Monday, April 4, 2011

Soil Kitchen

        
Soil Kitchen art project

While on a stroll down our street last week I came across what looked like just another new hipster food joint. Restaurants seem to be popping up like spring daisies in our Fishtown/Northern Liberties neighborhood of Philadelphia, and sometimes I don't even notice.

But this one caught my attention.

A quick wander inside brought me through a colorful, classroom-like environment, with diagrammed chalkboard walls and racks made to hold test tubes and other science related items. There I met a couple of young artists who gave me the scoop.

Learning area.
Soil Kitchen, located on the corner of Second and Girard, is actually not the latest Philly diner, but a remarkable art project, environmental advocacy center, and, well, soup kitchen - at least until Wednesday. It's the first temporary public art project to be commissioned by the City of Philadelphia’s innovative Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy. In fact, the city’s own Mayor Michael A. Nutter was on hand on opening day April 1st.

Soil Kitchen's concept is simple: Philadelphians can enjoy free soup made from locally-sourced food while they wait the twenty minutes it takes to test the soil samples they bring from their neighborhoods. The project is being executed by the artist group FutureFarmers using a grant from the William Penn Foundation.

Image via Wikipedia
The project was planned to coincide with the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Brownfields Conference that will run April 3rd through the 5th at the Philadelphia Convention Center.

Brownfields essentially are lands that have been previously contaminated by industry, and are being detoxified for reuse. The EPA has been involved in a longstanding, comprehensive effort with communities to promote and foster brownfield redevelopment. The Liberty Lands park, only blocks away from Soil Kitchen, is a good example of this partnership. (See the prior post The Good Lands of Liberty for more information).

The windmill-powered building will house the project until April 6th and Soil Kitchen will offer cooking lessons plus free workshops on wind turbine construction, urban agriculture, soil remediation, composting as well as lectures by soil scientists. In addition, they will be creating a Philadelphia brownfields map and soil archive.--D.A. DeMers.




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Monday, March 14, 2011

The Good Lands of Liberty

      
Childrens garden at Liberty Lands Park
It’s hard to tell that the two acre parcel that is now Liberty Lands Park was once an industrial brownfield. And it's hard to believe that the surrounding Northern Liberties community used to be one of the only neighborhoods in Philadelphia without a public green space. Liberty Lands is now a vibrant, essential part of that community, and a symbol of what resourceful neighbors can do with a few shovels, some environmental know-how, and a commitment to making their community a better place.

What is now a park, community garden, playground and state-of-the-art model for water management was once the Burk Brothers Tannery. This former brownfield or contaminated land was made safe and usable after the hazardous materials were removed by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1987.

Image via Wikipedia
After the pollution from the tannery was cleaned up and the contaminated materials were subtracted, biosolids, or nutrient-rich organic materials that are a bi-product from treatment of sewage at water treatment facilities, were used to improve the quality of the land. Biosolids act as a natural fertilizer, enabling the soil to retain more water and nutrients and made it possible for the growth of a community garden, an herb garden, and the more than 180 trees that the park now features.

In 1995, a development company planned to convert the land into loft apartments. When the deal fell through, the land was donated to Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association (NLNA). Since the community didn’t have a green space, neighbors envisioned and created designs for a park. In 1996, the NLNA and the project received funding from the Philadelphia Urban Resources Project.

A world of fun for kids and adults at Liberty Lands.

Our dog Betsy explores the park on a winter day.


 
By the spring of 1997, with the help of other generous donations and volunteer labor, Liberty Lands was born. The park now has partnerships with Philadelphia Urban Resources Project, the Philadelphia Horticulture Society (PHS), Philadelphia Water Department, PA-DEP, TreeVitalize, and the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program.

More recently, the park was selected for a storm water management project. The PHS designed the project and was funded by Philadelphia Water Department/PA-DEP with the aim of easing loads on local waste water systems. Additional community support has funded the instillation of a cistern that will allow for water efficiency and conservation as water will be diverted towards irrigation.

The storm water management system establishes methods that could be utilized across the city and once again demonstrates how Liberty Lands is a model of a sustainable green space and an excellent example of grassroots community building.--A.C. Johnson.

