The following text accompanies an installation I made as part of the NOMO Exhibition we’ve designed and curated as the culmination of our residency at Kohler Arts. Over the past few weeks I’ve made fictional, yet plausible sculptural elements that support the idea that surfing has origins on the Great Lakes. I will provide more detail soon about the NOMO Exhibition, but here’s a preview of my “Legend of Lumberjack Surfing” installation:

The Legend of Lumberjack Surfing

“There is a little known legend that surfing has early 19^th century origins on the Western shores of Lake Michigan, separate from its more ancient roots on the islands of the South Pacific.

When timber rafts were floated down Wisconsin’s rivers to be shipped to far off urban centers, large slabs of wood occasionally broke loose along the lake and washed ashore. Enterprising lumberjacks and boat-builders often rescued the timbers by drifting them offshore, standing atop them and paddling them to beachfront workshops, occasionally attaching sails to ease the journey. When the surf was heavy, the maritime lumberjacks beached the timbers by riding waves to shore, steering with a long wooden paddle. Over time, the activity of riding waves became an end in itself, and the ‘lumberjack surfers’ learned to shape the rough sawn planks for better performance in the waves.

By the early 20^th century, the ‘lumberjack surfers’ adapted wooden boards to ride on land by attaching crude wheels to their undersides, thus inventing an early form of the skateboard. Many of these ‘trapper’s skateboards’ were made from stretchers originally used to tan wolf hides. By the middle of the 20^th century, experimental skateboards were commonly made from discarded, wooden alpine and water skis, which were rapidly being replaced by fiberglass.”

Another part of the NOMO Exhibition at Kohler Arts features longboard skate graphics I designed collaboratively, like the Northern Pike Longboard (above) drawn by Mary Whitehall and Zak Worth. The burnt/etched deck is part of a series depicting fish native to Lake Michigan

Tagged: appropriate technology, bike culture, contemporary art, craft philosophy, deep craft, DIY, furniture design, green design, innovation, kohler arts, longboard, public art, scott Constable, skateboard, slow design, surfing, sustainability, tall tale, traditional craft, vernacular architecture, woodworking, wowhaus

We rode in the 4th of July parade to promote the NOMO concept

Our first week back at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center was action packed as we laid the groundwork for the NOMO EXPO. A part of our project as artists in residence is simply to promote the ‘NOMO’ concept, a word/logo we invented as a contraction of ‘non-motorized transportation’. It’s been wonderful collaborating with the Kohler Arts Center, who made NOMO banners to promote the project, which were carried in Sheboygan’s well-attended 4th of July parade.

one of two skate decks by Zak Worth, which we commissioned for the exhibition

Sheboygan artist Michelle Ann Miller crochets baskets and panniers from plastic bags

The ‘pop-a-wheelie’ bike, made by  Sage, a 12 year old boy who lives in Madison

Tagged: appropriate technology, deep craft, DIY, green design, innovation, kohler arts, nomo, public art, scott Constable, skateboard, wowhaus

I made these lightweight panniers from salvaged materials for my Dahon folding bike

After our cross-country trek and a long overdue visit with family on the East Coast, Ene and I arrived in Sheboygan late last week for the final three weeks of our residency at Kohler Arts. We’ve settled into the guest cottage at the James Tellen Sculpture Garden, about 6 miles south of the town center, and a short walk to the sandy shores of Lake Michigan.

As we curate our NOMO exhibition and lay the groundwork for the NOMO EXPO, I’ve been commuting to town on my trusty Dahon folding bike. Over the weekend, I made a set of panniers when we hosted a public ‘Bike Bling’ workshop at the Kohler Art Center’s ARTery. The panniers consist of a lashed wooden frame, zip-tied to my rack, and saddle bags made from a recycled exterior banner, with duct-taped seams. While my panniers are intended to be temporary, they are surprisingly strong and lightweight, and I’m hoping the prototype will be improved upon by others during the EXPO.

To read more about our residency at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, please click here and scroll down.

