That one time I had to call Pixar

 If you know me well enough, you will know that I can be...er...impulsive.

Good thing or bad thing...it all depends. This has either landed me making a real good joke, or throwing egg all over my own face. If you are ever bored on a Saturday, just go and find an adult who grew up as an only kid. We shall find enough to help fill and make the day interesting.

So, one afternoon after the kids had come off the bus and I had some time to kill before we headed off to church to help run troops. I looked at the dining room walls and remembered about a piece of art I had saved from moms old house that I wanted to hang. It was a wooden relief carving of a chicken. For as long as I could remember, it hung in the kitchen, right before heading out, just past the trash bag on the counter. After years of neglect, it was gunked with dust/cooking oils/cobwebs etc. The redwood needed a scrub with wood oil to bring things back to life and enhance all the details found in the chicken.

After using a mini electric spinning scrub brush, much like a slightly larger tooth brush head, I turned it over to discover there was a partial address, phone and the name Harley Jessup. The last name Jessup was also carved into the front right bottom corner

With having a name to go on, I was curious as to who this artist was and if they continued to do any more of this work. I found myself doing this a lot with the art pieces which graced the walls of my childhood home to see if the art had much value before posting them on marketplace. Google is as good as gold when going cold searching.

I entered the name and chicken carving + wood relief into the search field. I wasn't getting much with any artist related to wood carving or anything else that looked anywhere close to the above style. But yet, I did have some sorta famous person who kept coming up. What caught my eye was they had been invited as a guest speaker for commencement for Oregon State University and featured in the college's alumni publication.

Hmmm...that's located in Corvallis. We have A LOT of family history there with the former Sand and Gravel plant, family alums and my grandmother growing up there. The address on the back just listed some Hall...like a college dormitory. When I asked my mother where this piece of art had been procured from, she said it was from an old restored Methodist church that had been turned into an art gallery. She spent $60 on it in the very late 70's and had thought to gift it to one of her uncle's wifes as she loved farm house décor and...chickens. Except, it never became gifted and lived in SoCal for 40 years.

I continued to read up on this Harley Jessup guy. His degree in graphic design took him eventually to the bay area where he did the large maps of Neverland for the movie Hook and other projects with Industrial Light and Magic. Eventually it brought him to work at Pixar.

So, here I am calling Pixar and getting a robot voice to speak of the person you wished to contact. Nervously, I spoke his name...paused.....and then it rang.....until I got a VM prompt.

"Hi, my name is Erin and you don't know me. But if you ever carved a wooden chicken, please give me a call. Otherwise, if a wooden chicken seems odd to you, please disregard this message and go on with your day."

Okay then...nothing else I can do at this point and we best be getting off to church for troops.

During dinner, I get a call from an LA area number. Now, usually I ignore these numbers as its usually some solicitation about an extended car warranty, insurance or a time share vacation I'd won. 

But...what if it was.....Jessup?

Upon answering..."Yes, this is Harley Jessup, and that is my chicken you speak of!"

I FOUND THE ARTIST......and

HE WORKS AT FLIPPIN PIXAR.....and

HE IS THE HEAD OF THE ART DIRECTION DEPRTMENT....and

HE HAS COME UP WITH THE ART DIRECTION FOR MONSTERS INC,UP, RATATUOI...and others!

It turns out, he only did wood carving for a very limited stint. A very large piece for his family and the solo chicken was done for a freshman level art course at OSU. He had donated it to the gallery as part of an auction/fundraiser for restoring the old church building at the time. Except he never went to the opening night of the gala and never checked up on if the piece had sold.  He said it was like looking back on an old friend. 

I've shared some of my illustration work with him and he showed me the first piece he did, complete with an accompanying rooster in it. 

So, now our chicken hangs in our dining room and I look at it with a whole new set of eyes and appreciate it all the more knowing where the artist started and brought him in life.

     

 

Never One to be Quiet

 

With the craziness of summer come and gone and the kids returning to in person school.....life has brought me to a new season of life. The season where, since becoming a SAHM, I am now kid free during the work week. Having all the kids back in a routine of getting on a bus and a set schedule outside of a screen has been more then beneficial for all of our mental health needs.

Speaking of a crazy summer...late July I had a bit of a mental break down. Considering all that I had been going through, I thought it must be even more then my medications could handle. I was exhausted in the physical and emotional sense, but if I didn't keep continually busy, all I wanted to do was cry. I was super irritable, snapping at my kids over small things, patience extremely limited and unless certain people needed to know specific information, I felt it was best to keep things on a need to know basis. Otherwise, I couldn't handle having to explain all the details. Unbeknown at the time, and by my husband, there had been a big goof in my daily medications that had me going cold turkey on a very important prescription.

After all this was figured out, I had the motivation to set up a piece of heavy machinery that has changed much of my free time in the barn....

With the sale of my childhood home, I acquired a Delta wood lathe, complete with many standard cutting tools, accessories and slow speed grinder. In the last several years, I had eyed a few on FB market place. Except I either didn't have really ANY space in my 10x10 wood shed and/or they weighed nearly a TON and purposed for commercial shop space.

This new passion of wood turning has captured my heart and rekindled my years of throwing pots in high school and college ceramics. Now with my old love and passion for wood working, I spend as much of my time in the barn covered in wood shavings.

With MANY learning curves, near disasters, splitting final pieces due to improper wood drying and a few expensive trips to Woodcraft...

             

All of these pieces started off as a log, still holding the bark.

I've been scouting for free wood and different species. My favorite seems to be Honey Locust and most Maple varieties for how smooth I can get them in the finish sanding stages. All pieces are only finished off with a wood turners varnish to seal things, but let the organic nature of the grain shine.

I do hope to sell a few pieces this gift giving season. Not to make really a profit, but to take the earnings to reinvest into better tools to continue this passion. A passion that has been an added savior for my mental health. In order to cut costs, I've repurposed a graduation gown from a thrift store by tailoring in the gaping sleeves to make it safe. Every day is pomp, wood shavings and circumstance!   

Let me know if you would like to order a piece as advanced notice is appreciated. After each item is finished, it is plunged into a giant tub of wood shavings to slowly dry out evenly and avoid any splitting due to atmospheric changes.