13. November 2008 by Joe Gergen.

I need to write this entry so I can stop my obsession with lamps. Or have all the work bear great fruit. Either outcome would be fine.

This is the story of the  four lamps and the evolution that occurs from the first to the last. Or perhaps it is devolution that occurs.

It all started with some scraps of wood sitting around that were too small to make into anything substantial. So I thought I could make some funky table lamps out of them.

Lamp 1. So I made a bunch of 4×4 squares of cherry about one half inch thick and started stacking them in different configurations. Once I had stacked them ad nauseum I started to narrow the options down to what I could string a lamp cord through (I know that seems like such a creative-limiting move but since i didn’t want to install a battery powered light fixture and since I don’t know much about the transferring of electricity via microwaves I accepted this limitation).

You will see that what I ended up with was a simple rectangular Base with the rectangles cascading linearly in a backwards direction (or forwards depending on how you place the lamp). Creates kind of a nice offset feel while retaining some pleasing lines. Almost has a grand staircase feel to it.

Lamp 2. Second verse same as the first. Almost. But we throw a twist in there to break up the lines. The swirl creates some sense of motion, more like a spiral staircase. The twist carries the plane away from us then brings it back a little. Perhaps keeping us grounded.

Lamp 3. If one is good two is better. Here we try to add mixed motions (or maybe mixed emotions).  If one spiral staircase is good, a second will be even better, especially if they seem to be dancing with each other, or perhaps juxtaposed. I sometimes think it has that Ziegfeld follies synchronized swimming swirling feel to it. Or maybe a tango dance as someone has suggested.

And you’ll notice here the wood lamp shade.  I decided that since the lampshade can be such an integral part of the  lamp experience, why leave it to chance. So we created here a nice geometric design with a subtlety patterned paper to diffuse the light.

Lamp 4. Then we decided to take the idea horizontal and have the spiral come out at us and attacking the new plane from a different angle. Not only does the spiral come out at us it also dips in slightly, due to the walnut squares being thicker on one side than the other. The movement is very subtle and is difficult to see in the photo. The slight dip creates a bit of an off-putting feel about it and throws the lines into a slightly different place than you expect. It also manages to make sure that nothing about the piece is level.

Which takes us to the lamp shade, which is square and level.  This opens up options on how to situate the shade.  In the photo the front lip of the shade is level but is raked slightly forward, like a fedora raked slightly forward. You could also set the shade level on all sides or you could set it level to the top of the post, creating challenging  reactions from the people viewing it.

The few reactions I have had to it so far have been hard to guage. Linda said it looked like a wild animal. I think it looks like something sprouting from the earth.

So I guess this kind of what I mean when I say my style is evolutionary. Hard to predict, hard to explain, but I think easy to look at. I can’t imagine how anyone would not want an evocative lamp like one of these.

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2. November 2008 by Joe Gergen.

All I want for Christmas is a tablespoon. This is a significant moment in my life. I haven’t wanted anything for Christmas since I was ten. So, to want at all is significant. My spartan and minimalist existence has trained me to have little desire for physical things (except for chocolate).

Why and where did this disturbing rift in my psyche occur, you might ask. Well, it began with the tapioca. Yes, the tapioca. The tapioca that did not quite set right. Half set into slightly too firm lumps, the other half runny cream. I needed a knife to cut the one, a cup to drink the other.  Don’t get me wrong. It tasted good, since really bad things would have to happen to make that much milk sugar and vanilla taste bad. So why the issue. Because half the joy of eating tapioca is smooth, creamy, puddingesque textual sensation combined with the sweet creamy flavor. And I was robbed of that and I will not let that stand because I know how to make tapioca.

You see, it all started a couple month ago when I was cooking something and somehow I managed to break my tablespoon. I have no recollection of how it broke, though I distinctly recall thinking no big deal, I don’t cook that often or that precisely. In fact there are few things that I cook the same way twice. But despite being an erratic cook, I do know that there are certain things that need to be precise: baking and obviously now, tapioca. So since I am a minimalist at the time of the tablespoon breakage I decided there was no need to panic and buy another tablespoon and in fact it was one less physical possession that I would have to deal with.

Wrong! Obviously a tablespoon can be a good part of your life, since in making the tapioca I had to approximate the tablespoon amount and clearly got it wrong and therefore I suffered because of it. I mean, Prufrock measured out his life in coffee spoons so there clearly must be something there.

So that’s why I am putting a tablespoon on my Christmas list. And I am changing my definition of minimalist from zero possessions to zero possessions plus one tablespoon.

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29. October 2008 by Joe Gergen.

Halloween is coming up. All kinds of ghoulish things will be brought up I am sure, and I must say that I had a ghoulish thought yesterday.

