Adrian Boggs

2011-06-03T13:55:00.000-07:00

GREAT NEWS! I have just arranged a new studio space fro my furniture and sculpture work! In a week or so, I will be setting up shop at Lyndon Street Artworks in Greensboro, NC. I have a space thts twice the size of my current (albeit) free) space, but much better power and ventilation, floorspace and flexible storage, and all of this just 5 minutes and 2 miles from the house (as opposed to the old set-up which was 20 minutes and 12 miles from home). I couldn't be more tickled!

I start a new job on monday in a tradeshow and exhibit design company here in Greensboro, and this will enable me to afford the new digs. the new studio is in a larger building that houses about 20-30 artists of different methods and medium. The creative energy there was palpable on my very first visit; it will be such a joy to be back around other creatives; I get such positive energy from being surrounded by others doing the same (and different) work. It reminds me much of the energy I felt when in graduate school in classes with others that were actively designing, creating and solving problems. It is an absolute necessity for me to be immersed in that soup; no designer exists or survives in a vacuum.

Cheers!

2011-05-28T15:53:00.000-07:00

Now with the move into my new residence completed, I'm glad to be returning to the woodshop to continue the design and fabrication of new items. At this point I'm focusing on a change of scale for my work. This is in part due to the huge amount of work that goes into the production of the larger pieces I've produced, but also, and perhaps more importantly, this change of scale reflects a response to the material that I use in its "raw" form.

Due to the size and shape of the material when I rescue it from the dumpster, there is usually a fair amount of energy and effort that goes into creating useful objects. There is simply a lot of cutting and clamping that makes each piece quite labor-intensive. My new approach reverses my typical tack of creating a design and then finding a way to build it from the limited sizes and shapes available to me. Instead, I am now examining the wastestream available to me and working within the parameters and limitations of the actual material sizes to realize new ideas with the least fabrication input. Working smarter, not harder.

Current designs on my desk reflect the native shapes of the waste as they usually appear at the back door of the factory headed to the trash. Utilizing the most common shapes available has revealed an entirely new type and range of objects that can be made much more easily than those I've made before. From the perspective of fabrication, it makes my life much simpler, speeding the process completely. However, from the perspective of design awareness, it has completely blown the doors off of my way of thinking. I have always enjoyed the challenge of visual design. However, the curious fact about this new development is that it aligns the entire process with that of TRULY sustainable thinking: make the absolute most of the materials available with the least amount of energy and time, producing a product from waste that will stand the test of time and wear while cultivating a positive user/object relationship that results in years of useful service.

Foot prints on the moon...:)

2011-03-08T17:35:00.000-08:00

Just delivered the first commission work I've had in some time. Its actually a counter-height table for the kitchen for casual dining that also has several large shelves beneath the surface. The frame is welded square steel tubing, and the surfaces are 3/4" Baltic birch plywood with 3 coats of AFM SafeCoat Polyureseal BP, which is a low-VOC, low-odor water-based satin finish. If you get a chance to use this product, you will not be dissatisfied. I love it. I had been a huge fan of Danish oil, primarily for its simplicity of use; its easy to sand and buff to a finish that you want. I found the same, if not better results with the AFM product.

It has been nice to get back into welding and fabrication again also. This project was fairly involved regarding the layout and welding jig construction, and since I haven't tackled a project of this nature in some time, there was a significant amount of relearning of the best practices of fabrication welding. Obstacles notwithstanding, my client was very happy with the outcome and the project finished on a high note.

Talk to you soon.

2011-02-28T06:08:00.001-08:00

I'm off this minute to pick up the powdercoated table for a client of mine; can't wait to see the finish and quality of work. I've been looking for a reliable coater for some time, and I hope this works out. I have a few bicycle frames that I want to hot rod with custom finishes, so that should be fun.

