Super excited to be doing scenery for Shakespeare’s Henry V for @sudrama_vpa in November. Finished up the model and feel pretty good about how it looks.
We have a great team, including one of my faves @cmmartinezo . It’s gonna be a good one.
#shakespeare #sudrama #setsesign #scenery #oncemoreintothebreach
Finished up a bench that I have been wanting to make for the fire pit out back. a piano harp, part of another, and a gigantic red oak plank from a tree that fell on my folks' land maybe twelve or fifteen years ago. Love it when the lilac tree is in bloom.
Campfire time!
#bench #makeitdontbuyit #pianoparts #partsisparts #alwayshandmade
Just a few of the wacky models that my @su_enviroandinterior first year students made at the end of the semester. They did a LOT of work and learned a lot, not least how to do a lot of work.
Some pretty clean models. I am proud of them.
#designfirstyear #su_design #model #precision #workworkwork
Chair crit day! Some great work this semester. So proud of the work that these students have done over the last six weeks. This is one of the outcomes of my fellowship @syrscrc this past summer. Proud of my students and grateful to be able to do what I do. They all gave me permission to post their photos.
#su_design #su_vpa #woodwork #bestjobever
One of my favorite days in my @suhonors class. In an exercise I stole from @thenearsightedmonkey I have my students draw a self-portrait at the beginning of each class and answer a question (“how are you feeling today?” “What is something you are grateful for?”) and then on the last day of class I give them all back.
We talked about how incremental work over time builds toward a body of work, about how feelings are temporary and cyclical, and about ways that an ongoing creative practice can look. So fun.
#bestjobintheworld #drawing #dailypractice #reneecrownhonorsprogram
Time for my annual one-hour stint in actual 501st Stormtrooper armor for the “Nerf a Stormtrooper” activity. What fun!
And no, you really can’t see a thing in those helmets.
#stormtrooper #nerf #cosplay
Finally getting around to posting photos of "Da," presented last month by @redhousearts It has been fun to dip my toe back in to theater, and these folx were awesome to work with start to finish. What a good time. Directed by Vincent Cardinal.
#redhousearts #setdesign
Wildly productive studio day. Finished up this commission for eight trophies made out of a maple tree I got lumbered up six or seven years ago. A student did the initial turning, and then I channeled my inner Mark Sfirri and did some off-center turning. First time in a loooooong time. Also the first time in a long time doing any gold leaf. Pretty happy with how they came out though.
Also got some other client work done, more on that later, and got three pieces made for an upcoming show at Arrowmont gallery.
All in all a good day but I am tuckered out.
#Alwayshandmade #studioday #makeitdontbuyit #goldleaf #iheartwood
What a fun day in my @suhonors class! A couple of my students are doing projects about writing implements, so I bought a bunch of peacock feathers (for maximum whimsy) and we made quill pens out of them. They worked surprisingly well! One student even drew out some organic chemical bonds with theirs.
We had a great conversation about what it meant to write when one first had to make their writing implements, and about how until very recently this was the only way to write. Fun day.
#syracuseu #makingstuff #alwayshandmade #featherquill #bestjobever
Yesterday my @su_schoolofdesign students had their final critique for their lighting objects. The project brief required them to use bent wood. Some steam bent, others used bent lamination. *Lots* of lessons learned.
Some pretty good work!
#making #bentwood #bestjobintheworld #woodwork #su_design
One of my favorite days in the class I teach in @suhonors : Saw day. I bring a bunch of different saws and we experience using a 19th c Disston, a modern Japanese ryoba, and a frame saw essentially unchanged in design in a couple of thousand years.
We talk about how the tools we have available to us shape our material culture, about the power of making things, about how our bodies interact with technology. Especially relevant in the age of AI.
Pretty good time overall.
#teaching #making #alwayshandmade #bestjobintheworld #saw
The highest marks for my drafting students’ weekly lettering project is a stamp. One student did not get a stamp this week and said “aw come on!” I bet this week the will keep their pencil sharper.
Skill development takes practice and is enhanced by small but meaningful rewards.
#drafting #lettering #practicepracticepractice #su_design
