redwood salvage

                      

this could be yours

some pieces in progress

poplar burl stools

hollowed out

ceanothus platter

elm stool

wood waiting for projects

book matched catalpa

pacific yew, curly blue gum eucalyptus, catalpa, madrone, apple, redwood, fir

black acacia slabs

walnut, cypress, old growth redwood lumber

Solo show at The Branson School

Currently On View:

Mr. Yoshimoto’s Cabinet of Wonder

 

The small, encapsulated worlds currently on view in New House Gallery by Ido Yoshimoto immediately remind my of one of my favorite books. Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonders is a (supposedly) non-fictional account weaved by Lawrence Wechsler of the displays found at the Museum of Jurassic Technology where art meets science as traditional natural history museum dioramas and science-heavy displays account for what Wechsler calls “an intellectual hall of mirrors.” Explaining further, he provokes: “Some of the displays…are hoaxes.  But which one’s?” 

Like Wilson, Ido’s works blur the line between art and science.  Ido presents natural curiosities he has found during treks around his home in West Marin. Only slightly altered from their original state, the objects assume a higher power as Ido preserves them within beautifully crafted boxes.  As I peer through ancient beveled glass I am drawn to closely examine a pleasing mix of beauty, horror, and intrigue – carefully frozen moments of the natural world.  A few small boxes dot the walls under austere lighting; further cementing the importance afforded these seemingly tiny moments.  The piece “Dispossessed”, a 4” cube, holds a nest and the skeleton of a small bird reminiscent of a baby opening its beak awaiting a gift of food from its mother. The work is further highlighted by a ray of light focused through a magnifying oculus in the top of the box. The magical light reinforces the oddity of the specimen; the gesture heightens an emotional response to thoughts of the delicacy of life and the brutality of nature.  The whole leaves me curious—how was this found, preserved, and what liberties has Ido taken in its current presentation?

   

 

Ido's work is on view in New House Gallery through April 20. The gallery is open during regular school hours and by appointment.Please stop by and join in the “wonder.”

 

Great write up from Eric Oldmixon.

Thanks Eric

things in the shop

 Two beautiful antique worm gear hand winches.

The one on the left is 230 lbs, has a second gear reduction and can move a house.

shadow boxes

 pieces for a group show at Gallery Route One

paper wasp

    polistes aurifer

constructed from one piece of maple firewood

 

where coronal and sagittal sutures meet

paper and glass, earth and time

15 egg sacs each containing 100 - 400 eggs of the common house spider

achaearanea tepidariorum

copulating california oak moths, eaten oak leaf marked by egg clusters, chrysalis

phryganidia californica

Naima
homo sapien

awesome photos by Jesse Reding Fleming

CLIMBING TALL TREES

 getting to work on the Inverness ridge. fog settling below the ridgeline, sun shinning

half way up 180 - 200 foot firs

 see david over there?

 looking east from the top

 south

 ahhhhh... west, to the ocean blanketed by the fog

thanks for looking