A Little bit of Everything

Last time I blogged I was in Savannah; I am now in Washington D.C. I haven't had a secure internet connection till now. I'm in the George Washington University Library which it turns out is student only. I'm banking on there being an internet connection later tonight because I don't have my cord with me to upload pictures and such. I feel another smorgasbord post coming on.

Walking the Trolley Route

Yesterday morning I grabbed a Savannah Trolley Tour brochure. Inside they had the path by which they were to show Savannah and so instead of paying 22 dollars I somewhat followed the tour on foot, for free.

I passed through River Street and saw the statue of the Girl in the Wind. Most of the bars and tourist traps were already displaying St. Patrick's day fare, including but not limited to "I got Riverfaced on Shit St. in Savannah on St. Patrick's Day" T-shirts. Not that anyone sober would actually buy that shirt. They also turned the water green in Forsythe Park:


With a few hours till I could get back into the hostel, I decided to spend a some time with the other sun-worshipers on the lawn of the park. Later I walked to a gallery opening. The gallery was displaying Wynne Hodges' Luminous Oak exhibit. Wynne Hodges is a professor at SCAD who learned blacksmithing at the John C. Campbell Folk School and created chandeliers inspired by the twisting, turning, and looming oaks of Savannah:


I talked with her for a little and she turned out to be a very down to earth art-professor. She does not worry herself with the craft vs art debate and instead makes things that satisfy her artistic passion and possibly the appetites of potential buyers. Thus she creates functional art.

After the gallery I was invited by a Parisian, who I friended in the NotSo Hostel, to a concert that his friend was putting on. It turns out his friend was in a production called Seeing Sound where a small pit orchestra provides the inspiration for artists to paint in real time before a crowd. I think I enjoyed the music more so than the painting.

On each of the blank pieces the artists put masking tape in intersecting lines and patterns. I originally thought they would wait to pull off the tape till the very end thus exposing strict uninhibited straight lines in a piece of commotion and inspired strokes, dabs, splatters and sprays. However, they took off the tape half way through and ruined what I thought were to be works of art. And then there was the artist's painting on the far right, it looked like she was trying to capture the essence of vomit, with an ice scraper.

Being able to spend some more time talking with Jean-Luc was good. He's an artist himself and works two days a week in Paris selling "ghetto-clothes" to discoteque-going-teens and other young people. What I found most entertaining is he thought that when Americans talked they sort of sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher.

Savannah Take Two

I drove down on 17 from Charleston to Savannah yesterday with my windows open. Today I am wearing shorts and shorts sleeves and already, it feels like 60 something.

Yesterday was not nearly as nice, warm in the sun and cool in the shade. The park is already green, the flowers are flowering and the spirit feels somewhat lifted not to have the burden of a slow transition from late winter to spring to summer:

Savannah has it, the perfect layout. Victorian houses surrounding beautiful square parks. And if you don't live on Forsythe Park or another one, you're only a small walk away. I can see myself spending some time on a bench today.

I looked into SCAD yesterday and found that they have a penchant for taking over old religious buildings and turning them into student work space (i.e. the Scot Rite Temple and the old Synagogue). But truthfully, its like the RISD of the south. After my tour I set out to talk with Prof. Huang of the Architecture department. A case of bad directions and thirty minutes later I found the architecture building, a security officer who is going to pray for my acceptance into the college, and a realization that architecture might not be for me. A fact that was disclosed to me was that most Architecture majors who graduated last year have been laid off. I suppose that makes sense seeing as how the housing market has been having a few ups and downs.

I should get off of this coffee-house couch and see Savannah.

Work of my Classmates

Fun fact, posts don't post themselves. Forgot to hit the "publish post" button yesterday.. So without further ado, yesterday's post:

What I didn’t get to photograph was Paul’s Plant hanger he made for his garden. My camera died the moment I was about to snap the shutter. It was a longer take on the rest of our plant hangers and had a neat decorative twist in the “leg.” At the base, for stability, he joined a spike by a mortise and tenon joint, another method of joinery Susan taught us.

On most of our plant hangers we used a simple strap hinge to attach the decorative twists:

This is a picture of my unfinished plant hanger. The best way to describe strap hinges is by comparing them to metal band aids. They are thin strips of metal formed to fit snugly against the pieces that they are holding.

Above is Jennifer’s final work that she put on display at the “show and tell.” She chose to make an S -scroll to place inside of her plant hanger. Also pictured is her coat rack and a fire poker and two other decorative objects.

