Shelby shared some great photos to give us some background of where he is from. To see this slideshow, click here.
Blogger rshelly said..
do you see these images as a "piece" or are they used to give us an idea of where you are coming from?
January 22, 2008 8:31 PM
Blogger sanone trombone said...
I just assumed that these photos are about where you came from Shelby. And I have a lot to learn about that, and what that means to you.
But the first photo of a stairway you built, makes me realize that there has been an "elephant in the room" I hadn't thought about.
You are such a craftsman, or at least it seems to me you are, and this staircase fairly screams that!
So I guess my question is..., no are, is a care for craft just a given for you... is care for craft basic something you bring to everything you do in the same way the fact that I tend to extrapolate comes with me. Or is it instead/also a fundamental component of what you do conceptually? How much do you think about this?
January 24, 2008 7:57 PM
Blogger Shelby said...
well the photo's are just to show you some background i suppose. a piece? sure. i compiled it. its a piece in the same sense that this interview is a piece. composed for that purpose of inspection.
i don't think i've had anything traumatic in my life that would make me want to forget my past. i wasn't abused or anything like that so i just sit here sometimes wondering what makes me me. definately not the only thing i think about but it crosses my mind a bunch. my science background makes me think of the nature and nurture side of my development pretty often.
i dont think i've been particularly hiding my abilities as a craftsman since i got here but i do know i wanted to look at other things. to answer the question, yeah, i suppose craft is a bit of a given at this point. i've woked and lived and grew up knowing so many and different kinds of them that it is just there for me. now i'm looking for other things to add to my stew i guess. i do care for craft but it is really because i enjoy a process. it is the same reason i like puzzles. and sports maybe. it is a series of very direct problems to figure out. and it requires a hands on, live-in-the-now kind of mind frame that i find soothing and meditative. but now i have this strong desire to add depth. and to figure out what the fuck that even means for me. i think on that a good bit.
January 25, 2008 9:39 PM
One of the pairings on that list is “heritage and hillbillies”, can you expand on that (a lot) for us?
honestly the heritage and hillbillies part is inspired by joel. living with someone with such an obvious grasp on his culture has made me consider what mine might be. i don't exactly have a ton of traditions that trace back that far that i can recognize in my past. i came from artist parents and all their artsy friends, not really hillbillies in the old sense. but i did grow up with them (it is an endearing term for me) as school mates and friends and friend's parents. after closer inspection i came up with myself being a hybrid of liberal, ex hippie artist and introspective woodsy mountain folk. living in south carolina for 25 years has to do something to someone and i'm looking into what that might be. i guess i'll let you in on that as developments come.
I moved to portland oregon from south carolina for a shift in view. i applied to graduate school and got in. that sealed the deal. there is a ton of stuff that i miss about south carolina. including the dogwoods, the heat, my kin, and words like "kin". i like it in portland and have no interest in puting a length to my stay here. i've made some friends quickly, (i joke about it being like i bought them by going to grad school) the land is breathtaking, and there is an endless amount to do even when money is scarce.
still my parents home in pickens south carolina, and mine for my first eighteen years, will always be the one against all future ones will be measured. my most formative stories come from there. what each of those stories means to me changes often but there are visceral memories that shock the shit out of me with their clarity. the creek i played in as a kid can at times seem real and like i can even hear it a little. all its bends and falls are ones i can walk along in my mind almost like you can move through google earth.
what is it that occurs when you go back to places like that? some kind of endorphin thing? like a nostalgia hormone or something? is it a comfort zone thing? familiarity?
right now i have a sick nana. that is the toughest thing for me to be so distant from. with everything else the absence is making the heart grow fonder. i'll always go back and i will always look for the rocks to be in the same place. the roads will lead to the same places and anything that has changed will undergo a thorough investigation. my stories change a little as memories blur and the stories i invent to explain the changes that occur while i'm gone will probably mix in with them.
i don't think this story is all that amazing or anything. there are tons of kids that grow up like this in the country. my parents are a little unusual for the area but other than that i was a regular dirty kid there. and is back woods south carolina really all that different than back woods Vermont or Wyoming other than different fruit trees grow there and a few variations on how you pronounce things like 'racecar'? the thing i get a little kick out of is the combinations of places i think of as homes. Pickens, Charleston, and Southeast Portland. I might just be one of a hand full of people ever with those places under their belt. Doubt that anyone can tell me if that means anything but its one of the few things that can make me feel a little special. Not in the short bus sense or the 'my president cares about me' sense but more in the vein of 'i am an artist and i am a snowflake.' But still I think Dan Attoe said it well when he wrote "You're vulnerable just like the rest of us. Get some Balls. Better get your shit together." in bright neon.
Posted by Shelby
February 6, 2008 10:18 PM
Blogger rshelly said...
thats great that you are including your gradmother in on this. for a little while i was swapping recipies with my grandmother just for something to write to her about.
you seem very close to your family. are you going to be able to do a project with them for your thesis?
February 5, 2008 10:41 AM
Blogger sanone trombone said...
Yea Shelby! thanks for the recipe, and your grandmothers number.
And good question from Rebecca, you might have said, but I don't remember if you are going to do a project with them.... I think we got off talking about how so many family friends are like family, and a little upset that you are not doing a project with them.... I need to down load the tape, then I'll know exactly what was said!
February 6, 2008 9:56 PM
Blogger Shelby said...
i am going to include a bunch of family. my two grandmothers each get a project and as do my parents. my family is important and i have recently had a cancer scare with my nana. so i guess it is something i have had to come to terms with. living out here and 3000 miles from many people i hold tight is tough.
(This is part of one of his collaborations with one of his grandmothers)
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