old school's rude tools made crude jewels for you fools

ahem- i apologize for calling you the name up there right off the bat- it just rhymed so well i have to stick with it no matter what the outcome. nothing personal, right? it's for art.

.._from the redplumjam archive_..

here's 3 i tidied up for you to see- as redplumjam is of an age that will require two digits to record- these and other older shots are now admissible as 'fresh old material'. these first three i actually like looking at:



this simple sconce is clearly a clamp lamp on a rebar outrigger. pretty darn cool right? that's redplumjam 1999 y'all. all my stuff was MDF, zipties & rebar then. photo: John Langford Photography



here's a coffee table in walnut & red oak- designed in austin for an architect with a toddler circa 2001. six legs: can't knock it over. cammi & i are still friends on LinkedIn even. photo: John Langford Photography



and a detail shot of some casework & carpentry, again in austin all to WoodEye Construction & Design's specs. from 2004-2005. Garland Turner's got so much soul woodworkers be like yo'.
photo: John Taylor

lil' bonus: here's my squirts- [also geting old now, still easy on the eye] a shot taken by my good friend and artist ed gross a little over a year ago. we were neighbors at the time & set up the shot on my [also old] truck. i held treats while he clicked the photos. of course you notice the mezmerizing dust collector in the background- it belongs on an album cover somewhere. lynn crounse will agree.

funny that all this stuff is old school for me historically, and early in my design education as well, but design-wise all of it is very modern-looking, challenging or even outlandish [retail-relegated anyway] through a richmond, va lens.

what is old school? simple, temporary, improvised, imaginative, sometimes engrossing-
people making tools to improve their lives. sometimes planned sometimes stream of consciousness.
usually having nothing to do with how anything looks. incidental. now THAT's old school i can identify with. the dust collector in my dogs photo is a perfect example of this. my dogs are a perfect example of this!

ok- one last nod to days past, i'll leave you with a quote by Lily Tomlin:

"i always wanted to be somebody, but now i realize i should have been more specific."

no- yeah- just like that!