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Wandawega Blog Archive

the story of a family. told with 986 buttons

the wall is comprised of nearly 1000 hand made buttons. 3 sizes, of circles and squares. all mounted on nailheads each nail head protruding from the wall at different depths. each button features a photo, or fragment of a photo of a family member or memory. the installation looks like a galaxy… a cluster that spreads & thins as it stretches out to the edges of the wall and the room itself. at the outermost fragments you will find my great grandparents on both sides. and david’s ancestors as well. as we move into the center,  it features our grandparents, …

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BOOTSTRAPPING in our blood…

my little brother sam is a lineman for the county. literally. in the backwoods of central illinois. which means many times he has to call on some of the most remote areas imaginable, on 4 wheeler, on foot- through some rough territory. one day he was called out rural farmer who’s wife asked him to repeat his last name again. ‘surratt’ he soon learned that this elderly woman was related to him (us), several cups of coffee later — and with sam picking her brain about our ancestors–inquiring about a place he had heard of called ‘surratt holler’…she disappeared into…

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CAMP haircuts. (or: david with a mullet)

the best part about spring cleaning are the photos you unearth. in this case, i proudly present a couple of my favorite discoveries: exhibit A: david as a 5 year old, sporting a perfect bowl cut at camp wandawega. exhibit B: same guy, 15 years later, same place. but now a fantastic curly mullet. exhibit C: the most patient, tolerant, handy guy in the universe, with the do i met him with: none.

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for the love of the CHALKBOARD….

at summercamp, you will find no shortage of these.slates from the turn of the century, easels from retail stores from the 20’s,even the tiny garden variety used to mark herbs. I use them for literally everything from way-finding to menu boards.(as seen here for a past halloween party) but my typography is sorely lacking compared to this brooklyn artist. My friend william sent us her link and we are IN LOVE! BE STILL MY HEART.

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STUDIOGANG ARCHITECTS- REVEAL. (the ultimate before and after)

STUDIOGANG ARCHITECTS- REVEAL.(the ultimate before and after) no words can describe how freaking exciting we were to get the new book in the mail. it features 8 case study projects, ranging from Aquatower to SOS children museum, to the marble curtain, to… our old barn. she features a good dozen shots telegraphing just how horrific the barn was- a burnt-out, caving-in, flooded, filthy mess of a shell that we called home. (that was BEFORE she got her hands on it) the chapter features her process of design, including sketches, scrap, inspiration. it pretty fantastic to see her process, and we…

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an old lady on the southside had it in her garage for years. untouched.

and then both she and her husband died.their son said he moved it to a field when they cleaned out the garage. so of course david thought it needed to be rescued from the dust bunnies.that was 16 years ago. she only had 20,000 miles. she’s a 1966 dodge monaco 500 383 with a 4-barrell and dual exhaust.she was the ultimate ‘FOUND’ in our found free and free lives…he paid a whopping $2000.00 for her.and she runs like a top. favorite details: * the doors are lined with (real) wicker- like an old school picnic basket* the trunk is lined…

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