A Grand Rapids End Table

October 26, 2020

Design

...Midwest. The region had a lot of German language newspapers that featured art and design trends from the Continent. To my eyes this table looks like a mishmash of a Continental European Art Nouveau and an American Mission style. But this is just a guess. To turn a photo off the internet into plans I use the free version of Sketchup. Sketchup has a handy photo tracing feature that adjusts for perspective. I used this tool to get a rough idea of th...

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The Call to Create: Marguerite Knutzen 1925-2017

Mr. Homegrown

April 18, 2017

Thoughtstylings

29 Comments

...calling: the joys of making, doing and teaching. My mom taught junior high art, crafts and ceramics before I was born. She took a break to raise me and then went back to teaching as an elementary school aide. Teaching at the junior high level is no easy task. Schools dump students with academic and home problems into the arts classes just to keep them busy. My mom’s call to be a teacher wasn’t really about how to turn a pot on a wheel. I’ll let my...

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William Morris is the Marie Kondo We Need

Mr. Homegrown

June 30, 2021

Design, Thoughtstylings

4 Comments

...o inaction. It says that you don’t care about future generations and should just give up. As Assata Shakur says, “Our young people deserve a future, and I consider it the mandate of my ancestors to be a part of the struggle to ensure that they have one.” You can read Morris’ speech, Art and Socialism in a book Architecture, industry & wealth; collected papers for free on Archive.org....

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Nance Klemn is in Los Angeles and She’s Teaching Classes!

Mr. Homegrown

February 3, 2015

Events

...mmunity-building initiative using local green and food waste. Nance has worked internationally, lectured at art museums (including MOCA and the Hammer Museum here in L.A.), and produced art projects and installations related to soil and earth concepts. See http://spontaneousvegetation.net/bio/ for more info and links to her work....

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The Wonder of Worms

Mrs. Homegrown

May 21, 2015

Back to the Garden, Gardening, Vermiculture

5 Comments

...he worms might be having some detrimental effects in those areas. See this article from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for the basics. (This is interesting, too.) The Minnesota folks seem mostly concerned about people tossing their extra bait worms into the woods. They do mention that they believe compost worms can’t survive the long winters, so are unlikely to be a big problem. But they’re not 100% sure on that, so if your property...

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