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A Few Words with Liberty Lands Park Coordinator Liz Reed

Many people have pitched in to turn the Northern Liberties lots into a green space. Among them is park coordinator Liz Long Reed. She and her husband William Reed, co-owner of the popular restaurant, pub, and entertainment venues The Standard Tap and Johnny Brenda's, have a great history putting together fun events at the park. Designer In Exile recently chatted with Liz about her related experiences: 


What do you think is the single most significant function of Liberty Lands?

I think the thing that makes Liberty Lands special is that it is versatile. It's lots of things to lots of people. Even with the addition of the stage and rain garden, we purposely thought about how it would be used when there wasn't a major music or rain event going on. We want people to explore and hang out in that area.

What, if anything, has been the biggest hindrance in making Liberty Lands what it is today?

I suppose that would be lack of funds. Regardless, I think we make the most of our time and our volunteers to keep the park safe and looking its best.

What is your favorite part of the park?

That would have to be where I get to sit back and just enjoy it with my neighbors. A close second is that we own it. If we find the ways and the means to make stuff happen, we can do what we want. Like today, my husband/dedicated park volunteer went out with three extension cords and a giant drill to fix a planter that some enthusiastic bunch tipped over and broke last year. Our neighbor will meet him later in the week with his bobcat to pick the heavy top up and place it so it can be re-cemented in place. It's our park, so we can be as creative with our time and energies as we see fit.  It's like a big common back yard.

Does the Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association have any new plans in store for the park or any other other green spaces in the area?

Yes to both. We hope to build a "potty shed." A neighbor designed it to house a port-a-potty on one side and a tool shed on the other. The idea is that people then can pay an annual fee to get the combo to use the toilet, and the fees cover the maintenance contract. If, for whatever reason, it doesn't work out, then we end up with one big shed.

In addition, the NLNA got a grant to green the area from 2nd Street to Delaware Avenue along Spring Garden Street. This includes planting 50 trees on April 17th. And the Philadelphia Water Department and Philadelphia Horticulture Society have started revamping the Dough-boy pocket park at 2nd and Spring Garden as we speak. It will include new storm-water amenities.

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The Community Gardens of Fishtown
A guerrilla photo essay of guerrilla gardens.

Last summer I took a little stroll with my camera in search of community gardens in our Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia. Fishtown is one of the city's oldest areas, and is located only blocks away from the Northern Liberties community mentioned in the articles above. Residents here help beautify their surroundings by taking part in various community diy or guerrilla gardening efforts. Below are pictures of cool stuff I found.--D.A. DeMers.

Neighbors turned this vacant lot into something special.


A local church group put a handy green thumb to this space.



Artisans and gardeners worked together to make this spot extraordinary.

And where there are no green spaces available, we create murals of them!


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Saturday, January 15, 2011

The Tiny House of the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost Revisited

       
Being from a sprawling mid-western city, I had never seen anything quite like this before. It was as if I'd walked into a mini doll house. The ground floor had one tiny room. A steep, twisting staircase led up one floor to another tiny room and bathroom, and the staircase led up again to a bedroom. Metal pulls had been installed to help hoist oneself up to each level, as if aboard a submarine. "It's your basic trinity house,” the realtor said. Apparently, this was a uniquely Philadelphia invention.

The locals also call them Father, Son, and Holy Ghost houses.

Philadelphia of the mid-18th century was in an age of an economic boom. As noted on the website of the Independence Hall Association, "artisans and small manufacturers were needed to supply goods and services to a growing population. Those considered to be artisans included cabinetmakers, silversmiths, pewterers, glass blowers, and wagon builders. As the dwellings in center city were owned by prosperous merchants and land speculators, the artisan middle class congregated in enclaves to the north by the (Delaware) river. They prospered with the growth of the city."  Read More...

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Home Energy: A Turning Point

Image via Wikipedia
The need to save energy is a notion everyone seems to agree is important these days. Whether you're short, tall, wealthy, poor, liberal, conservative, pink, green, or purple - the idea that you might be burning up dollars for no reason strikes a common nerve.

That's why it's comforting to know that professional guidance for the power to save has come to the Philadelphia region in the form of EnergyWorks, a comprehensive energy solutions program for home and commercial or industrial building owners. EnergyWorks experts help owners find ways to reduce their building’s energy use, and EnergyWorks’ low-interest loans help them pay for the upgrade.