Lately I have been working on some new table lamps. And so a nice artsy lamp needs a nice artsy shade. Now if you know anything about lampshades, you know that the right one can be fairly expensive. In fact often its the shade that makes the lamp.

So not being able to often find the right shade or justify the expense, I have ventured into experimenting with making shades. The task is exciting and challenging, since I can in theory design the shade just so but also know that now I have control over the entire lamp and cannot blame a less than perfect shade on not being able to find or afford one.

But that’s not the point. The point is that as I was working towards a recent lamp shade design, as I was sitting alone in my house, as I was sitting with one light on in the living room, as I was sitting in with no sounds disturbing me the name “Ed Gein” floated into my mind. The infamous Ed Gein, who among many disturbing things in his insanity had made a lampshade out of human skin. 

I had to take a break form working on the lampshade. There are things that are not good for creativity. Not good at all.

I am going to blame the episode on the approach of Halloween and will return to making the lampshade, which I assure you is made strictly from paper and wood.

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24. October 2008 by Joe Gergen.

Elegance.  Such a simple and beautiful word. But what  a tough word to pin down. It does wonderful duty in describing something you see that is, well, elegant. I think elegance falls into that category of word that elicits the phrase “I know it when I see it.” You just know.

And you can probably even look at the object and pick out what gives it elegance. Elegance does have a definition, or many definitions, though they seem to press the play button on the quote attributed to Pontius Pilate “What is truth?” What is elegance?

One definition is “Grace, refinement, and beauty in movement, appearance, or manners.” I think that works for me.

I know you’re asking why am I interested in the definition of elegance. Perhaps it’s because I want my furniture to be elegant. And yes, sometimes that is true, though clients sometimes want different qualities. But it’s mostly a need to get my hands around this for when that client wants something elegant. Where does one begin?

So we come back to “What is elegance?” First off, I need to know what that means to me. Second, I need to figure out what that means to the client.

To me elegance begins with movement and all the ways one can achieve that. Sometimes that means simple. But introducing simple into the equation just adds more abstractness to something we are trying to unabstract. I had a client who said she wanted something elegant and to her elegance was paired with simplicity. I had to ask whether simple to her was uncomplicated or was it minimal. It was minimal, which was a characteristic I could chase but probably not define.

I did find a definition of elegance that I liked though I think it actually was referring to an ecosystem or ecology. “Elegance denotes the minimum activity that is necessary and sufficient to produce the desired outcome.” I like this probably because it confirms it some way may initial gut feel on what makes elegance, and that was movement. Activity. Movement. Perhaps activity is movement with a goal.

So in order to achieve elegance with movement I need to infuse that movement with a goal. Movement for movement sake may or may not churn out elegance and most likely becomes artifice instead of art. Which believe it or not takes me back to my main belief about what is required to elevate art, any sort of art: Intention. What is the intent?

Though perhaps harder to achieve than elegance, intention may actually be easier to define and describe, assuming there is intention in it. So, you have to ask yourself, what is your intention? Do you have one?  Do I have one? That, I suppose is the question. 

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20. October 2008 by Joe Gergen.

Sean Connery is dashing and all but here’s the Scot you want to hang out with. Harry Lauder, Scottish singer from the ’30s. Here’s recording of his called “A Wee Doch an Doris.” Now this guy is having some fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIwGD_XQNSM

You’re not always sure what he is saying but I assure you it is about drinking (isn’t that right, Clark). And he is having  a good time singing about it.

We need some guys like this in our NordEast bars who start singing about a last drink before hitting the road at last call. Nope, you don’t see much of that.  You just see too many belligerent drunks blabbering on “I’ve had too much to drink? I haven’t had too much to drink. I HAVE had too much to drink. No, I haven’t had too much to drink.”

On further thought if some Scot started singing about a wee doch he’d probably just get beat up.

And on an  unrelated note. Strongbad rules.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwRXY5mgfLg

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17. October 2008 by Joe Gergen.

To sleep, perchance to dream. Here’s a dream for my dear readers to help me analyze. Put your Freudian caps on and lets see what it all means.

Last night I had the strangest dream. I was in a tuxedo leaving a church where a wedding had just occurred. I got into this British sports car and there in the driver’s seat was Sean Connery sitting there whom I apparently had just married. It was winter and there was snow on the ground.  Mr Connery couldn’t drive too well in the snow and was fishtailing all over trying to get into traffic and was getting all frustrated. I turned to him and said, why are we married? We’re not even gay. He said something like, I don’t know.

