To learn woodworking, furniture designer Richard Massey apprenticed to both his father and his grandfather. “I’m a fourth-generation woodworker,” he says. “It’s in my blood. I learned a tremendous amount from my grandfather, and not just about woodworking, but also about life. He was a wonderful person.”
When artist and jewelrymaker Elyse Bunkers discovered metal, she knew she’d found her medium. “It’s nice to work with such a stable material,” she says. “But I also like that I can manipulate it.”
Maybe it’s time to spin the color wheel again and energize your too-neutral interiors. Before you start adding more swatches to your paint chip collection, note this expert advice. Oregon Home asked interior designers, color consultants and professional painters to draw on their work with clients to give you a formula for successfully picking colors that work.
This slice of Nob Hill is bound to give your inner-most self—from bookworm to chef to modern day flapper—some much sought after delight!
Ground central for shopping Portland’s Nob Hill might be the cool boutiques and national home furnishing chains on N.W. 23rd Ave., but there are enough picks on this secondary street to merit a nine-block walk in the shadow of Good Sam. Just watch out for the aliens!
Mixed-media artist Bonnie Meltzer likes to joke that she was born to create works of art from disparate materials. “I like to say that I came out of the womb with a purple crayon in one hand and a crochet hook in the other,” she says.
What ceramic artist Claudia Hollister likes about working with porcelain clay is the uncertainty of the material. “It feels so nice, but it can also give you a lot of headaches creatively,” she says. “It’s one of those materials where the piece designs at least 20 percent of itself.”
For metal artist Jeff Whitaker, his profession is a perfect match for his personality. “I’m an adrenaline junkie, who thrives on intense experiences,” he says. “Metalworking fascinates me because I’m actually melting metal using extreme temperatures. I’m able to coax around a liquid using intense heat, and there’s a lot going on when that happens, so I never get bored. I love to weld.”
Painter Kevin Noonan’s interest in art began in childhood. “My grandfather is a gifted folk-art painter, so I grew up around painting,” says the Connecticut native, who has a degree in Buddhist Studies from Antioch College in Ohio. “I got the chance to study in India and Burma, where I did meditation, but when I was there I also studied Buddhist iconography and modern Burmese painting. I even visited the state art school in Rangoon and talked to artists there.”
Rawhide bones on the foyer floor. Underpants and jean piles in your boy’s room. Been thinking about getting better about living without so much clutter? You’re not the only one! Oregon Home asked professional clutter-busters and designers for easy-to-adopt strategies that can help you turn your Stuff Palace into a place of order that functions well for your family.
