by Jonathan Rugh
The year’s discussions started with a reading of Richard Sennet’s The Craftsman. One of the fundamental ideas gleaned from the book is that craft is something that is practiced. In light of this, the evening’s panel discussion was centered on the idea of workshop. Three members of the local art and design communities gave presentations on their interpretations of the term workshop.
Anthony Pellecchia, principal at WPA Studio, presented his thought projects and current drawings. He also showed some of his previous architectural projects that were influenced by his un-built designs and drawings.
Chad Robertson, principal of Chadhaus, showed us a slideshow of his furniture pieces and their design process.
Sarah Bergmann, artist and creator of the Pollinator Pathway Project gave us an overview of her large-scale urban garden in Seattle. Her project is to connect two parks by a long pathway not only for people, but for bees as well.
I have always thought a workshop is the place to practice your craft. After the presentations and discussion afterwards, I left with my head buzzing about the different interpretations of workshop.
I was reminded of an old sculpture professor who described three ways of breaking down the scale of perception. The first: things within your arms’ reach. This is the most intimate scale. Next is the scale of the body as it compares to the extents of its vision, or the body against the horizon. The biggest scale involves things that are beyond the horizon, things that are bigger than we can perceive.
The workshop is not necessarily the place you work, or limited to the scale of the finished project. Pellechia’s models and drawings operate on the intimate scale, though the implications reach to the horizon. Sarah Bergmann’s Pollinator Pathway works in reverse. It stretches from the massive scale of natural pollination systems and ends with planting seedlings. Chad Robertson’s furniture exists squarely in the middle scale, between the body and the horizon. However, his care and execution of details and joints can only be appreciated intimately.
