Dorm Life–Dinner Party Edition

Below, please find a small glimpse of the recreational lives and eating habits of the Windgate ITE 2017 residents.

Communal eating space at the dorms is at a premium (see lower left corner)…

…so Jason fashions a table out of a chair and a dresser drawer.  Hummus and baby carrots are served.

Jason dances for the camera, real slow.  This is a euphemism for nothing.  Due to the dim lighting conditions which prevailed in the room, I was forced to make a longer exposure than optimal.  I asked Jason to decelerate his movements so that he wouldn’t appear as a total blur.  In the foreground, Anastasia assesses her asparagus.

The Disco Lamp is activated, and the party commences in earnest.

More louped film

I’m going to begin scanning the film properly this week, but for now, please accept these warped images as harbingers of things to come!

Anastasia uses a rasp.

Jason lives in a world very much like our own, except everything in it is made from cardboard.

Jason turns cardboard on a lathe in a cardboard room.

Felicia turns wood on the lathe.

Another view of Felicia turning wood on the lathe.

Felicia at work on her notebook.

In the middle distance, Max turns wood on the lathe with Felicia at work on her notebook in the background.  Max’s piece “Freedom of Speech” sits atop a pike on the table in the foreground.

Turning tools and your dutiful scribe’s feet.

Daniel turning wood on the lathe.

Jason and Daniel endeavor to rescue a bowl.

Felicia sands an open ended vessel while watching the rescue attempt.

The first of Albert’s weekly studio visits to NextFab.

Megan removes a piece of laser cut wood from the laser cutter.

A workstation still life.

At last, some 35mm film that isn’t all warped and distorted because it was shot on a light table through a loupe with an iPhone!

I dropped off a couple rolls of 35mm slide film last week and today they were ready!

There’s a stoneworking shed right outside the door of Furness Hall, where we’re all living.  Every morning, I greet this swan (and the swan greets me).

Phil Brown and Barbara Wolanin’s beautiful home.

Flowers on the table at Phil and Barbara’s beautiful home.

Jason relaxes on the couch at Phil and Barbara’s

Megan lies under the table at Phil and Barbara’s.

Phil amongst his stacks of wood.

Turned wood from Phil and Barbara’s collection.

Megan in the ITE van.

Anastasia at the Kaplans’.

Pieces from the Kaplans’ collection.

At last, some 35mm!

I went to the darkroom at UArts yesterday and developed the first batch of film.  I’d like to reiterate how much I like their facilities and how lucky I am to be working there this summer.  Below, please find a teaser of things to come–real 35mm black and white film photographs (albeit photographed on a light table through a loupe with an iPhone):

The group tours NextFab.

The luncheon before Echo Lake.

Phil Brown in his workshop.

Daniel in a comfy wooden chair.

Visiting private collections in D.C.

Arthur Mason.

Arthur Mason’s dog.

Anastasia at the Kaplans’.

Triangular and rectangular forms, again.

Teenagers these days and their phones…

Jason and Max with frozen margaritas.

Where could these wood turners be headed in such a hurry?

Oh, it’s a beer wholesaler.

Felicia stacking forms for forming felt onto.

Megan, Max, and Felicia talk through setting up the workshop.

Jason makes a cardboard cake.

Max turning.

Felicia turning.

Anastasia turning.

Jason at work.

Megan jointing.

Max sparking.

Felicia and Marc from NextFab segment a log.

Shavings!

Your diligent scribe.

Visiting private collections of wood and craft art in Washington, D.C.

After the Echo Lake conference, the group went to Washington D.C., where I rejoined them.  We were extraordinarily fortunate to stay in the home of woodturner Phil Brown and Dr. Barbara Wolanin, who received us with extraordinary grace and ran us into the ground with a punishing itinerary of visits to private wood art collections, punctuated by delicious meals.  We young people were quickly depleted but Phil and Barbara showed no signs of fatigue and we were duly humbled.  A selection of pictures of the pieces of greatest interest to your faithful scribe follows:

At the Grainers’ spacious home.

A ceramic “cardboard box” full of “acrylic paints.”

Well integrated art encountered during our second collection visit.

Condiments.

Geese.

The medicine cabinet.

A surprising Dali!

Your faithful scribe finds himself once more in that most familiar of places (under a table).

At Jane and Arthur Mason’s–Arthur pointing out favorite pieces to the group.

Arthur Mason.

Arthur Mason shows us more of his favorites.

A sculpture by Jane Mason.

Jeff Bernstein, Phil Brown, and Jason talk about turned wood.

Judy Chernoff and Max talk about turned wood.

Jeff Bernstein.

Snacks are served at Judy and Jeffrey’s.

A couple of drunks at Deena and Jerry Kaplan’s.

Model ships.

Your faithful scribe catches sight of himself in a mirror.

A multipurpose gallery and yoga space.

Triangular and quadrangular forms.

The strain of all this art viewing has gotten to Daniel!