At Energywise PA, a site sponsored by the new Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance, Deputy Philadelphia Mayor Alan Greenberger describes the program as follows:

"EnergyWorks pays to send auditors to a home or business to pinpoint specific changes that can save energy and money. [For example], say I have a big house in Mount Airy and, even though I'm an architect, I can actually think of 10 things to do, but I don't know which one is the most bang for the buck."

Many homeowners can get a $400 energy audit and only pay $100 for it. Likewise, low-interest loans are available for improvements. The $25 million program is available in Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties.

Last month Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Campus Apartments CEO David Adelman announced the first full commercial application of EnergyWorks in the launching of an impressive $50 million hotel project in Philadelphia's University City community.

A press release by the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation quotes the Mayor as saying "The city was able to pull levers in a difficult economic climate to obtain financing and make this project happen. By making a smart economic and environmental investment in Philadelphia, this project will bring new, quality jobs for our citizens and a brand-new, environmentally-friendly hotel for visitors. It’s a win for everyone involved.”
  
Auditor training.

The project will be the largest of its kind to utilize EnergyWorks trained contractors, an aspect that helps guarantee the investment will be fostered by an energy efficient, green-building methodology. That way, the return on the city's dollar is less likely to simply go up the chimney, literally.

In essence, we seem to be at a real turning point in the building trades and with our society in general regarding issues of energy conservation. Notions of saving the environment and saving money have begun to merge at a mainstream level; they are seen as one and the same.

For Energy Coordinating Agency executive director Liz Robinson, the two were never far apart. Her 26 year old organization sprouted from the need for a local community resource to help mitigate issues related to some of the less attuned policies of utility companies and their often unhindered rate hikes. 

Describing the ECA's beginnings in an interview with Designer in Exile, Ms. Robinson said "There was a necessity for community outreach and a comprehensive approach to solving energy solutions, and to get utility companies engaged in those solutions."

Some of those solutions are evidenced by the initiation of utility caps at the end of the 1990's, and the current transformation of the utility marketplace through deregulation and a more open market. But most notably it's seen in the growing commitment to energy conservation through various sectors of the local economy.

The evolving possibility of a genuine democratization of energy resources points to a great future for clean energy and the green-building trades. Even now, these sectors show signs of rapid growth in an otherwise stagnant economy. Ms. Robinson emphasized the importance of "helping to elevate the energy literacy" of both energy consumers and contractors during this period.

"In the past," she said, "utility companies made it easy - the public hasn't had to understand everything. Now with more choices at hand, there is a great need for education on the issues for consumers as well as training and other resources for contractors involved in programs such as EnergyWorks."

Throughout previous decades, the ECA has worked amidst the numerous stages of this transformation. Now the organization serves as a virtual lynch-pin for the Philadelphia region's vast array of exciting new energy conservation initiatives - a position they well deserve, and one from which we all can surely benefit.--D.A. DeMers.

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A Heated Debate in the Marcellus Shale

Energy conservation and green-building methods are key to advancing our nation's clean energy future. Equally important is the need to examine issues of where our energy comes from or how it is extracted before it's delivered for use in our homes, schools, and office buildings. With regard to natural gas, an increasingly popular energy source, nothing is burning hotter than the issue of hydraulic fracturing or gas fracking, the drilling technology being employed in the expansive, resource rich region of the Marcellus Shale.

Recently I spoke about this topic with Pennsylvania State Senator Larry Farnese, fresh from his return from a fact finding mission at the Atlas Energy gas drilling site in Fayette County. The senator took part in the tour to get a better understanding of the industry and its issues, as talk continues about a natural gas extraction tax or fee. He hopes to include safety and environmental concerns as an important part of that discussion.

"I have extreme concern for the safety of the men and women involved in this work," he said. "The entire process of extracting gas from the shale is one that is done under extreme high pressure from fluids, and it's important we ensure safeguards are properly in place to protect workers."

Marcellus Shale drilling. GNU image.

The technology essentially involves pumping liquids into the ground to break up the bedrock and thus release gas trapped inside. Some environmentalists claim the method is inherently destructive to the ecosystem because chemicals utilized are said to be volatile and have been known to seep into the waterways. Similarly, questions over uncertain disposal methods continually plague the industry. Gas drillers are protected from full disclosure of their patented chemical recipes, or the amounts utilized, due to a loophole carved in the 2005 US Energy Act that circumvents the landmark Clean Water Act of 1972. The EPA is currently attempting to close the loophole in recent court battles.

