Nov 28, 2021
When Evan Harris sees a downed tree, he doesn’t see destruction. He sees art.
The owner of Truwood Builders is an expert at urban log salvage, rescuing wood from trees that have been downed by wind or removed due to disease. He turns outcasts into beautiful pieces of custom furniture.
“We don’t take the trees down. We intercept the logs before they get cut up and disposed of,” he says, explaining his environmentally friendly alternative to breaking logs down for firewood or a landfill.
Nov 28, 2021
Carol Manson is a singer who soars. Her clear, joyful voice and playful musicianship suggests she’s been singing jazz her whole life. The truth is, she almost never became a singer.
Growing up in Berkeley, Manson played violin and piano, and sang in her high school choir. But music fell by the wayside when she went to college, earned a master’s degree in social work, got married and began a career in state service. She spent years as a foster youth advocate and eventually received a governor’s appointment.
A health challenge in 2004 made her reconsider everything.
Sep 28, 2021
As far as Ingrid Tracy Peters is concerned, she’s always played violin.
“I started violin at age 3 because my mom saw a group class advertised, but I have no memory of this,” the Long Island native says. “It’s just something I’ve always done. It very quickly became who I was, even as a young child. Violin was core to my development.”
Sep 28, 2021
clayARTstudio814 is equipped like any serious ceramics studio. There are squat kilns, wide wood-top work surfaces, potter’s wheels and glaze jars nestled on shelves, in crates, everywhere. What you won’t find is the tired trope of the suffering artist laboring in solitude.
About 14 studio artists rent spaces there, plus Sunday, a border collie/golden retriever mix who diligently patrols the building with ball in mouth. They (not the dog) come and go as they please, sharing projects, tools, advice and an abiding passion for ceramics.
Jul 28, 2021
Thomas Cannell is in the business of making beautiful, useful things.
A native of Newcastle, England, Cannell is the expert woodworker behind Block & Bowl, a new venture he launched with his wife Rosemarie in April to merge his passions for cooking and carpentry.
As a youngster, Cannell spent weekends building things in his grandfather’s backyard woodworking shop. He also loved to spend time in the kitchen and intended to become a chef upon graduating from high school. But his mother insisted he learn a trade.
Cannell set off on a two-year carpentry apprenticeship that turned into a five-year job as a cabinetmaker—in between some work in local kitchens.
