of Art commissioned me to design and build the furniture, bar and lights for the new tapas style restaurant they will be opening July 7th.

The wood I'm using is reclaimed oak (a few kinds of oak) from an Amish barn. The barn beams below are dated mostly from the 19th century, with one perhaps coming from the 18th century.

            __________________________________               __________________________________                             _______________________________________ These unbelievable reclaimed cedar planks will be used for under-structure, bridging the legs:               _________________________________________ More oak from the Amish Barn, as well the cedar cut and shaped for the legs:

furniture profile

project trailer: interior

Folding bed, bathroom, kitchen (not seen):                      

project trailer

Underlayment for the aluminum siding, insulation and interior skin:                      

large rear door/wall, small door

project trailer

trailer

Plywood trusses:               ____________________________________________________________

project trailer

                           

project trailer: design-build

project trailer

          _________________________________________________________________________    

design-build project

          _____________________________________________________________

project trailer: design-build

                    ____________________________

project trailer

More scaled drawings- structural- reworked: __________________________               ______________________________________________________________________________________  

project trailer: design-build

Stripping it down to the boxed steel frame.                          

furniture at Public House

[gallery link="file"]
(photographs by Holly Marie Bethers)

group exhibit

Ice Sled Escort at the Hobson Gallery, reno.

design-build project

Scaled drawing of side structure:

One Night Furniture Exhibit

The Public House of Reno will host some of my furniture on December 1st, 5-9 pm.

This ideal situation presented itself, so it's the right time to introduce the design-build part of my studio to the Reno community. The Public House is an older building with a straightforward interior remodel that accentuates the history of the space and the structure. The bar will be open.

Some of what will be in the Public House:

(Address: 33 Saint Lawrence Ave, Reno NV 89501)

furniture exhibit, coming

                 

 Public House, Reno- soon.

     

camp box

One of 10 second edition camp boxes out and about. Sierra Buttes, Ca - 7,000 ft.

           

                           

My original provision box on the tailgate- sage steppe research excursion. Great Basin, Nv.

Blog Archive

/2011/10/10/      Design/Build: The first rough sketches of two sides of the trailer to be posted- with the basic structure outside and inside worked out for the trailer. The inside  will have modular units that accommodate or outfit the trailer with live-in capabilities. When these are removed, the trailer becomes a flexible use project space.  One large rear opening hinges (hydraulics) up,  integrates the efficiencies of the single large door on a horse trailer that drops down as a ramp. I've placed a smaller door inside the larger opening for access for when the trailer is a dwelling. The overall aesthetic intentionally borrows from that of the horse trailer. I'm striving to fully take that vernacular- the idea of slipping it alongside a horse trailer and, for the most part, have it be uncomfortably indistinguishable. It's a vernacular that has largely held over the decades, and this also intrigues me: the use value holding the design value accountable for that long.

         

re-claimed lumber to be used in the horse trailer, just pulled in

Photograph courtesy ofKent Budge, Photography
  /2011/09/17/                new commission

/2011/08/27

   

   Preliminary sketches for a design/build project.

I'm basically thinking about a trailer that can function as a stand-alone object, yet can also function down the road as a nomadic project space for off-site work, as well as serving the Fine Arts Bivouac.

/2011/08/10/

From select photographs, Bay Area summer 2011.

                     /2011/07/09/ Visitors with a Fine Arts Bivouac at the Renegade Craft Fair (San Francisco) with Diana Ali's text piece (Manchester, England): /2011/05/27     new camp boxes         /2011/05/24       The owners of this great little farm, as well as a friend who works for Jo and Alan, stopped by my popup shop and checked out my furniture several weeks ago in Nevada City. I visited the farm- great place.   /2011/05/20   The top and sides are salvaged cherry. The legs are reclaimed doug fir and one redwood leg. The client wanted a close cousin to another table I built that he purchased (just below): /2011/04/11/ The pop-up shop was great- enthusiastic local interest. I've been looking for hardwood for a commissioned table to match the color of the maple topped table that sold- finally found some salvaged cherry at California Hardwoods in Auburn, ca. I'll be setting up a temporary shop in Nevada City, California this week and into next to show (and sell) finished furniture projects. The old New York Hotel has great window frontage on main street, Broad St., of Nevada City. With the exception of Thursday (10-2), April 14th the shop will be open 10am until 9pm Wednesday through Sunday.                      

/2011/03/23/

Some of my silver emulsion prints will be exhibiting at Suite 5 Salon in San Francisco. Suite 5 is downtown in the gallery district of SF- 305 Grant. Opening: Thursday, April 7th, 6-7:30.

[more archived posts coming]

     

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