I'm also heading down to The Hardwood Store in Graham today to pick up Baltic birch plywood for this project. It's always fun to visit that place; there's never any shortage of cool and useful scraps of wood that they are more than willing to part with. I'll post some pics this evening. Stay tuned.

2011-02-24T16:52:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about western consumer habits and the whole "material consumption" thing. This period of thought and observation was brought on by two unique pieces of media I have recently absorbed. The first is a book I'm reading entitled Garbage Land: On The Secret Trail Of Trash by Elizabeth Royte, and the second is the movie Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance. It was directed by Godfrey Reggio, produced by Francis Ford Coppola and the soundtrack/score was composed by Phillip Glass.

While I came across the above-mentioned book in the past year or so, and am just now reading it, I first saw Koyaanisqatsi during my undergrad years in the early nineties, and it had a profound effect on me. It is effectively a moving image and soundtrack documentary (no dialogue or narrative) centered on the title of the movie which is the Hopi Indian term for 'life out of balance; crazy life; a life that is unsustainable and must be changed to continue". The beginning offers images of 'life in balance' around the world, as offered by nature and her rules therein. It then gradually moves toward images of urbanity and technology, and the over-consumption that is common to western societies. Without saying a word, the movie uses the images, collected from 1975 to 1983, to convey the realities of consumption and its chaotic effect on us and the planet.

This imagery and its embedded message have been with me for years. What was most interesting to me was seeing it again recently after beginning to read the book about garbage. The two different media really hit me hard, reminding me of the reasons that I build things using upcycled furniture industry waste. I suppose it was movies like this that initially made me look critically at the waste we generate and the way we live in relative denial about it.

My blog posts usually discuss the ups and downs of woodworking, furniture design and dumpster diving. I like taking a break from that course to discuss some of the more philosophical motivations of my work. If you aren't afraid to expand your horizons a bit, see this movie. It might make sense to you; it might not. I didn't get the entire movie and all of its subtle nuances the first time I saw it, but the core message was clear as a bell. If you get off your couch after watching it and have a more critical eye regarding the realities of our "modern" existence, the movie will have effectively made its point. It is supposed to be an eye-opener, and even though dated, it will awaken you even if only for an hour and twenty-seven minutes.

Thanks for listening.

2011-02-15T08:33:00.000-08:00

I spent yesterday preparing this welding jig for a furniture commission that I'm tackling right now. This particular piece doesn't really have any reclaimed or upcycled materials in it, though I'm sure there is at least some recycled content in the steel. This item is a shelf system with a table surface for the kitchen that will provide a bit more storage and a place for the family's two young children to hang out in the kitchen and draw while dinner gets made. The nice thing about it is that it is fairly simple and dual-purpose.

I'm also rebuilding three pottery wheels for my friend Charlie Teft who teaches ceramics at Guilford College. While I prefer to build furniture and other curious creations, I do undertake maintenance and repair work to help pay the bills, and in times like these, any job will do. Onward and upward...

2011-02-08T19:25:00.000-08:00

I spent the weekend (as much as I could) in the new workshop, and got much done. I'm still learning to deal with such a tiny space; it truly requires much planning, especially when you are sharing it with others. I have to remember to budget more time to set up and tear down all of my work, as I can't really leave it out on the table when others are around and need to use the same space. I can safely say that when I am able to relocate to a larger workspace, I will truly be thankful for it.

This is a pic of my latest work: a coffee table (I think) that will probably have a metal leg structure of some type. This is from a series of sketches created in the past year that I haven't gotten around to building just yet. I'm glad it's finally happening though, as this particular piece has taught me much about the way I use upcycled materials from dumpsters. Once again, the entire endeavor comes down to the material's influence over the design process. In design education, we are taught to consider the material throughout the process, which naturally affects the design to some extent. Upcycling, however, is all about the dice you roll when you climb into the dumpster; the material will let you know what's going to happen next, and not a moment sooner. I like to think of it as 'guerilla upcycling'...

