Bluestone Development Wall - Collaboration with dKiser Design.Construct

My friend Doug, from dKiser design.construct, and I finished a collaborative project for Bluestone Development's new office this past weekend. Bluestone's new space is located at 13th & Webster, in the same location that was formerly the Empty Room. After finishing our ORGANISM installation, the fine folks of Bluestone asked us to create a unique installation for their newly added south wall to add some additional character and warmth to the space. Doug and I brainstormed some ideas and came up with a shared vision that would utilize lots of separate wooden panels of different sizes, shapes, depths and tones.

Doug took our vision forward and created a specific scale design. We applied 4 different stains to the pieces, plus the natural color of the ash plywood we used as the base for all the pieces. There are a few panels and shelves that stick out from the wall a little to give it some depth and additional texture too. We filled the screw holes with a variety of hardwood plugs of different lengths to add even more dimensionality as the lights in the space cast shadows over them. After cutting, sanding, staining, lacquering and installing over the course of the past few weeks, we're finally done.

Stop by Bluestone and give it a look sometime after the holidays, and be sure to check out Bluestone's hip downtown developments, including 22 Floors, the Rows at SOMA and Joslyn Lofts.

Epilogue to Empty Room

Doug, Matt and I brought ORGANISM - and with it, the Empty Room - to a close last Saturday night. It was an amazing, challenging, and ultimately, very fulfilling project. I had never done anything that approached an installation before, and came out with a new understanding of the collaboration, time commitment and work necessary to pull something like this off.

I entered the project apprehensive of how the various components would work together; after all, there's not much of an immediate connection between poetry and building. But after some initial trial and error, we reached a happy medium. In the end, I don't think it was so much a collaboration as it was an exercise in sharing. Matt hosted several successful poetry readings and slams in the early part of each week. Doug and I took advantage of whatever chunks of time (mostly weekends) we could to build the Organic Chair and recreate a venue in the space.

After we finished an initial simple structure we turned our focus to what we're calling Organic Chair #1, which was only unveiled at the closing.

One of our goals for the entire installation was to raise some resources for a nonprofit organization. Matt, who was recently named as its new Executive Director, decided on the Nebraska Writer's Association. Doug and I set our sights on the Kent Bellows Studio & Center for the Visual Arts. We realized we probably weren't going to have much luck finding a buyer for the Organic Chair installation. So we switched gears and began focusing on Organic Chair #1. Through our mostly unplanned building process, what started as a sort of kaleidoscopic tank slowly emerged as a curvy and somewhat more sophisticated stand-alone reaction to the installation. Though we didn't quite get the inside and outside finished, we hope to do so and sell it to benefit the Bellows Studio.

Thanks to everyone who was able to make it down to the space during November for a reading, slam, concert, or just to hang out. There's a list of related postings and links below about ORGANISM and the entire 6 months of the Empty Room.

Check out Andrew Marinkovich of Malone & Co's photo documentation of all the Empty Room projects.

Silicon Prairie News was gracious enough to do interviews and features about ORGANISM, 25 Days of Building, Clean Plate, 300 Square and the Empty Room concept itself.

For more ORGANISM pictures, etc., check out our Facebook page.

Amy Morin's (Beast Box) website: http://plaiderpillar.com/
Elle Lien's Clean Plate Website: http://clean-plate.com/
Mary Wees' 25 Days of Building Blog: http://25daysofbuilding.wordpress.com/
Jeff Hug's String Thing Website: http://emptyroomstringthing.com/

And a special thanks to 22 Floors, Bluestone Development, Secret Penguin & What Cheer for allowing such a unique thing to occur in Omaha!

ORGANISM @ Empty Room - Week 1 Recap & Upcoming...

Doug, Matt & I kicked off the final month of Empty Room one week ago with the opening of ORGANISM: A Festival of Words & Building. After a slow start building, Doug and I have made quite a bit of progress on the Organic Chair, and are looking forward to adding more elements over the next few weeks. We've mostly concentrated on building from noon - 2pm on Saturdays and Sundays, and during the weekly Wednesday Poetry Slams. If you'd like to join us, you're welcome. Just email us at organism1109@gmail.com so we can be sure to prepare. We also welcome guests to just come in and check out the space while we're working too. Here are a few pictures to show our progress:

Matt and his gang of wordsmiths are hosting events Monday - Wednesday evenings, with occasional events during the rest of the week too. To keep up with the poetry schedule, visit The Poetry Menu. Personally, I'm most looking forward to this Wednesday's Haiku Slam, and next week's Sock Puppet Slam. We also post updates nearly every day for fans of the ORGANISM Facebook Page to keep up with us. If you're coming down to ORGANISM Wednesday, you might also check out Doug's presentation at the next Pecha Kucha, which is just across the parking lot at Slowdown, starting at 8:20p.m.

Today also marks the first installment of 3 Share-a-Chair installations that I'll gradually be adding to the space. Learn more about this new ORGANISM element at Share-a-Chair.com.

I'd also like to remind visitors that we're accepting donations. There's no cost to attend any of the ORGANISM events, but there are a couple donation boxes set out. Matt is accepting donations that will support contributing poets and support the Nebraska Writer's Association. Doug and I have a donation box to support the growth of the Organic Chair installation and the Kent Bellows Studio & Center for the Visual Arts.  We're also donating a portion of the sale of objects in the Empty Room to the Bellows Studio, so your support for us also supports exceptional young talent. Bellows Studio Executive Director Anne Meysenburg is also presenting at Pecha Kucha on Wednesday, so if you're interested in learning about the organization, here's a prime opportunity.

