This entry is mostly about Dylan's furniture, but first...
We attended the annual Draft Horse Classic opening competition last Thursday evening again (we get free tickets every year). We recognize most of the competitors, by now and we even have our faves. It's always fun to watch the contestants drive their beautiful, giant horses and carts/wagons around in singles, pairs, threes, fours and sixes ("six-up"). But it's also just so interesting to get a peak into another subculture--and this is a subculture of a subculture. Then, as usual, I go over to the Fairgrounds the next day to pet the horses, watch the blacksmiths, look at draft horse art, etc. This year, the only picture I'll post is that of a Clydesdale, freshly bathed, being walked back to the barn. If you mag in, you can see the little boy with the reins walking along side (dad is holding the reins as well). I had been watching as the dad was teaching his son how to control this enormous animal who could squash him like a bug. I just loved the juxtaposition of scale and wonder about the "little-boy's-eye view"!
Saturday, we drove to SF for the day to help Dylan work out some business issues, and to hang out with Rachel, Mike, and Rachel's good friend, Sarah for the evening.
He had just finished three pieces. They are part of his new design initiative and were nearly ready to ship to Texas on Monday. Last Friday, he'd had them professionally photographed. So these pics are part mine and part from the photographer. See if you can tell which is which.
One line of design is called, for the moment, Vessels. He's made tables with inset vases or wooden bowls from other artists. The table tops "respond" to the vessels' being there in a way. We love them. The first photo is of his wooden bowl table--the second one he's made. This one almost looks like a wooden "splash", I think. (ignore the underline--it won't click off. sheesh!)
Then, there's the vase table, also the second in the edition. Texas Guy wanted a small console to fit a particular space. Looks precarious, but it isn't. There are more ideas of this sort we'll be seeing soon!
Lastly, he's just recently designed this coffee table (also for Texas Guy). It's quite interesting (the "magic" is underneath, as Dylan said) in that the outside legs don't go all the way up to the table top.
We love all of these. We're all trying to work out in some detail as to how to craft a business doing art, disguised as furniture. It's complicated. But we believe it can be done. He has lots and lots of orders, right now. Mike, Rachel's boyfriend and contractor/finish carpenter, is starting to work with Dylan consistently, which we think is a wonderful development. And did I mention that Dylan is also teaching an industrial design drawing class twice a week at California College of Design? I think I did. Anyway, it soaks up lots of time right now, its being his first time through.
This coming weekend will be super cool with the Celtic Festival and Home Tour. One house on the tour is built out of a covered bridge.
As usual, stay tuned...
I'm just busier than I used to be since we've moved here. It has become more difficult to find the time sit down and knock out the verbosity. Now, just since the last post a few weeks ago, I find that the blog interface is all different. Mostly improved, probably. I like the photo thing, but I've lost the "edit" page/tab. I'm pretty sure it's around here somewhere...
Anyhoo, one reason I'm a little more pressed for time is that I've been trying to crank out more artsy stuff. Next post, I'll begin to catch you up with that whole ball of wax.
This time, though, it's more about the day trip to Oroville we took last Sunday. It's about, oh, 1 1/2 hours from here.
We were just curious to see the reservoir--the 2nd largest in the state (Shasta is bigger). A couple of years ago, in the middle of the drought, we checked it out for the first time and it was pathetic-looking. Seriously. Near as I can figure from online sources, it was about 250 feet below "full" at that time (first photo).
On Sunday, it was only 15 feet below capacity (tree line) due to their having let it drain down to that level a couple of months ago so that it wouldn't overflow. Feels like a different place, now (second pic).
We didn't drive over to the bridge to take pictures from the exact same location. Instead, we parked on the road and hiked up to the cool visitor's center they have there. We are connoisseurs (OK, I didn't know how to spell that until just now--missed the "is" in the middle) of visitor's centers. Ask our kids. I think they eventually developed a"VC allergy", or at least an extreme sensitivity. It's nearly as much fun for Tom and I to explore a visitor's center as to actually experiencing the parks, themselves. Almost. So much cool info!! Love the exhibits!
This one was great! From the natural history to the original inhabitants (Maidu--same as around here) to the gold rush to the building of the "largest earthen dam in the US". Well. So much of it is predictably sad, of course. The Maidu were killed off/chased away by miners, for the most part. The post-49ers ruined the river habitat with their giant dredges. The area now covered by the water in the dam obliterated 145 village sites of the native people. And then there's the Ishi story.
I had read about him many years ago, but had forgotten that this was where he "surfaced". One hundred years ago, in 1911, he walked out of the backcountry up the Feather, hungry and utterly alone, the last survivor of his people. He had been hiding for years after his family had died. Briefly, he was handed over the University of California, Berkeley, to be studied, where they treated him as well as could be expected for those times. He learned some English, wore a suit, and taught people his ways as well as he could. Five years later, he passed away at approximately age 54 from TB , which was still incurable in those times. It's a fascinating story, if you have some time to check it out. That's Tom reading the Ishi exhibit.
There's a cool tower at the VC and that's me studying the interpretive plaque. Yeah, my hair hadn't dried by the time we left home that morning. That's the sorry result.
On our way back to the car, there's this amazing grinding rock (below). Without a plaque (!) I couldn't discern exactly where they'd found it, but it was obviously used for many generations. I've seen others with many fewer holes and not nearly so deep. I love that it (probably) represents not only food culture, but a social one, as well. I can imagine several women grinding acorns simultaneously as they chat about life.
Next time, because I won't be able to help myself, I'll post some photos of the Draft Horse Classic over at the Fairgrounds. Tom and I will, as usual, attend the first competition this evening, then I'll go over for awhile to gawk at the horses tomorrow. I'm inexorably attracted to the magnificence of these wonderful animals.
Til then...