Stockin' up...

2011-01-31T18:32:00.000-08:00

I just recently returned from my local-friendly-neighborhood furniture industry dumpster with a new load of goodies. Sometimes I have to wrestle large, awkward peices of jagged and splintery woodwaste while precariously surfing a huge pile of the above-mentioned material stuffed into an open-top, 20 foot industrial waste container. Plenty of twisted ankles, smashed fingertips and harrowing half-inch deep splinters to go around.

I developed a certain proclivity for this type of scrounging when I first moved to Greensboro in the Autumn of 1997. Teaching myself the basics of metalworking, I didn't really have the budget to buy new mill-grade steel for work unless I had a commission lined up. Fortunately, I didn't really need the new stuff since I had access to the coolest metal resource in Greensboro: The Myers Brothers Scrap Yard. It was a young metal sculptor's playground, with literally mountains of sheet steel cut-outs and stampings, twisted structural beams, retired industrial machinery and GOBS of residential detritus like rusted barbeque grills, ancient lawnmowers and the occasional Ford Pinto.

To say that this type of activity was dangerous would be a gross understatement. The entire scrapyard was a sea of rusty, tetanus-drenched steel shards. There was a railroad track that came into the yard to carry off bulk steel that had been reduced for recycling, and when you weren't dodging the speeding forklifts carrying 15-ton steel beams, you had to come to terms with the notion that you could actually get run over by a train in this place. The whole joint was one big noisy, belching diesel engine, so literally no one would hear you scream for help if a train car full of scrap metal was backing over you.

Despite the inherent occupational hazard present in my chosen profession, I still very much thrive on dumpster diving. It is not for the timid, and it often results in a net-loss. I've always compared it to mining, though I have no real experience looking for precious metals, with the exception of panning for gold with my dad and brother at one of those mines that seed the dirt with gold dust so everyone gets to experience 'gold fever'. My dad lost his wedding ring in one of the panning troughs that day. My mother, by her own admission, was naturally disturbed about the entire debacle, but that's a story for another day. Needless to say, rummaging through a dumpster full of plywood scraps and lumber cut-offs is not completely unlike scouring the North Carolina clay for bits of gold. And much like fishing and tradeshows, the key to success with the whole thing is location, location, location.

I enjoy it because it makes me feel good to fashion useful and value-added objects from waste. In one form or another, I've been doing it for years. I repair my own tools, bicycles and cars whenever possible and I am always adopting bits and peices of leftover furniture from this college town's roadsides. The dumpster in the photos is just the latest (and most productive) chapter in my book about the 'upcycling' of furniture industry waste and attempting to make beautiful objects with it.

I also enjoy it because there are very few trains in the dumpsters I frequent.

Norman Rockwell Show at the NC Museum of Art

2011-01-18T16:53:00.000-08:00

I went with my mother today to the Norman Rockwell Exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh. While I was relatively familiar with his style and his catalog of work, I was amazed at the sheer volume of his portfolio. He illustrated the cover of The Saturday Evening Post for several decades, as well as providing illustrations for the Boy Scouts of America in their handbook and other training materials. As an Eagle Scout, I was very familiar with his Scout-related illustrations throughout my youth.

While I suppose that in the back of my mind I was somehow aware of this, I only just today made the "out loud" realization that Rockwell was not just a painter and fine artist, but also a social observer and commentator. His work (specifically its symbology) occasionally strayed close to the political, perhaps even the propagandistic at times, though I would never claim that his work was politically motivated. The messages of culture and politics can sometimes bleed together in images as rich in detail and nuance as his. Ultimately, his message is about humanity and the joys and travails of being human. As a student of material culture and design history, I find it refreshing to take a new look at his work; it is rich with overlapping layers of meaning, signifying and illuminating the varied class structure in America in the early to mid-20th century. His skill at portraying the human expressions of excitement, fear, boredom, despair, guilt, happiness, relaxation and countless others is remarkable. His use of his particular painterly style displays the patina of life as it occurs to the objects around us everyday, from shoes to baseball bats to pets to Us.