Thanks for reading and we look forward to seeing you at ORGANISM!

A "Star" of Sustainable design? Probably not.

My involvement in November's "Organism" project in the Empty Room is mostly about chairs. And design. And building. However, sometimes it will only enhance the project by providing tables on which to rest your favorite beverage, book or both. To that end, I've created the beginnings of what will be two small coffee tables. I've been a little under the weather the last couple days, but was able to work on these over the weekend. Both follow the construction technique I developed with the "Ark" chair. However, with these tables I've focused more on the overall pattern and shape in the fabrication process. The larger piece measures about 3-feet from each star point to its opposing twin. The whole piece is about 3/4" thick. This will be the table top, which will be paired with a set of thin, spindly turned legs. The fabrication of the larger finished piece was made by cutting about 300 (288, to-be-exact) individual diamond shaped pieces that have then been glued together, one-by-one. The smaller piece will be the same design, but feature a modified wood/grain pattern from the larger one. The woods used in the larger piece included paduak and red heart (alternating in the center), followed by a layer of honey locust, with the remaining encasing made of different varieties of walnut. The smaller piece is red heart alternating with canary wood, followed by a pattern of red heart and honey locust.

For those of you who are interested in sustainable design, well... this doesn't exactly fit the bill. However, I do have an olive branch of sorts to offer, since each of the diamond shaped pieces is cut from the scraps of other projects. So, I've at least found a way to work with what would otherwise have been waste in a process that embraces the spirit of sustainability, even if the underlying wood I used was not. I look forward to hearing any of your suggestions about incorporating other sustainable design and fabrication processes.

My plate is clean: Final Clean Plate Sneak Peak

I've told a lot of friends and acquaintances during the last few weeks that this July has been the busiest time I've ever had, as far as I can remember. Now that we've reached the end of the month, I've finished all the projects I (over) committed to, with a day or two to spare. Among these, of course, is the 14-foot Clean Plate dining table. The picture below is from about a week ago, and should give you a better idea of its overall size. But in order to see the finished piece, you'll have to check it out at the Empty Room. All I can say is that it looks gorgeous, and I'm happy and proud I had the opportunity to do it. I'm also proud of the fact that my dad got to help me with it this past weekend. We hadn't worked on many projects together since my first couple, so it was an interesting experience coming full circle almost ten years later with this more massive piece. Check out all the wood shavings in the picture below; Jean and Renee, sorry for all the dust.

For now my proverbial plate is clean - sort of - for a while, but I'm back to work on a new chair next week. Should be interesting. You can follow my progress at the shareyourchair blog.

Oh, and if you haven't heard anything about it, be sure to stop by Mosaic Community Development this weekend. On Thursday there's a Tweetup, Friday there's live music/food, and on Saturday, myself and the other Just Rest artists, Leslie Iwai and Kjell Cronn, will be doing demos/workshops from 11am - 2pm. Learn more at mosaiccd.org.

So I guess my plate isn't as clean as I thought. That's alright - I like it that way. Adios.

Clean Table - Sneak Peak #3: It's turning me upside down

After a short break to travel to San Francisco for work/play, I was able to get back in my workshop today. I made some pretty substantial progress on the Clean Plate table, including getting all the top planks cut to size, as well as the rails and ends for one of the 3 components. 

The picture on the left is one of two five-foot long sections laid out on a work table. It's pictured here upside down, because the pieces are not fasted together in any way. Hopefully you can get a sense of the basic design and size from the photo. 

This 5' x 4' section and another of equal dimension will bookend a middle section that is 4' x 4'. Two legs of each of the outer 5' x 4' sections will pull double duty by supporting the middle section

as well. I wish I had a better picture of the way I've arranged the top planks; the richness of color and diversity of grain patterns of this Silver City, IA and Nebraska-grown and milled walnut is significant.

To give you a larger sense of the amount of material in this table (and then, perhaps the size),

here is a shot of most of the end pieces I cut off today to square and cut to size the top planks. I save all these stubby pieces in a box with the intent of making a sculpture or fabricating a structure, but I'm not convinced this will happen any time soon. We'll see - maybe when I finish this, and another project and some chairs and...

Clean Table - Sneak Peak #1

I have the distinct honor of being commissioned to create a dining table for the upcoming Clean Plate residency at the Empty Room in NoDo. Starting in early August, Elle Lien will bring her flavorful feasts to foodies and concert goers. And trust me, having sampled this past Sunday's Mediterranean-inspired brunch, Omaha is in for a treat. The Empty Room projects are meant to be community-based. In that spirit, I'll be sharing occasional updates and photos of the building process. If you're going to be around the Bemis Center or are interested in checking it out, lending a hand for an hour or so or just want to hang out drop me a line. Here are a couple pictures with the basic layout of the top. The long pieces of wood laying vertically on edge will actually be the supports on the underside, and the uneven pieces running laterally are the top.

After several conversations, Elle and I settled on a Parsons-style table, which means the ends, sides and legs are all flush with the top, eliminating any overhang or lip. The whole table will be 16-feet long and 4-feet wide. This is by far the largest piece of furniture I've ever made and has already presented me with several logistical challenges. Namely, the length and overall size has caused me to build the table in 3 pieces so it can be moved out of my workshop and easily transported to the Empty Room.