Tagged: appropriate technology, bike culture, contemporary art, craft, deep craft, DIY, green design, innovation, panniers, public art, scott Constable, wowhaus

Our NOMO logo was designed by Sheboygan-based tattoo artist, Steven Bossler

Ene and I (aka wowhaus) are gearing up for a cross-country, family road trip, the final destination being the final, three week leg of our residency at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, 6/27- 7/18. Somewhat ironically, the focus of our project is non-motorized transportation, which we’ve contracted into the catchier moniker, ‘NOMO’. During our residency, we will be setting up an outdoor NOMO Studio under a tent on the grounds of Kohler Arts, where we will work collaboratively with the community to interpret and celebrate NOMO culture in the region, culminating in a day-long exposition and related gallery exhibition, that will remain open to the public for the remainder of the summer.

We’ve already laid the groundwork for the body of work we plan to produce and are looking forward to pulling it all together in true wowhaus style. To promote the project, we asked Steven Bossler, a Sheboygan-based tattoo artist, to contribute his take on a NOMO graphic identity (see above). The NOMO logo will be featured on all print materials, and we will be giving away NOMO tattoo decals during our residency. We will continue to tap the creative energies of the citizens of Sheboygan throughout the process as we explore alternative modes of transportation in the region.

Tagged: bike culture, contemporary art, deep craft, DIY, innovation, kohler arts, nomo, public art, scott Constable, vernacular, wowhaus

The remainder of our week continued to be full of surprises as we mined Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and its environs along the shores of Lake Michigan for activity relevant to our NOMO project. As Ene and I process our research and  interactions and begin to shape it into an exhibition/exposition to be staged at Kohler Arts Center this summer, I wanted to share a string of images and some rambling commentary below:

I’m always surprised and delighted to find such a thriving maritime culture and history in Sheboygan, where perch, salmon, trout, whitefish, chub and smelt are still fished commercially.

We made a habit of buying fish at Schwartz’s Fish Market, where they still smoke their own fish and tally the price by hand, just as they did in 1912 when the market was founded. Friday night is when every bar and restaurant in town features a ‘fish fry’, which is not to be missed. All generations gather at familiar neighborhood spots for drinks (the ‘old fashioned’ is the traditional fave), live music (usually with a German theme), and astounding salad bars, rife with delicious potato salads, herring, pickled beets, slaws and salad greens. The fish offerings change seasonally, but tend to feature lightly breaded, fried perch, wall-eye and cod.

a birch forest along the lakeshore south of town

Among many antique tools and ‘plausible historic artifacts’ I culled for the installation in the Kohler Arts gallery, this Dutch plate captured the feeling I’d like to conjure.

I found a wood mill in the back of a red barn just outside of town

Our friend Kristofer Rusch brought us on a road trip that included a stop at ‘Mike the Recycler’.

A diolorama of a Red Cross volunteer at the Sheboygan History Museum

Portion of a WPA-era mural ( 1935), by Schomer Lichtner at the Sheboygan Post Office

drawing by Sheboygan artist Zak Worth

another drawing by Sheboygan artist Zak Worth

We’ve been staying in a historic, salt-box house that borders the James Tellen Woodland Sculpture Garden, and I have been daily blown away by his artistry with such a rude material as concrete. The house was built as a boyscout clubhouse, and has the following word carved into the stones flanking the fireplace: Kind, Courteous, Friendly, Helpful, Loyal, Trustworthy, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, Reverent. These are all apt descriptions of the general populace in this region.

Tagged: deep craft, james tellen, kohler arts, scott Constable, skateboard, surfing, vernacular, vernacular architecture, zanzi

Ene and I are in Sheboygan, Wisconsin this week on the second leg of our residency with Kohler Arts. We’ve been busy developing our NOMO project, which will be a celebration of non-motorized transportation in the region, with focus on DIY skate, surf and bike culture. NOMO will take place in two parts over the summer- a gallery exhibition and a participatory, outdoor exposition, with community-based events, workshops and demonstrations. We’ve been enjoying curating the exhibition and have tapped into a thriving, ‘maker’ community and surf/skate scene in Sheboygan, which is famous for having one of the best fresh water surf breaks in the world.

Monty Stauffer shapes surfboards and paddle boards for fresh water conditions

To learn more about the wowhaus residency with John Michael Kohler Arts Center, please click here and scroll down.

