Photo by Jonathan Kemper : unsplash.com/@jupp
Hi Everyone!
Holy guacamole! I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely in the throes of the holiday business this year! Everything seems to be landing on my desk/plate/todo list all at once. I think I’m going to just do my best to focus on the fun parts and just put a lot of my work to the side at this point. Well, at least, after tomorrow afternoon.
We had some pretty steady and heavy rain here in Vermont on Monday. You may have heard about a big storm that moved up the East Coast of the Continental United States on Sunday and Monday of this week. We were pretty lucky that the power stayed on and kept our pumps in the basement running because we had just about as much rain and flooding as we had back in July (see my newsletter and blog posts from July 19th, 2023.) I’m pretty happy to report that things have mostly dried up in the two days since then. At least here. I also managed to find a used desiccant dehumidifier on eBay for about 50-60% percent less than new to help dry out the garage where it’s too cold for a compressor dehumidifier to do more than just use up electricity.
So this week I’m going to write a little bit about what I am going to call “the dragon years.” The period of time in my life when I was between the ages of 10-14 or so. Where I was engrossed in science-fiction books, Dungeons & Dragons (the game), and beginning to develop an interest in the natural world around me as well as art.
So without further ado, let’s get started.
Questions Answered
Where did your artistic journey begin? (Part 2 - the Dragon Years)
So last time, I briefly covered my early life, up until about the time I was 9 years old.
So around 1980-1981. In fact, 1980 was the year my parents packed us all up into the station wagon (the old school kind that could tow a big pop-up camper, the kind that probably got about 14 miles to the gallon or something like that) and drove us around the United States with the idea that we would experience, first-hand, some of the things we would be learning about in school. The Oregon Trail, St. Louis, National Parks like the Grand Tetons, the Sequoia National Forest, etc. In fact, that also happened to be the year that Mount St. Helens in Washington State erupted. So there was both excitement and trepidation because we had cousins (really second cousins from my mom’s side) who lived in Portland, Oregon, and they had inches of ash fall there. Luckily, everyone we knew was okay. I even recall a thin dusting of ash covering the station wagon here in Vermont. (It wasn’t much, but it was enough that you could tell it was there.
)What makes that eruption so interesting to me is that I had been exposed to the Hobbit at that point and I really think that the eruption cemented elements of that story into my very being. A big huge “lonely mountain” out in Washington blowing up. It sort of elicited visions of Smaug flying over a huge mountain raining fire, fear, and destruction upon everything below.
Couple all of that with the fact that I was now old enough to really wander around down to the water alone by our house. That is to say, I was old enough that I was allowed to venture off into the woods and the land around our house in ways that my parents trusted that I could do so safely and return home unharmed. (Thanks mom and dad!) Now that may not seem terribly out of the ordinary, but I was now beginning to notice and look for stones on the beach that had streaks of quartz in them, looking for odd branches and crystals in the woods and just generally filling my imagination with all sorts of fantasies of magic and dragons. Plus, I was exposed to many of the geological wonders that make up the greater United States. (I highly recommend seeing some of it, if you have the time, it’s truly awe-inspiring.)
About this time, when I was 11, after the first big trip around the country and probably about 1983, I became friends with some kids at school who had begun to play Dungeons & Dragons. So add in roleplaying games to all the magic, crystals, dragons and such already in my head. It really is interesting to me how many things in my life at that time seemed to be reinforcing an interest in magic that would later inspire my desire and my art with regard to the old religions of Northern Europe. Runes, Druids, magic, etc.
Now, at this point, for some reason, I had an opinion of art that was less than noble. I had managed to get it into my head that art class in school was a waste of time and really wasn’t important at all. (Because clearly some other kid had told me so and, you know, 8 and 9 year olds know everything!)
Well, something happened at my school. A new art teacher, Marian Wilmott, began teaching our art classes. She also happened to have a daughter, Leala, who was my age who started going to our school because her mom worked there, and presumably it was the most convenient thing for them to do. Well, even though I didn’t have a huge interest in girls yet (I literally would bike 6 miles or so to friends' houses on the other side of our town to go play Dungeons & Dragons), she was cool. She had this flair. This pizazz. The other thing was that at one point I made some sort of derogatory comment in art class to her mom, Mrs. Wilmott, about art or something as was asked to stay behind one day.
Now, I don’t think I was a troublemaker at this point. As far as I remember, most of my teachers thought I was a good student and probably mostly kind, etc. So when I was asked to stay behind after art class one day, it really had an impact on me. I’m pretty sure that I felt I had done or said something wrong and was in trouble. (I really don’t recall more specifics, but I think I actually was in trouble.) Well, Mrs. Wilmott was probably as cool as Leala (I suspect that’s where Leala got it from) and she sat me down and talked with me about this notion I had gotten into my head about art. I don’t really recall what was said. What I do recall is that whatever Mrs. Wilmott said to me during that conversation, it changed my outlook on art and I actually remember being more interested and putting in more effort to art class after that.
Thus my journey with art really began.
This seems like a good place to end for this week. Next time I’ll crack open the demise of my innocence, exposure to The Violent Femmes, The Cure, New Order, Talking Heads, and Reggae. It all impacted who I hung out with, what I became interested in, what kinds of personal spiritual paths I would become interested in, etc.
News of late
So this week, I’m plunking away at some personal projects utilizing some brass that was donated to Generator VT in Burlington, VT. I am also working on a few minor repair projects, something I don’t usually do. In addition, I’m wrapping presents and preparing to cook lots of yummy food this weekend for Christmas next week. I’d love to expound on some of this more, but to be honest, I am literally writing all this at 11 AM the day I’m supposed to get this out to you. (Yes, I know, I was supposed to have a rough draft all written last week!)
I will say that I’ve decided to continue volunteering as the Jewelry Studio lead at Generator VT for the foreseeable future, mostly because of some of the people who also volunteer there. Hopefully, I’ll be able to figure out how I can utilize the space better in a way that will generate enough revenue every month to cover my volunteer membership fees. (yes, even though I volunteer, my business pays/donates money every month for the privilege of helping)
In the Works
I finally wrapped up designs to hand off for engraving tests, and I had some nice copper sheet metal show up last week to use for that purpose. I’m hoping that in 2024 I will be able to sell some of my designs as silver bracelets that are professionally engraved. It will be a win-win for everyone, as I won’t have to charge as much for them, they will still be my art, and because the engraver is located here in Vermont, the bracelets will still be Made in Vermont. Something that’s pretty high on my list.
Also, I am pretty close to being able to “flip the switch” on my new website. It’s probably not any fancier or better to you all, but I’ll have better tools for things like blogging and shipping, etc.
I want to personally wish you all Happy Holidays! If you know of anyone who might enjoy reading my newsletters or my blog posts (they are the same for now) then please ask them to sign up. It would be a big help to me, and I would enjoy reaching a wider audience who may be interested in giving me feedback.
Until next time,
Justin