Also contentious, at least on the local level, is the issue of a gas severance tax. Pennsylvania is currently the largest state without a drilling extraction fee to recoup possible environmental and oversight costs, or to help fund educational programs needed to ensure that its own citizens benefit from the well paying jobs promised by the boom - not simply professionals brought in from other locations. Reports from the Shale region claim that Texas license plates are present at many drilling sites. Likewise, international oil giant ChevronTexaco recently bought Atlas for an estimated $4.3 billion, making it the largest investment in the area to date. At the same time, Pennsylvania is facing budget shortfalls, especially in areas of job training and education needed to keep pace with these newer drilling methods.

Wikipedia,
But some have made a fierce argument that a gas severance tax would scare away investment, that it is essential to forgo such a fee in order to keep the state competitive in these fragile economic times. I proffered that position to the senator during the interview, but was quickly challenged.

"Absolute hogwash," he declared, displaying his sometimes outspoken, yet personable demeanor. "I talked to experts in top levels of the industry who say this is it. We have one of the nation's greatest energy resources, and the industry is coming here whether there is a fee or not." He emphasized that it is especially crucial to pass the bill now, because the greatest amount of the gas is predicted to be extracted from the region in the first 5-7 years. "We will simply lose out," he said. "It is just absurd."

Sen. Farnese. GNU image.
Despite the decision last October by the state's republican controlled senate to put off a vote on the tax, Senator Farnese feels there is still strong support on both sides of the aisle for such legislation. "To punt on this issue now is simply irresponsible," he said.

He may be right about support for the measure - desire for a tax appears to be rapidly cutting across political boundaries. A poll published this month in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review shows that more than half of registered republicans in the commonwealth now favor of some sort of severance fee. Likewise, more than two-thirds of all Pennsylvania voters say they are for it.

Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that gas fracking has become an increasingly visible issue on the national level. This awareness was advanced greatly by the recent award winning HBO documentary Gasland, by Pennsylvania native Josh Fox, which stunningly highlights many of the practice's potential environmental hazards.

In addition, a plethora of national and local clean water groups, such as the National Resource Defense Council, and Penn Future, and the diligent protest organization Protecting Our Waters, seem unrelenting. With a new administration in Harrisburg and budget deadline due by Spring, debate on the topic is certain to remain forefront. Stay Tuned.--D.A. DeMers.


"Home Energy: A Turning Point" and "A Heated Debate," were previously published on the associated site Home Science.
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Saturday, November 27, 2010

Memphis Redux

    
The Carlton Cabinet - Designed by Ettore Sotts...Image by Mario Seekr via Flickr
Bookshelf, Ettore Sottsass, 1981

The holiday season tends to bring out the kid in most people. And when I think of kids and design, I'm most reminded historically of one of design's more unusual and whimsical periods - that of the Memphis style movement.

Primarily begun in the 1980's as a product design statement by a group of avant-garde Italian visionaries, including the acclaimed industrial designer Ettore Sottsass, Memphis style went from being shockingly esoteric to the mode du jour in less than a decade. In doing so, it challenged many of the long-standing rules of design, and brought with it a new era of post-modern experimentation and vitality.

The New York Times documented the beginnings of the movement in a related MoMA exhibit review a few years back:

Typwriter, (Valentine), Sottsass, 196
"Memphis was cooked up in Ettore Sottsass's Milan apartment one night in December 1980, when the host, then in his sixties and a grandee of Italian design, invited a group of younger designers to develop a furniture collection to show at the following year's Milan Furniture Fair. It was to be a protest against the dry modernist style that had dominated design for decades, and they called it "Memphis" because Bob Dylan's "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" was on the record player, and the needle kept sticking (a common problem back in ye olden days of the 1980s) on the last three words of the title."

Some say that Memphis design also put an imaginative spin on Art Deco style of the 1920's, the later of which derived much of its initial influence from Egyptian motifs made popular at the time by the discovery of King Tutankhamen's tomb. Hence, the name may play on that foundation as well.

