Don Synder at Artisans' Section meeting, Thurs Oct. 14

Donald L. Snyder will be the featured presenter at the Oct. 14 Artisans’ Section meeting in the 2nd Floor Members Gallery, 7pm. Don is a Senior Professor of Washington University with interests in biomedical, electrical and optical engineering.

"I'm interested in sundials because of their mathematical relation to the position of the sun at any time. It's a thing of beauty to design an instrument on the basis of mathematics,the physics of solar and Earth motion and the effects of sunlight. Another reason I'm drawn to sundials is aesthetics. There are lots of artistic choices in designing and building one." -Don Synder, Washington University In St. Louis Newsroom

Photo: Angel Sundial at Saint Louis University Hospital, www.waymarking.com

Paint The Town Mural update

Mural progress(10/7).

Photo: Cindy Evans

Mural underway in Belleville

As part of next weeks "Paint The Town" community volunteer effort to repaint all the buildings in a 10 block area along West Main Street in Belleville, IL, a group of artists gathered on Wed(10/6) morning to help paint a new mural designed by Bill Evans, a member of Southwestern Illinois College art & design faculty. Once the scaffolding was up Bill began to color code his design for others to fill in with brushes and rollers. By midday about 30% of the design was covered. Mural wall is on North Illinois about two blocks from the square.

World Wide SketchCrawl Day #29, St. Louis Zoo

Sketchers in St. Louis are invited to participate in the global drawing marathon known as World Wide SketchCrawl #29 on Saturday, October 16. Artists are going to meetup for a day of sketching the flora and fauna at the famous Saint Louis Zoo in Forest Park. The starting point will be 10am at the entrance near the parking lot on the Hwy 40/64 side of the zoo. We will sketch until about 4pm so drop in at anytime during the day and stay as long as you like. There is no charge to enter the Zoo or be in the SketchCrawl but participants might want to bring some cash for food and frosty beverages. We will try to gather for a group photo and to compare sketches at some point later in the day but it is all intended to be casual and fun. We will also upload some of the sketches to the SketchCrawl Forum. Artists in over 70 cities throughout the world are taking part in this event; from Jakarta to Denver, from Paris to Detroit and here in St. Louis too. Over a dozen sketchers from the St. Louis Drawing and Painting Meetup have already RSVPed for the event. Everyone is welcome. Just show up with your sketchbook and get your draw on.

Sundials! Next Artisans' meeting Oct. 14

“A finished sundial can be both a work of art and an instrument for telling time accurately,” states sundial enthusiast, Donald L. Snyder. Don will be the featured presenter at the Oct. 14 Artisans’ Section meeting in the 2nd Floor Members Gallery, 7pm. Don is a Senior Professor of Washington University with interests in biomedical, electrical and optical engineering. He is also an accomplished woodworker who has produced items ranging from musical instruments, such as a harpsichord and hammered dulcimers, to tables, boxes, picture and mirror frames, beds, etc. His work reflects a high degree of craftsmanship and an engineer’s eye for precision. His presentation will be an overview of sundials and a picture tour of sundials made using a variety of art forms.

“Pictured ... is a sundial that is located in the Ottoman Garden, which is at the East end of Linnean House within the Missouri Botanical Garden. It is modeled after an historic sundial located in the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, Turkey. Roger Bailey, of Walking Shadow Designs, designed the dial’s time-markings, and St. Louis sculptor Abraham Mohler made the marble pedestal and engravings. The dial was installed in the Ottoman Garden in May 2008. This sundial is unusual because it shows times in a variety of time-measurement systems. Not only does it display hours in our usual system of 24 hours per day starting at midnight, but it also shows Italian hours (24 hours per day starting at sunset) and Babylonian hours (24 hours per day starting at sunrise). It also displays Islamic prayer times, which are defined by the position of the sun and the lengths of shadows, and the direction to Mecca.”

All are welcome to attend this free presentation. A short business meeting for section members will follow.

Notes by Donald L. Synder http://dls-website.com/
Photo courtesy of Abraham Mohler
Saint Louis Artists' Guild, Two Oak Knoll Park, Clayton, MO 63105

Artisans Opportunity, Deutsch Country Days, Oct. 16-17,

Organizers of the Deutsch Country Days festival in Marthasville, MO are seeking artisans to participate in their annual two-day period recreation of early German immigrant's functional lifestyle. In need in particular at this time is a potter to demonstrate use of a kick wheel.

According to the festival's website "Deutsch Country Days in only twenty-nine years, has progressed from a benefit house tour on a cold Saturday in January to the most unique and authentic recreation of early German life in Missouri. Now the hills outside of Marthasville literally come alive with the sights and sounds of the 1800's. The early German immigrant's functional lifestyle is authentically recreated as juried artisans, in period attire, demonstrate natural dyeing, German fractur, sad ironing, koppolei, wood turning, hide tanning, candle dipping, and rug braiding — just a handful of the eighty primitive skills exhibiting the early German life and trades." Artisans are invited to demonstrate their skills or can secure booth space to sell their work for a fee.

Photo courtesy of Deutsch Country Days
Thanks to section member Bon Rasmussen for info regarding this opportunity.

For further information phone 636-433-5669 or Fax 636-433-5611 Email: info@deutschcountrydays.org

Sept 9 meeting photos

Section members Bonnie Rasmussen and Boris Khechoyan presented some great information about the care of carving tools at last week's Artisans' meeting.

Photos from top: A master's hands at work, Boris's tools, Bonnie's sharpening stones and Boris, left, and Bonnie, right.