Fellow Members :

A mixed bag this month:

1) Charitable activities

Helping our community by using our woodworking skills for worthwhile charitable organizations in the Bay area has always been a tradition in BAWA. There is something very satisfying about doing this work when we have the time and skills available. Many members have contributed to a recent project that was the building and installing of 2 sets of gates at the Janet Pomeroy Center in San Francisco. The center provides day recreation and vocational opportunities for both adults and children with all levels of disabilities. Those of us who have worked down there have been very impressed with the staff who support the attendees. The Center is located near the ocean, just behind the zoo. This is often a cold, damp, foggy place that can also get very hot all in the same day. Not the best of environments for outdoor wooden structures. We made one set of gates out of Alaskan Yellow Cedar and the other out of Western Red Cedar. Both have 1.25in thick center panels made from T111 outdoor siding and are finished off with copper flashing. So we now have our own experimental site where we can compare how the 2 woods survive in this hostile environment.

2) Designer chairs

We went to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) 75th anniversary exhibition recently. They have an exhibit of wooden chairs, some practical, and some, which I believe, are called "studio furniture" i.e.: to be seen, not used. The most interesting chair was a "Wood Chair designed by Cappellini" It was manufactured from bent beech natural heartwood and illustrates what strength and design can be achieved with thin strips of wood. (This is a practical chair). See more at: http://www.architonic.com/pmsht/wooden-chair-mn-30-cappellini/1003788 The most fascinating was the "Favela Chair" designed and made by the brothers Fernando + Humberto Campana. Looking on Wikipedia I found that "favela" is Brazilian Portuguese word for slum and is the generally used term for a shanty town in Brazil. Which fits with the style of the chair. The chair is made entirely from sticks of wood that appear to be no more than a foot long that are glued and nailed by hand to make the one of a kind pieces. (This is also a practical chair) See more at: http://www.roadsidescholar.com/2008/04/16/favela-chair-by-the-campana-brothers/ The exhibition is on until the end of February next year.

3)Woodwork in schools!

We frequently reminisce on the lack of woodwork instruction in schools today but I read an article in the San Francisco Chronicle a few weeks ago about a new day school in Berkeley that "caters to boys' learning styles". The school is "is tailored specifically to boys' energy levels, brain development and love of taking things apart, scattering them across the floor and putting them together again. The first week of school, for example, the boys will get hammers, power saws and wood, and build their own desks"

And these are 11 year olds! Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/08/16/BA371ESO38.DTL#ixzz0wvUym3MK