It’s been a while since I made anything I would call art. For the last six years my focus has been on restoring an 1873 wood-frame house in Pittsburgh. (Here’s the online notebook for that project)
People often say “the house is your art project!”, but I don’t think of it that way. The project is to create a simple, functional living and working environment in an old house. I’m also interested in preserving the spaces and finishes as they were originally. In working towards these goals a lot of other things have come forward and the project keeps opening up.
Here’s what I think about now: materials (especially wood), tools, how to fix things. How to set things up so it’s easy to clean and put stuff away. Drains, sewer lines, the roof, the foundation, the weather, the site. The other people who lived in the house, or will one day. History, of the house, neighborhood, city. Preservation of old buildings and neighborhoods, housing rights, labor history. Coal dust.
I don’t know if I’ll start making art pieces again. Probably. Doing an accounting of the work I’ve done might lead me back/forward to art, or in some other direction.