Whatever the case, the movement's bold use of bright primary colors and expressive zig-zag patterns seeped into everyday 1980's fashion and can be traced essentially to Sottsass's vision. The colorful triangular shapes on the pop singer El Debarge's jackets, or the the striking yellow outfits Mick Jagger wore at the time come forefront to memory. The movie Ruthless People, with Jagger's voice commanding the animated intro, gives one a good glimpse of the true playfulness of the style, as shown in the clip below:





But it was more than just color and wit that comprised the sensibilities inherent in Memphis design. There was a clear repudiation of standard assumptions of proportion and shape that stretched a new canvas for creative possibilities. Many of these overturned notions are present in product designs of items such as Apple computers and iPods, giving them an almost perennially futuristic appearance.

Sottsass also experimented heavily on a "utopian" concept of living space. He was an opinionated anti-consumerist, declaring at one point that "I didn’t want to do any more consumerist products, because it was clear that the consumerist attitude was quite dangerous."


"Living Environment" Exhibit, 1972.

Thus he often detoured from furniture design to explore concepts of interior and architecture. His forward-minded "Living Environment" exhibit, consisted of a series of nine compact, modular living compartments, each meant to be easily personalized and pleasant. One compartment contained a kitchen, another a seat/bed, a wardrobe, a toilet, a desk system and even a jukebox. His compartments were all connected to provide water and electricity to each unit.

As we move along into the twenty-first century, our living space is shrinking. In big cities such as Tokyo and Shanghai, his concepts already exist. At the rate we are depleting natural resources and contaminating the earth environment, there may well be a need for all of humanity to live in separate, small, sealed rooms that share power and water.

Totem Vase.
But in terms of mere aesthetics, some claim that we are in the midst of a Memphis style renaissance. As stated nicely by the Times reviewer, recent style is "rebelling against the slickness of megabranding to chase the 'emotional and expressive' qualities in the original Memphis pieces," and design also seems to be "searching for alternatives to the delicate neo-romantic style, which was fashionable in the early 2000s." What could be more suited for that than a reinterpretation of kitschy, flashy Memphis?

Love it or hate it, Memphis style remains one of the more peculiar and startling moments in design history. It was an eruption of modernity, as if modern style were looking back and re-imagining itself as a vibrant, amusing, radical, self-aware, contemplative other face. And as Sottsass said in a 1986 Chicago Tribune interview, "Memphis is like a very strong drug. You cannot take too much. I don't think anyone should put only Memphis around - it's like eating only cake."--D.A. DeMers.


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Tuesday, November 9, 2010

The Origins of Flight

A young man's unlikely ascent into the world of design   
           
Image via Wikipedia
Not long ago I was looking through an old magazine and out plopped some photos of lamps I thought were long lost. There's a story linked to them worth telling, so here goes...
              
Wicker Park Chicago in the 90's was not unlike Greenwich Village in the 60's. The cafes, lounges, and parties resonated with the constant chatter of creative ideas. Music, art, literature, and youth culture had converged on this locale, and in the air was a tremendous zeitgeist shared by everyone, a sense that something quite amazing was happening...and things did.
   
That's all over now. And I have exiled myself to Philly, where that same spirit of creativity is beginning to burn brightly (and likewise so does the spirit of championship baseball team). Wicker Park now seems nothing but a faraway planet of unauthentic-looking chain bars, ubiquitous trendy restaurants, and stretches of hastily slapped together yuppie condos. Dorothy Parker's famous quote is fitting: "there's no there there."
 
But for one particular moment in time, it was a special place. And being one who experienced the apex of that moment, I was motivated to do many artistic endeavors. Playing music and being in a variety of bands was one, but more offbeat, perhaps, was the compulsion to make things, especially lamps.
    
It started with an odd curiosity and study of the "birdmen" who built flying machines in the early 1900s. They seemed particularly fascinating, since many of them had no prior experience with such engineering, yet risked death to see if their contraptions would succeed. The human desire to fly is a legacy steeped in mythology, linked back to humankind's first ambitions. It's the consummate metaphor for freedom on many levels - the dream to defy the shackles of gravity, whatever that may represent...I often felt that gravity profoundly.
   
When electricity became usable to consumers, many designers, engineers, and architects found an alluring new technology with which to work. From the Arts and Crafts era to Art Deco, a plethora of imaginative lighting designs were created, designs that greatly influenced my flight into this enticing realm.
   