Tagged: bike culture, deep craft, DIY, innovation, kohler arts, longboard, skateboard, wowhaus

I’ve body-surfed all my life and have a natural feel for wave mechanics, but I’m finally getting ready to learn to surf on a board. Being a ‘wood guy’ with access to local mills and several decent breaks within a few miles, my first step will be to shape my own board. Luckily, my first surfboard will double as an integral part of our NOMO (non-motorized transportation) exhibition we’re developing as artists in residence at Kohler Arts over the summer.

Believe it or not, Sheboygan, Wisconsin has one of the best fresh water breaks in the world. So I’ve conceived of my surfboard as a freshwater longboard indigenous to the shores of Lake Michigan, modeled on the early surfboards native to Hawaii, which were shaped of local Koa and Balsa. Because freshwater is less buoyant than saltwater, I’ve been researching the specific gravity of Lake Region woods, looking for large trees with straight, clear grain and low specific gravity for maximal flotation and easy carving. I’ve discovered that American Cottonwood (Populus freemontii) still grows prolifically in the lowlands of Wisconsin, and with a specific gravity of around 0.31, is ideal for shaping a surfboard. The tree grows equally well along the Pacific Coast of Northern California, so I’ll make a prototype and test it locally.

To follow the development of our wowhaus artist-in-residence project at the JM Kohler Arts Center, please click here and scroll down.

Tagged: california coast, california flora, deep craft, innovation, kohler arts, longboard, scott Constable, specific gravity, surfing, woodworking

I hit the ground running upon my return from the first leg of our Kohler Arts Residency in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Our plate will be quite full over the next 6 months while we develop a project focused on non-motorized transportation for Kohler, which will begin to take shape in earnest when Ene, Aili and I return to Wisconsin in April. Meanwhile, here are a few highlights from the world of wowhaus:

• Ene updated the wowhaus website to feature our most recent work: www.thewowhaus.com
• Wowhaus is interviewed in-depth in the Style Counsel column of the December issue of San Francisco Magazine, which hits the newsstands in the coming week.
• Our Sunnyside Menagerie project will be open to the public soon (see poster below), and all are invited:

Otherwise, I’m focused on clearing the decks and readying my woodshop to make interior furnishings and fixtures for a private residence in Marin (more to come), which will occupy the majority of my time from early December through late March. We also have two active public art projects in San Francisco, one in Oakland and one in development in Walnut Creek, California, which will be the largest lenticular mural we’ve made, if all goes according to plan. I’ll do my best to post progress and ephemera on these pages, and hope you’ll continue to stay tuned!

Tagged: contemporary art, deep craft, kohler arts, public art, scott Constable, sunnyside conservatory, wowhaus

On my final day in Sheboygan I was treated to a Hmong Festival, hosted by the Kohler Arts Center. The Festival featured the traditional storytelling, crafts, costume, food, music and dance of the Hmong culture. Through an epic pageant performed by local children (see video clip above), I learned about the exploitation and eventual persecution of the Hmong, and their tragic migration from China to Laos, and eventually to Thailand where they were refugees after the Vietnam War. Several Hmong families found their way to Sheboygan over thirty years ago, and the population has steadily increased as the Hmong settle in and participate as vibrant members of the community. We look forward to working with the Hmong people of Sheboygan as our Connecting Communities project takes shape as artists-in-residence this spring and summer.

Tagged: contemporary art, deep craft, hmong culture, kohler arts, public art, vernacular, wowhaus

Between meetings I strolled down from the Kohler Arts Center to the lakefront for some fresh air and was happy to find a handful of surfers negotiating the lumpy break of an offshore blow. I look forward to having the students of Ecole School investigate the surf culture of the region as part of our project with Kohler’s Connecting Communities program, and I’ve already heard rumor of a few shapers in the area. I’m interested to know how boards designed for salt water surfing perform in fresh water, and wonder if there may be the potential to develop a fresh water, lake region board. My approach would be to start with an indigenous tree, perhaps cottonwood, and discover the right shape through trial and error.

Tagged: appropriate technology, deep craft, kohler arts, longboard, public art, surfing, vernacular, woodworking, wowhaus