What was really cool about her fire poker is that it included three forge welds. Forge welds are what they sound like, welds made with a forge and a coal fire. The end, which didn’t come out so well in this picture, was actually four pieces of quarter inch steel welded together at the ends so to allow the middle to freely move when heated. When the quarter inch pieces are welded like so they can be twisted and “opened up.” The third forge weld was made to connect the four pieces of quarter inch stock to a half inch piece of stock with a split at the end to handle logs. A better picture of the handle part is below.

These were Jeff’s final pieces. He actually opened up his twist to allow room for marbles. Also, note the drawer pulls that he created. He worked meticulously to make matching sets.

Yesterday I woke up early to go up to talk with a professor at the American College of the Building Arts. Its a relatively new college, started up after Hurricane Hugo hit, when the city of Charleston realized that they didn't have any local crafts people to do the massive amounts of needed restoration work. The iron program is in the hands of Jay Close who ran the blacksmithing program at Colonial Williamsburg for the past 30 years. According to Lance Crowe, the other professor, the job of master-smith at Williamsburg is a coveted position.

The college is small but made up of a unique group of focused individuals. Because most people hear about the college through the internet around 20 or more states are represented..

Today, Wednesday, was an exercise in relaxation. The weather took a turn for the better and it was just about 50 or so with a cool breeze. I spent the the day reading Hemingway's short stories, swinging in the hammock and napping. Tomorrow I go back to Savannah and into a welcome warm front.

The Alley Ways of Charleston

I promised the pictures of my classmates' work. I'll get those up tomorrow, this post is long enough.

A Smorgasbord

Even though I have been blogging everyday I feel as though I am behind on what I want to share. This blog and the next few might be somewhat of a smorgasbord of pictures, captions and thoughts.

Finding myself under the weather in Savannah, literally (it was raining, gusting wind and cold), I hiked up to Charleston a day earlier than had planned:


While at the John C. Campbell I had the chance to collaborate with Anne, a clay sculptor. Anne was from Florida and was building a miniature bird house and needed a plant hanger for the outside of her house. The hanger that I made is barely visible but if you look closely it is to the left of the doorway.


Our class created a lot of plant hangers as a way of practicing the fundamental techniques of making a sharp corner, scrolling, tapering, and attaching by using strap hinges. This is the second of my two hangers. In my next post you will be able to see some of my classmates'.

Traveling from the mountains of North Carolina to the lowlands of the Georgian coast I decided to swing into an antique store (an antique junk-yard might be a more apt description). Sitting there in the open were three blacksmithing/post vices. The proper vice for blacksmithing has a leg that extends to the floor so to allow the shock to be absorbed not only by the "latch" attaching it to a table but by the ground. I believe this vice is of English make and is about three to four feet tall. I haggled this puppy down to fifty dollars..

Savannah

I've reached it, the city that Sherman didn't raze to the ground. It's beautiful. Like something out of every person's quintessential thoughts of the olde south. The buildings are stagnant in time, trying to remain upright and in tact through the rain, heat and humidity. Moss stretching from trees and green leaves like rich pieces of candy hang lazily in the wind.

The rain only recently let up and the night has become somewhat cool. I'm staying in the Savannah Pension, a second story apartment in an old residential building turned hostel. I'm the first and only guest of the season. This is one of those places that you know you will return to.

John C. Campbell is also one of those places I will return to. The people there were wonderful and welcoming. The pieces that people created.. Such a depth of talent and creativity came out during the course of the week. Among those creative minds was Joey, the Alaskan boat-builder. Here he is holding one of his pieces:


He started by bending flat stock to create a box and then proceeded to forge a metal in-lay based upon the mythological Norse tree of life. He knew what he wanted to create and was able to create it without much planning. If I'm not mistaken the box isn't complete, I believe he is going to continue forging decorative pieces around the other sides.

I was glad I was able to talk to him as much as I did. At 19 he was in the amazon with a friend or two floating down the river on a raft that they created with the machetes they carried. He's been apple picking in New Zealand, hitch hiked with his girlfriend from NY to Montreal, worked on a pig farm in England and so much more. He has become learned through travel, funded by bouts of work, much like what I did to get to where I am now. A fun fact, he plans to turn those pants that he is wearing in the picture into chaps; they're so hardened by god knows what kind of oils and dirt and debris that they're unwearable without long johns underneath..

Sitting around or driving for long periods of time listening to regional radio stations, it has dawned on me that when you're in the south you have to listen to country music. When you're anywhere else you can choose your poison. Its something about being in the place where the music comes from. Perhaps you can understand it better. I'm listening to Joe Purdy at the moment. He's more folk than country but his voice comes from the mountains, and anywhere there is mountains, good music is made.

The banjo (pronounced banjar) making instructor at the folk school actually left where ever he was from to spend years up in the mountains of North Carolina to learn classical banjo from those who came out of the womb with one in hand.

I'm signing off here and will be back to blog tomorrow.