Pivot Door - Salvaged Materials - Yestermorrow Design Build School, VT
Constructed of salvaged and reclaimed materials with simple inexpensive hardware. A raw cedar post is the central member notched to accept the frame. On the left you will see a stack of brinks, a counterweight to the heavier right side. Seasons change, wood cures, so to maintain a balanced door the users can add and subtract weight as needed. The door handle was fabricated by a local beaver of Blueberry Lake. All hardware and latches are found objects.
The door was made during my apprenticeship at Yestermorrow Design/Build school in central Vermont.
The door was made during my apprenticeship at Yestermorrow Design/Build school in central Vermont.
Cedar and Salvaged Wood Table
The table frame is made of 90-year old wood salvaged from a house that was cut in half and moved from Hillcrest to North Park in 2008. We chiseled lap joints in the 2 x 4 studs then added rollers to create a simple, yet beautiful, conference table. The tabletop was a worm infested cedar plank purchased in San Bernardino County.
Bamboo Fence - South Park
This bamboo fence is made of discarded bamboo our neighbor would trim and leave out for someone to claim. Over a one-year period we collected the necessary amount and then spent another year constructing the fence. The light green framework is based on the mathematical mystery called the Fibonacci series. In the series the squares grow exponentially and the corners, when connected, create a perfect spiral, like the ones found in nature.
On the bamboo stalks, if you look closely, you will see the prayers for the planet that were burned into the fence by women who came by to help us.
On the bamboo stalks, if you look closely, you will see the prayers for the planet that were burned into the fence by women who came by to help us.
Cob Bread Oven
Earthen Bread and Pizza oven constructed of clay, sand, straw with an urbanite foundation. The two chamber oven has a fire brick lower fire chamber and a cob baking chamber above. Built over a six month period to fend off a challenging illness the work of mixing clay with my feet on a tarp, sculpting plaster and placing stones was my practice and prescription to build back my strength. Based on a sketch in Kiko Denzer's oven book, the oven proves the will is more important than the talent or knowledge. I studied kilns and incinerators to maximize the use and allow for fires up to 1,000 degrees.
Poetry Bench - Balboa Park
Earthen bench in Balboa Park, a large urban park in San Diego. Over a four week period 20 women built the bench out of cob, strawbale and superadobe with a clay plaster finish. The slot in the center is a poem drop box where strangers leaves poem and notes for us to retrieve and enjoy. The bench is used by local poets, some of who have been meeting there for over five years. See poetrygrove.weebly.com for more information.
Schoolyard Pizza Oven
Cob pizza oven designed to meet Division of State Architects requirement for a permitted structure on a school campus. This oven can be built on any school campus in California with the intention of baking foods prepared and consumed by the students.
Visit www.SchoolyardPizzaOven.com
Visit www.SchoolyardPizzaOven.com
Bubba's Oven
Built on the site of a former Waldorf school and home school/hobby farm site, this oven was designed and built by Bubba (12 yrs old) and his friends. I guided the design/build process where friends and neighbors joined in to build the oven on Spring Break in March 2010. The completed oven will be used by Bubba to continue his love of baking and cooking.