I really enjoyed the chance to see his work again, especially now that my graduate research has influenced my perspective on the objects we find in the built environment. Rockwell's work was many things to many people, but to me his examination of the material environment that surrounds us all showed his understanding of the place of OBJECTS in our lives. As Westerners in an increasingly materialistic culture, Rockwell understood that the cut of a man's suit or the condition and appearance of his shoes communicated something more that just the current state of his clothing. The same can be said of the early 20th century interiors that were the common backdrop for much of his work. These works were very much about the people portrayed within them, but aside from the humanity he expressed through body language, I found the objects and environments in his work to be extremely powerful devices for communicating the subjects' stories. It is this awareness of object and materiality (not materialism) that I found most stimulating and engrossing throughout his body of work. Thanks for listening.

New Shop Space...

2011-01-16T15:47:00.001-08:00

I had my first chance to get into the workspace I will soon be using to work on portfolio projects over the coming months. It is in a friend's one-car garage, and while I'm very happy to have any space at all, I must admit that I was spoiled for several years using the school woodshop at UNCG. Nonetheless, I'm fortunate to have a space at all, and this one is free of charge. I will be handling tool maintenance and such in exchange for the space and electricity. That's better than the shop space I have right now...which is nothing.

The beauty of small spaces is that they require you to keep an orderly environment: everything needs to be put away when not in use, otherwise a tiny space gets cluttered fast. Yes, its nice to be able to walk away from one project to work on another when you had your fill of frustration or failure on a given project, but learning to work through problems of this type is a skill quickly acquired in small spaces. Simply having less space to clean and manage is a blessing, though, and smaller can sometimes be better regarding overall organization. I'm certain that the transition will make me pay more attention to the sequence of operations than I did in the larger shop. You can't really move through a variety of unconnected processes in a small shop; you start and finish work (if possible) with little deviation from the sequence, and the whole endeavor moves much more smoothly. Above are pics of the new place; all 260 sq. feet of it. It's in a space originally slated for a one-car garage. It has no official heat source, but it is attached to the house and it has insulated doors, so I probably won't expire due to hypothermia...hopefully. All kidding aside, I'm very lucky to have access to space and tools on such agreeable terms. Thank you, Universe.

2011-01-13T18:54:00.001-08:00

Heard a really great local public radio show last night about a Durham, NC man who runs his own design and fabrication company. He explained that while he was a student of architecture, he spent more time in the shop building things than in the studio drawing buildings. When graduation approached, he told his professor and mentor that he was more inclined to follow a path working with his hands, and knew that this was at odds with his professional education. When he asked the mentor "What should I do?", the response was at once uncomplicated and confounding: "Oh, you'll figure it out."
Upon hearing this, the student went on to set up his own design and fabrication shop. Instead of securing a financial backer or getting small business loans, he would chase the jobs that he could do with his simple array of tools, then use the money from these early jobs to buy the tools that would expand his range of services. His story and his description of events reminded me much about that business, as I was a custom metal fabricator until I postponed my future in said field to work towards my Master's Degree in Interior Architecture in 2006. While I value my education, recognizing that it will undoubtedly benefit my chosen path of product design, I long to make again. I welded, melted, ground, glued, sanded or painted custom furnishings and sculpture for nearly eight years before enrolling in grad school, and I miss it sorely.
What really resonated with me about the man's story was that there came a point when he had to DECIDE to pursue this path, to commit to it. I know from experience that it is a daunting task to commit to a life of self-employment. We all want to know that there will be a job to go to tomorrow and that the paychecks won't bounce. At eight years in, I wasn't able to make that decision, and I felt grad school was the next journey. It was the smartest thing to do for me, and it has contributed greatly to my design process, sensibilities and future.
I look forward again to making things, to cultivating the particular design philosophies and aesthetics that were the subjects of my graduate research. The notion of sustainability has opened my eyes to new ways of seeing waste and the unique opportunities that this perspective provides. As a result of three years of sketching, I have piles of drawings of things to be built. Currently, the material for construction is free to be plucked from dumpsters behind factories. Wood glue is cheap.
Buy more clamps.
Go like Hell.