The French-based Desny design group and lamp artists such as Kola Moser of the Austrian Weiner Werkstaette offered some of the more compelling lighting treasures, utilizing crome and glass in ways that explored their dazzling reflective and refractive properties. There's a magical sense working with an object that emits light that one doesn't quite feel when making a chair or table.
  
    
I was drawn to that magic with a child's sense of wonder. I did everything possible to learn how to make such fascinating objects. I learned welding, silver-smithing and jewelry-making, studied design from every aspect, and in 1995 opened an art metalwork and lamp shop called Birdman Studios in the flat-iron arts building at the corners of Milwaukee Ave., North, and Damen - the heart of Wicker Park.
    
I used whatever materials I could find - reclaimed gas pipes, old cast-iron fittings, discarded sheets of copper, steel, or aluminum. I experimented with all types of glass, then mica, plastic, whatever. So obsessed had I become with these luminous creations that friends seemed more than a bit concerned. I had transformed into, well, a "birdman".
   
It was difficult to explain how personal these projects had become - they were like my offspring. I recall one crowning moment, an exhaustive late night when I sat back in that little urban studio, sweat and grease smeared across my brow, and gazed at the warm, glowing spectacle of my family of little lamps. I gave so much of myself to making them, and they gave back such a satiable sense of fulfillment and magic...yes magic. I never wanted to let them go.
     
However, economics is often a buzzkill for artistic passion, and so my wife Anne and I eventually schlepped the creations to gift shows, art fairs, community events, held open studios, did anything and everything to make a living selling those things. Finally I was picked up by an artisan rep who schlepped them for me, and to some very prominent home furnishings and gift shows in New York, Chicago, and Atlanta. Soon enough the lamps found proper homes in museum shops, including New York's MoMa, the Walker Center in Minneapolis, and Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art.
      
It was quite an unlikely roll of events from there on. One day I got an offer from a major international men's lifestyle magazine to be featured in their series on "cool" lamps. It's still a mystery as to whether my studio was the original intended destination for the reporter's inquiry or whether the lead was actually meant to be for somebody more notable down the hall from me. So be it, fate is a funny thing.
    
In any case, I was the lucky benefactor, and they chose my sculptural hand-forged aluminum "Moonstation" lamp to be featured in the magazine, juxtaposed with an assortment of non-alike creations by other makers. That exposure, along with a linked mention on NBC's Today Show, would change everything. I received an influx of calls for orders - more than I could possibly execute on my own. Desperate for resolution, I approached a local lamp manufacturer about the possibility of getting them mass-produced.
        
Instead, I wound up becoming a product designer for the lamp company and for the next decade designed lamps and furniture for some very big retail stores, including Lowes, Target, and Pottery Barn, and in doing so, traveled the world like Marco Polo from China to India to Paris - a mission this humble, small-time lampmaker who began from a tiny studio in Chicago found impossible not to undertake.
    
I never returned to making one-of-a-kind lamps by hand, something I regret as the years roll by... Perhaps someday, though, the Birdman will fly again.

        
  
                                                            
Above is a page from the March 1999 issue Maxim Magazine that featured one of my lamps. Below are pics I recently found of some of the handmade lamps of the Birdman Studio years 1995-1999. I believe friends still own a few of the firsts.

  










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Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The Oilmen Cometh





There are lies, and there is the big lie. I think I've figured out how they are different.
 
Last week I was about to be very late getting to a customer's home, due to an embarrassing scheduling oversight at my office. When I asked my boss what to say, he looked at me straight and said "do you not know how to lie?"

I was hesitant, and laughed a bit nervously.

He was serious. "Do you not know how to bend the truth a bit to say stuff like 'traffic was a complete mess,' or 'we had an emergency situation that needed fixing,' or 'we are a little short-handed due to the bug that's going around?'"

I thought about it and replied, "well yes, I suppose so." After all, doesn't everyone do that to some degree?

So at that moment, the reason I was late to the customer's home was because it seemed like there was a big accident on the highway and traffic was really backed up. I wasn't entirely comfortable saying that, but it eased a sticky situation, and nobody was hurt by it.

But then there's the big lie.

The big lie is when somebody misleads a people's entire sense of reality or purpose. It's when a little man behind a curtain cons folks into believing that what they're seeing is the ultimate truth. Throughout history we've seen the big lie used to keep the great majority in fear, and the greedy few in power.