Echo Lake XIX

Last weekend, following a luncheon held at the Center for Art in Wood for current and alumni Windgate ITE residents, the group headed to Bucks County, PA for the 19th Echo Lake Conference, an annual exercise in collaborative artmaking between thirty to forty artists of various disciplines (wood turners, wood carvers, furniture makers, painters, glass, and metal workers).  Unfortunately, I was unable to join them there, because I was scuttling all over the eastern seaboard like a bug.

At my request, the residents did send me pictures from Echo Lake, but provided no context and will not speak of the conference in my presence except in hushed tones while huddling their heads together.  I gather that some terribly exciting, clandestine things happened–possibly some high political or international intrigue?–but since no one will say a darned thing to me about it, I can only speculate about events there using these images as my guide:

The conference takes place in this panoramically curving warehouse full of work benches and heavy equipment.

ITE residents Felicia and Daniel and other conference participants smile conspiratorially into the camera.

Anastasia attacks a chair with an orbital sander.

Jason writes a secret message to Daniel, using this bowl he has just turned for cover, in pencil.

Collaborative block prints and detail images of the same.  Do these pictograms form some kind of pictorial code?  (Make your best guesses in the comments!)

A collaboration between Anastasia and Daniel–a musical chair!  This instrument is not a typical one for Daniel–usually, the instruments that Daniel builds do not have strings, and when they do, those strings are close to 30′ long.   These strings look to be no longer than 12-16″, and since the are all nailed in place, it seems like tuning them would be quite the chore.

Anastasia finds and befriends the “tiny kitten behind the curtain”–though unassuming in appearance, this little lion pulls all the strings at Echo Lake–and unravels sweaters and balls of yarn and chases flies and laser pointers, too.

Daniel, Anastasia, Felicia, Max, and Jason, if I am mistaken in any of my guesses, I hope you will correct me in the comments.

My next post will return to the realm of factual reporting.  I’ll be uploading pictures from our visits to private collections of turned wood in D.C.–stay tuned!

First Visit to NextFab

This summer, the residents will be using the wood shop and facilities at NextFab, a maker space not far from where we’re staying in Center City.  Last Tuesday, we went by for orientation, after which Anastasia, Daniel, Felicia, Jason, Max, and Megan were given slabs of cherry wood and asked to demonstrate to the shop supervisors their proficiency with the tools.  I watched:

Felicia handles a saw.

Max sands.

Anastasia saws.

Megan catches me trying to take a candid picture of her

Felicia makes sparks.

Daniel drills through a piece of metal.

Felicia and Daniel exchange pizza looks with one another.  Jason sends his pizza looks directly into the camera.

A Word About My Methods

I’ll be documenting the Windgate ITE Residency this summer primarily on beautifully grainy 35mm and 120 film.  This morning, I visited the darkroom which UArts is graciously letting me use for processing, printing, and scanning, and I can’t wait to get to work there and then putting the pictures up here–but in the mean time, until I am able to do so, I will have some pictures from my humble iPhone camera to share!

2017 Windgate ITE Residency Inaugural Blog Post!

Hello, lovers of art in wood everywhere, and welcome to the 2017 Windgate ITE Residency blog!  Please return here often over the next two months for updates, information, and amusing anecdotes about the residents and what they are up to!

For those who are not yet familiar, the Windgate ITE Residency is an annual program sponsored by the Center for Art in Wood in Philadelphia, bringing together six artists from around the world who utilize wood in their practice in ways both conventional and inventive.  They will create, individually and collaboratively, an as-yet-to-be-determined number of pieces, on the lathe and off of it, for display in our group exhibition, which opens on August 4th at the Center.  We’ll be joined for a week by a scholar, who will produce an academic essay inspired by the ongoing work.

My name is Samuel, and as photojournalist-in-residence I’ll be taking lots of pictures of the creative process here and also collecting lots of juicy gossip–and I’ll be posting it all!  (Just kidding, residents.  Nothing to worry about!)

Our 2017 Windgate ITE cohort comprises:

Max Brosi, a woodturner and sculptor from Manor Hamilton, Ireland

Felicia Francine Dean, a furniture designer/sculptor/materials & process driven design researcher from Boca Raton, Fl, by way of Greensboro NC, USA

Daniel Fishkin, an instrument builder and composer from Bala Cynwyd, PA, USA

Anastasia Leto, a sculptor and furniture maker, also, from Detroit MI, USA, and this year’s Student Artist

Megan McGlynn, a sculptor and draughtsman from Lehigh Valley, PA, USA

Jason Schneider, a cardboard turner and furniture designer who spent his wonder years in Clifton, NJ, USA

Samuel Lang Budin, an itinerant social documentarian from Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, USA

Elizabeth Kozlowski, an independent curator from Florida, USA

I look forward to speaking with you all soon!  Till then, you’ll find me at the Philadelphia Recycling Center’s Wood Dump, hidden amongst the logs.