The View From My Bench

Repurposed Wood

Here is a piece that I was working on just before I moved to the Studio.

I repurposed some wood for this stool and also found a home for a sign that I have been carrying around for quite some time.

I also have a low stool that follows the same design principal of repurposed wood. Sadie has claimed that one for her bedroom.

The idea with this line of products is that furniture need not be made of the most expensive exotic hard woods to be considered furniture,I hope that good design can overcome what some may feel is a short fall when it comes to material choise.

I have seen rocking chairs made of hockey sticks and cottage deck chairs made from some water skis that looked really amazing.

I will keep exploring this idea and keep you posted. Next on the list is a bedside table for Owen my son. It will be made of old doors that I have resawn . I will try to post images soon.

A W O L

I have been busy these days working on some new ideas around texting as a language.

After some research I found out that it is really not new nor is it an easy thing to do (invent a new language as it were)

Texting or abbreviations go way back to the war era and even further M I A (missing in action) R I P (Rest in Peace) AWOL (Absent Without Leave)

My work is about the use of language as much as it is in a way a record of how people use language. People often say that texting is breaking down language but it is I feel making language stronger.

I have settled in to my new shop and really enjoy going to work there; I have started to produce Frames and painting panels for some of Guelph’s local artist.

March First and a New Studio

For the past few days I have been moving into my new shop space. The Shop/Studio is run by Adrian Ferrazzutti. I was put in touch with him via a fellow furniture maker who works at Sheridan College.
The Studio is at best a 20min bike ride from home. I just need to wait for warmer dryer weather.
I have a 16X16 space in a 3000sq foot shop. I share major tools with the four full time guys, there are a few space mates who seem to have just dropped stuff off in their space but have not really set it up yet.
I am pretty happy to be in this space it’s been a long time coming, it means that I can now start building all the out for reach ideas that were not do able in my garage shop space.
I am going to go in tomorrow to paint a small partition that Adrian wanted me to put up between my space and the special effects guy in the back corner, I do not really understand why it was needed but I thought that going in and helping out would further my inroads with the group . In reality I did not need to do this because everyone there is really nice to the new guy.

Marks comes through with a treasure trove

We had a late lunch at our friend Mark and Alison’s place in Burlington. It was a wonderful afternoon spent catching up on how our children had grown and what we had been doing since we last got together at our place in the summer.

I have to tell you that both Ali and Mark are top notch crafts people in their respective fields. Ali works with glass as her main medium and Mark is one of the best woodworkers that I know. On another note, Mark has a tool collection that would make most grown men drool. Well, Mark and I got talking about what we were both working on and when it came to my turn, I told Mark that I was finding it hard to find material that I could use if my recycled pieces.

Now Mark being the stand up guy that he is, said.... Hey I have scrap coming out of my yang yang. Feel free to take whatever you need. Let me tell you he has enough material to keep someone like me happy for quite some time. With Marks help I filled my van that day and I had to make room for Jen and the kids so that we could all drive home together.

Let’s hope good things come from the visit / scrap wood grab and all.

I am still looking for a good table saw, but for now it can wait, After all I will be in a shop with a few cabinet makers’ saws, and I just need a Junker to break out scrap material on.
Mark and I have made a pact for me to come out to his place to help with a second floor walnut floor installition and shop clean out with the intention that I can bring home more wood.
Just when I thought that I could not continue with this idea I come across more material.

New Start

I have been quite busy of late. A recent trip into Toronto to see a friend’s show in December sparked my imagination. I drove home with a plan. It was time to 2 jump start my career, what I needed to do was get a shop and work with likeminded people. The second thing that was needed was to find locations in Guelph and the surrounding area to show my work. I also needed to get working my portfolio it was looking a little dated.

One day I was chatting with my neighbour asking her about shop space. She told me that her son was moving out of her Garage shop and that I could move in my tools and set up the shop as I saw fit, in return I would sharpen tools and help her with her woodworking questions, she is a very accomplished wood turner.

It did not take long for me to get my tools moved and set up. I was pretty happy given that I cannot get into my garage if you can call it that. In the winter the door which is already cut on a rakish angle jambs on the pavement when it opens 6 inches. I am quite a bit wider in the mid section than that. Think you can fill in the rest.

As you have probably all ready gathered, I enjoy working with recycled/repurposed material. I think that my father’s experience of livening through the depression taught me in a roundabout way that all materials are precious, and that working with ones hands is a very rewarding experience in its self.

Armed with a new idea, I pulled out all my recycled material and made two new pieces. One is called stacked (for now anyways) the other is well I do not have a name for it, let’s call it vertical. I milled all my material to a uniform thickness and stacked it together to form a cube 14X 14 X 16 tall end grain, painted material, recycled doors whatever wood I had on hand got stacked to make the piece. I am pretty happy with the outcome it speaks to me on many levels ,but it mostly says that furnishings need not be precious and made from the most exotic and rare woods to be worthy to be called fine craft.

For the other piece, I employed the same premise but arranged the material vertically. They are both born of the same idea but to me speak a slightly different language.

While I was working on these new ideas I joined an art collective called the White Stone Gallery. There is one other furniture make there but the majority of the 18 members are painters. This suits me fine because I can hang work and show floor pieces as well. It’s been good to paint and draw again as well. I have made new friends and feel that this direction is a good fit.

Icing on the cake

On Friday evening we went to the opening at the Carnegie Gallery.
Mark a fellow woodworker hung the show .I must say it looked really good
I knew that I was going to win something because. I was called to make sure that I would attend the opening. I would have attended any ways it was the first time I had work in a gallery in eight years.
Allison Rose the person who organized the show was presenting the awards and when she took her turn at the front of the room I became quite nervous..I knew that would not win an award for best wood work because this piece is more mixed media.
Well there was no mixed media award for me so I began to wonder, best new artist to the Gallery something like that, Then Allison said and now for the last award Best of Show. I just stood there for a while when she called my name. I was a little taken a back but at the same time very excited.
The rest of the evening was spent talking with friends and making new friends, it was a wonderful way to end the process of making this piece.
This award has given me the boost that I needed to get going again; it’s nice to know that after a few years off I can still produce work that others enjoy.