on chairs...
"The ashram was simple, sober rather than severe, and seemed more like a college than a convent. We crossed a small patio with two withered lawns and two small trees. There was an open door, and we entered a small room. There we found about a dozen people sitting on chairs in a semicircle around a woman who was seated on the floor. She was around fifty, dark-skinned, with loose black hair, deep and liquid eyes, thick, well-defined lips, wide nostrils as though made for deep breathing, her body full and powerful, her hands eloquent. She was dressed in a dark-blue cotton sari. Receiving us with a smile -- she had known Raja Rao for a long time -- she gestured to us to take a seat. The conversation, interrupted by our arrival, continued. She spoke in Hindi, but would answer a foreigner in English. As she spoke, she played with some oranges in a basket next to her. She soon looked at me, smiled, and threw an orange at me, which I caught and held on to. I realized that this was a game, and that the game contained some sort of symbolism. Perhaps she wanted to say that what we call 'life' is a game and nothing more. Ananda began to speak in English and said: "I am frequently asked who I am And I answer you: I am a puppet, the puppet of each one of you. I am what you want me to be. In reality, I am nobody. A woman like any other. But the puppet whom you call Ananda the Mother is your fabrication. I am your toy . . . Ask me whatever you like, but first I must say that the answer will not be mine, but rather your own. It is like a game in which each person answers himself."" On Jun 13, 2010, at 1:31 PM, John Carl wrote: > A couple of months ago, when I started working in the shop at Soleil Farm, I > was given a task that seemed a bit frivolous to me. There was this chair > that Gaetane wanted me to fix up for Allen's birthday. His birthday was > weeks and weeks away, so there wasn't any rush or anything. The idea was > that in my idle moments or if I got hung up on a project, I'd fix this > pathetic looking wooden chair. > > It had a pretty straightforward design. Four legs attached crosswise under > the wooden seat and a small wooden back painted in a fading and chipped > purple. All on my own, I wouldn'a bothered with it for a minute. The seat > had come apart into its constuent three sections, and they were individually > warped and twisted so badly I didn't see it as an easy task to get them back > together and straightened out and reattached to the cross-members of the > legs. I went and talked to Bob about it. Bob Beams. > > I've known Bob for more than 10 years now, and he's pretty much the best > wood crafter I know. Everything I learned about peeling poles and making > stairs outta trees, I learned working for Bob. Before he got into the log > beam business, he used to go around the country buying antique furniture and > restoring it and reselling it. So I figured Bob would definitely let me > know if the chair was fixable. He said yes, gave me some ideas, and I took > it back to the shop to work on in my spare time. > > First, it had to be completely dissassembled, to get the seat back together > with clamps and glue, and second of all to get at the legs and crossmembers > so I could sand them down and refinish. With a little sanding and > chiseling, the seat went back together and I was able to clamp it about > half-way to its original flatness, but the bottom was just too warped to fit > the structure. In the end, I actually used one of my favorite tools - one > not often recommended for furniture repair - my Stihl electric chainsaw. > Once you get the hang of it, you'd be surprised how useful a good electric > chainsaw can be. What you have is basically a planing grinder, that when > wielded with a deft touch, can quickly remove wood from just about any > angle. The rounded tip makes it simple to cup out joints for nice tight > fits and what I used it for on the chair was straightening out the warpage > on the bottom of the chairs, so it'd sit flat on the leg cross members and > sure enough, it worked like a charm. I got the chair in shape structurally > and then sat in it and saw what Gaetane meant when she told me Alan said it > was the most comfortable chair he'd ever sat in. Something about the curves > and where the small back hits you in the small of your back... it's just > perfect. It seems to hold you in an upright and comfortable posture. > > This, underneath appearances, was a quality chair. It had some sort of > small medallion from the manufacturer embossed in it. Obviously not made in > China. And from it's unornamented style, I'd guess it was made in the 50s > or early 60s when that style was popular. > > > > I got more enthusiastic. Did a more careful sanding job. Picked out a > golden oak stain for the seat and a darker, reddish mahogany for the > legs. I decided that since there was sentimental value associated with it, > I'd leave the back in its original chipped purple. > > Now I don't know much about "Craftsmanship", as a skill or attribute. All > the word signifies to me is that you take some time. Usually a framer or > rough carpenter such as myself doesn't spend much time fiddling around with > decorative gee-gaws or fit and finish. We look for good, solid structure, > plain and simple, and let other people decorate and paint the filigree. > > So I never viewed any part of my task as anything special. Like I said, I > mostly worked on the chair when I didn't have a more important task at hand, > or wanted a mindless task to occupy me while thinking my own thoughts - > usually about the MoQ! So the value I put into the chair didn't seem that > extraordinary. > > Alan's birthday came around, as we were enjoying our weekly meal together. > Gaetane was in the kitchen, after lunch, getting the cake ready and I said I > had to go check on something, and went and got the chair and put it in > Allen's office, which is right off the entrance and thus hidden from his > view in the dining room. Gaetane completely surprised him; she'd told him > it was MY birthday and he was supposed to be keeping me busy for my > surprise, so the look on his face when he realized that the cake and candles > were actually for him was one of delight. I like Alan a lot. He reminds me > a lot of one of my best friends, Chris - who went to Burning Man with me and > is also a Ph.d and is also interested in biochemistry, pharmacology and > hallucinogenics. Allen is much older than me tho, and actually lived > through the sixties in San Francisco and even joined a kind of monastery he > refers to as The Brethren, a mix of Buddhist, Hindu and Catholic theologians > who took spirituality and metaphysics pretty seriously I guess. > > It seems this group had tried to open a chapter in Chicago, and it hadn't > quite succeeded. When they were folding the chapter up, Alan asked if he > could keep the chair he'd gotten so used to sitting in while meditating. > And through the years, he'd kept it, even long after it seemed ruined beyond > repair. > > I didn't know about this when I was working on it. I only found out the > story on his birthday when I said to him after we'd finished our cake (lemon > cake) and he'd opened his other present (a ZZ Top CD - Alan is a pretty good > guitarists and loves to jam on the electric guitar) I led him into his > office. > > He stood there for a minute, not quite seeing what his present was and then > he saw the chair and gasped. I thought he seemed pleased, but he buried his > face in his hands and didn't say anything for about a minute, just stared > with his hands over his mouth, his eyes glistening and in a choked voice on > the edge of breaking down, said, "I thought it was gone forever." And then > told us the story behind the chair and how much it meant. > > I got a whole lot of thanks, which I deferred a bit by pointing out that > hey, I WAS on the clock when I was working on it... but I must admit its > awfully gratifying when one's work is appreciated that deeply. It's a > payoff that doesn't count in dollars and I'm hoping I can find that more and > more in today's economy because dollars seem to be in pretty short supply > these days. > > And when my daughter sent me her paper on art and image, and ended it with > the rhetorical question - What is the value of a chair?. > > Well, I just had to answer. > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org/md/archives.html ___ Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
