Monday, April 23, 2018
CHASING DREARY MORNINGS
The day begins with drizzles and than it rains steadily. We drive out to a small french restaurant for coffee. We sit at a table with five people people next to us. There are two adults and three children.
One of the adults tells us the youngest, a boy, is two. He is playing with a computer device that appears to be a cell phone and laughs when he sees something on its screen. I am intrigued with the child's dexterity and humor.
This very small encounter with the ability of a child to use technology gives me hope for the future as does the musical "Bon Jour!" we were greeted with when we entered the restaurant.
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
FIVE GENERATIONS OF WOODWORKING
Every once in a while I attend the public meetings of the St. Louis Woodworkers Guild where the work of their members is often shown. One meeting recently featured the work of Grant Black*. He shared his techniques for bending, shaping and finishing wood for the Traditional Chair he makes. He attributed his skill as being inherited from five generations of his family.
He spoke of the men and women in his family who had inspired him, including his mother who still
helps him by weaving material for the chair seats which he displays. He showed pictures of
his ancestors from the late 1800s. Some of the chairs built by his family are on display in The Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C., and some are in the homes of two former American Presidents and a Governor.
Grant Black has earned his Ph.D in economics from Georgia State University. He works on wood with some hand tools inherited from his ancestors. Yet, he works with power tools as well. He is part of a growing number of people who have found that professional interests and skills learned over the years are still compatible with the technology of today.
As he told his story I was reminded that so much of who we are today is shaped by those ancestors who came before us.
* The link to see the Traditional
Chairs Grant has created is:
hrrp://www.SLWG.ORG/newsletters/SLWG_2017_ll.pdf
The St. Louis Woodworkers Guild
News Letter September 2017 Issue
He spoke of the men and women in his family who had inspired him, including his mother who still
helps him by weaving material for the chair seats which he displays. He showed pictures of
his ancestors from the late 1800s. Some of the chairs built by his family are on display in The Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C., and some are in the homes of two former American Presidents and a Governor.
Grant Black has earned his Ph.D in economics from Georgia State University. He works on wood with some hand tools inherited from his ancestors. Yet, he works with power tools as well. He is part of a growing number of people who have found that professional interests and skills learned over the years are still compatible with the technology of today.
As he told his story I was reminded that so much of who we are today is shaped by those ancestors who came before us.
* The link to see the Traditional
Chairs Grant has created is:
hrrp://www.SLWG.ORG/newsletters/SLWG_2017_ll.pdf
The St. Louis Woodworkers Guild
News Letter September 2017 Issue
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