Last week, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger pulled the curtain away from a couple of extremely powerful little men in the oil industry who are seeking to repeal some of the state's landmark environmental achievements.

California Proposition 23, which is a ballot showdown come this November, is a repeal initiative financially sponsored by Tea Party allied oil baron billionaires, the Koch brothers. It aims to dismantle pollution regulations and laws that were enacted to defend the planet from decades of industry abuse. Their reasoning for the repeal? To save jobs.

If that were the truth, then the vast array of small business associations across California surely would be in full step with the repeal.

They are not.

As it turns out, over the past 20-30 years a lot of folks have spent industrious hours researching, testing, and implementing alternative energy business ideas and wondrous new methods of saving energy. Hardworking middle-class Joe the plumber entrepreneurs have planted a green tech economy that is blooming into a new era of American ingenuity. Their work may eventually siphon, sift, and shovel away the filthy, ghastly mess of our fossil fuel world.

The end game? No more BP deep-water drilling disasters, no more Marcellus Shale poison drinking water atrocities, no more Coal River Mountain health tragedies, and most relevant - create an expansive wealth of good, ethical, new jobs.

Contrary to conventional thought, it's been the clean energy business world that has endlessly competed against a heavily government subsidized, tax-dodging, oil industry. Only recently has the US Department of Energy begun to seriously explore and fund clean energy alternatives, and only recently has it looked like green business models might finally succeed, despite the fact that the fossilized dirty fuel dynasties are bankrolled nearly 20-1 by both the federal government and Wall Street compared with clean energy. Oil money comes from a deep, dark well. Now that they feel threatened, their stormtroopers have come in full force to put down the competition, to obliterate our new green world for once and for all.


English: Wind turbine
Image: Wikipedia
Enter Governor Schwarzenegger, the Terminator, a moderate conservative who is bucking the far right Tea Party trending GOP. His rebukes of the oilmen pull no punches. He said at a recent rally that proponents of Prop 23 are attempting to subvert the democratic process by using scare tactics. He likened the campaign to a shell game, hiding what he said was the real purpose - "self-serving greed."

"They are creating a shell argument that they are doing this to protect jobs," the governor said. "Does anybody really believe they are doing this out of the goodness of their black oil hearts - spending millions and millions of dollars to save jobs?"

Prop 23 might very well be about jobs. But jobs for whom? The Koch brothers?--D.A. DeMers.


11/10/10 Update - Proposition 23 was soundly defeated by the voters. It's a great victory for green-building design, green jobs, and the environment. Hats off to my colleagues in California.


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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Hanging Around: Imaginative Lighting Designs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

An exhibition of modern and contemporary lighting from the Permanent Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.        

Hanging lamp Birdie by Ingo Maurer.
Birdie, Ingo Maurer. Image: Wikipedia
In the early twentieth century, with the introduction of electric light, designers began to focus on lighting fixtures, hanging lamps among them. Interest in lighting design experienced a particular surge in the decades after World War II, when many young artists, the American George Nelson among them, responded to a demand for fixtures that were both functional and modern in their aesthetic.

In the 1950s, Poul Henningsen, a Danish industrial designer and architect, created a series of hanging lamps that explored a variety of ways of diffusing and reflecting light. His 1958 PH Artichoke lamp is composed of staggered and stacked reflectors in a configuration that resembles, as its name suggests, an artichoke.

Throughout the late twentieth century, designers worked with a range of materials, some of them new, like plastic, and some of them merely low-tech materials adapted to a new purpose. The Italian artist Bruno Munari's Falkland lamp, conceived in 1964, is an elegant undulating column of elasticized fabric.

In more recent years, designers, most notably Ingo Maurer of Germany, have experimented with new lighting technologies. One of Maurer's most technically advanced creations is the 2003 "Wo bist du, Edison(Where Are You, Edison) lamp. It comprises of a 360-degree holographic image of a light bulb projected onto a transparent cylindrical shade, while the actual source of the lamps light is a halogen bulb hanging above the shade, hidden in a socket in the shape of Thomas Edison's profile.

Hanging Around, drawn from the Museum's extensive collection of modern and contemporary design furniture and lighting designs, features more than twenty hanging lamps. The exhibit is currently on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art until October 10th.




Above content per the Philadelphia Museum of Art. See www.philamuseum.org for more exhibit details, or other information about the artists and designers represented.

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