2011-01-11T19:34:00.000-08:00

Some images of my 2009 graduate thesis design work:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6909837/Thesis%20Work%202009/IMG_3176.JPG
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6909837/Thesis%20Work%202009/IMG_3031.JPG
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6909837/Thesis%20Work%202009/IMG_3028.JPG
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6909837/Thesis%20Work%202009/IMG_3183.JPG
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6909837/Thesis%20Work%202009/IMG_3236.JPG
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6909837/Thesis%20Work%202009/IMG_3044.JPG

2011-01-11T15:42:00.000-08:00

Just heard a great news story on NPR's MarketPlace radio show. It was about the Freak-o-nomic's research on the idea of pay-as-you-throw trash disposal policies that have been set up through various cities across the country. The neat part about the article was the discussion on people's reactions to the policy (some positive, some not..) and how this policy lies at the crossroads of public/environmental policy, and the psychology of consumption and disposability in the US. The policy basically charges the user with a rate per unit of trash to be removed, as opposed to the standard flat-rate formula popular across the US. The rationale is, if use dispose of more stuff, you pay your fair share to dispose of it. This has had positive impact on municipal trash operations, leading to decreased operating costs and lower demand for ever-expanding landfills. Great, right? Yes, but naturally there is a pervasive opinion of American Privilege that sees this as a tax, not an operating cost, when in fact it's a business.

That's correct. It's a Business. It also has longterm ramifications that affect every human within a certain radius of each and every landfill. Yes, we should pay-as-we-throw, and we don't have a right to throw away as much as we want. You can breathe as much as you want, because that is truly free. However, the matter of waste disposal affects everyone, and the costs attached to it are real, externalized or not. When there are costs, it's not free. We should distance ourselves from the illusion that the disposable society is in any way free of costs or consequences...ttyl

2011-01-11T14:46:00.000-08:00

Just finished an email conversation with my web guru and brother Chris Boggs, and we are to soon begin the production of a short video of still images that will describe the design and fabrication of my graduate thesis project. Since my undergrad degree was in Video Production from the Savannah College of Art and Design, I became immediately excited about returning to this medium for a creative endeavor. I miss video production, and while my heart lies in making objects for the built environment, video art still fascinates me. I get opportunities to express my interest in photo-visual arts with my Pentax DSLR, and it's nothing at all to walk the streets of Greensboro day or night and shoot pics of the curious aspects of the urban, manufactured existence. I'm really getting in to crane and power lines right now for some reason...ttyl

2011-01-10T18:47:00.000-08:00

I learned on sunday evening that I now have a new space to continue my wood shop and welding work. As an adjunct lecturer at UNCG, I had all-hours access to the woodshop at the Interior Architecture dept. Now that I am no longer on the lecture roster, I have been searching for a new location to continue my design/build work. Fortunately, a dear friend and former employer has allowed me to use his garage, complete with his assortment of woodworking tools, as a home base for my work. I am thankful indeed.
Press on.

2011-01-10T17:21:00.001-08:00

Welcome! This weblog is a digital sketchpad for my discussions and experimentation in furniture, sculpture and product design. Over the past several years of graduate school, I have begun a career in custom design and fabrication, and have learned to lean heavily and with confidence on a design process firmly rooted in sketching, building and experimentation. I look forward to sharing this process and its results with anyone interested in hearing about it. Please check in regularly as the nature of my work and design process often shifts in direction and output, and I like to include a wide variety of my creative pursuits. Thanks much, and enjoy!