That’s pretty much all I remember. I was pretty sure I was married and pretty sure I didn’t want to be. And I’m pretty sure I don’t want to remember more. Where did that come from? I don’t think I have though about or seen Sean Connery in a long time, though I did hear some Scottish singer witha  thick brogue the other day. I was at a wedding a month ago so maybe something lingering there. I did ride in my friend Rick’s little sports car six weeks ago or so. What does it all mean?

It’s even more perplexing than the time I dreamed I was pregnant. I think I woke up in a cold sweat after that one. That was a long time ago, probably before I knew how biology worked. Just kidding.

So are there any would-be dream analyzers out there?  The winner gets, well, the winner gets diddly because it was just a dream.

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15. October 2008 by Joe Gergen.

If you’re going to write about the sun, I suppose you have to be prepared for songs about the sun to start running through your head.

Right now there is a war raging in my head. Who shall win and what might it mean is what concerns me.

In one corner we have “You are My Sunshine”.  Powered by the Ultra saccharin line “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, You make me happy when skies are gray, etc.” It’s only weakness is that it doesn’t go for the jugular with some puppy dogs and daisies.  But is able to hold in reserve the fact that the Man in Black himself recorded a version of it.

In the other corner we have the “Sunnyside of the Street” by the Pogues.  A seemingly brutal but perhaps ultimately optimistic look on life. Powered by these lyrics “Seen the carnival at rome, Had the women, I had the booze, All I can remember now, Is little kids without no shoes, So I saw that train And I got on it, With a heartful of hate, And a lust for vomit, Now I’m walking on the sunnyside of the street.” Not much to add to that except you probably follow it with a shot and not a spoonful of sugar.

I sense some sort of showdown here. But maybe Johnny Cash can walk over to the sunnyside of the street and have a beer with Shane MacGowan and work things out. I think that would be a good resolution.  
 

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14. October 2008 by Joe Gergen.

You never know what you’ll find on Craigslist. Especially the free section. Today I thought I found happiness.

I saw, right at the the top of the section called Free, “Sun in Alley, 123 Main Street.” I’m like someone is giving sun away. That’s like giving away happiness. 

But then I thought, hmm. The alley is a strange place for there to be lots of sun, though I suppose many a person has found happiness there. Use some caution on this one.

Needless to say I did not run out to find that free sun and turns out it was just “Stuff in the Alley” anyway, which again shows you that you see what you want to see.  But if that’s true then maybe you can give away sun to someone who’s willing to see it that way.

Maybe it is like Smokey Bear said: Only you can prevent forest fires. Except that what he really was going to say before some PR person changed it was : Only you can see happiness in a patch of sunlight coming down through a canopy of green.

So now I am thinking who knows what I might find on Craigslist if I just look at it in the right way. And who knows what I might find as I wander through my other daily activities. Will my vision be rose colored or myopic or shaded or jaded. Depends what glasses I put on or maybe how much coffee I have had or what sharp tool I have recently jabbed into my hand or whether there is still a nice piece of chocolate still in the fridge.

Chocolate! Scratch everything I just said. Chocolate is happiness and until someone is giving away free chocolate in a back alley somewhere I won’t be satisfied.

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9. October 2008 by Joe Gergen.

A while ago I mentioned that my friend Rick won the “Best Legs in a Kilt Contest” at the St Paul Irish Fair. Well, he was wearing a Utilikilt, a working  man’s kilt. So far all you guys out there thinking you need a kilt, check out the Utilikilt web site.

Actually even if your not thinking of buying a Utilikilt, you should visit their website and watch some of the mock commercials that customers sent in.  Follow the link to see the list of mock commercials. Make sure to watch the one called “If It’s Not a Utilikilt.” I believe it is at the top of the list. If you’re not interested in buying a kilt, you might be after this.

http://www.utilikilts.com/?page_id=39

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8. October 2008 by Joe Gergen.

I kind of listened to the presidential debate last night while I was doing something else. I don’t usually watch or listen to them because they don’t typically tell me anything new or they are just uncomfortable to watch.

But I thought the best part of the debate was listening to Tom Brokaw trying to keep the candidates in line to the format and time allocations. He had to get testy with them a couple times and even then I think they just did pretty much what they wanted.  And Brokaw just kept trying to keep them focused.

I wasn’t looking at the TV so I couldn’t see Brokaw’s face but his voice was clearly tinged with frustration at times. I can just hear Brokaw thinking, I retired so I wouldn’t have to deal with this crap. This is worse than trying to get teenagers to focus on something for two minutes at a time.

Of course at times some of the answers seemed almost to defy response. Again I can hear Brokaw thinking that great line from Adam Sandler’s ”Billy Madison”: “Mr. Madison, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”

Hey, that kind of sounds like this blog…

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