PHOTO AMANDA CONDE | LIFE IN IMAGES STUDIO
MY SEARCH FOR MEANINGFUL SHELTER:
My goal is to weave the fabric of space with yarn spun by those who live there. I plan to take the fibrous elements of design: light, color, texture, shape, scale, symbolism, pattern, function, and create a meaningful shelter. My purpose is to create shelters that have meaning to the inhabitant, the landscape, the nation, and the world. My intention is to guide the common thread of humanity’s need for shelter: to master the loom of design artfully and responsibly: to bond together humanity with the natural resources we use to inhabit our world. I desire to live beautifully and make the world a better place.
My dual BA degrees in English and Theater reflect my inspiration. I briefly hoped to become an attorney and make the world fair. I was temporarily insane. Arguments are for winners and losers. Thankfully, art is an experience. Art is something to be shared, if not agreed upon. Art is a language more native to me than English. Art is how I understand English. Both use composition and likewise, space and a story can be read. The elements of a well designed space are like prose. Adjectives of color enhance nouns of shape. Verbs create momentum, like sight lines that lead the eye through a room. Contrast is like punctuation telling the eye where to start and stop. Art is how I transpose language and my life.
Theater Art is traditionally the art of imitating life. Shakespeare penned “All the world is a stage…” and for me the lives of clients are like scripts, and their projects are multifaceted sets. Theater exposed me to many styles of design, the Asian elements of the Mikado, the Greek columns of Oedipus. There isn’t a place, time, or style that hasn’t been used as a script setting. The principals of set design, lighting, directing patterns, sight line, staging patterns, costumes (now for the windows and furniture) all translate because art is art.
A person is a person, but they come in all shapes, sizes, and colors with ideas to match. I use my MFA in Interior Architecture and Design to put aside arguments and artfully consider the function and structure of this culturally diverse planet. I believe that higher education, partnered with a global experience in this field will open doors to solutions. The field of architecture and interior design is work that addresses global environmental issues and aids humanitarian efforts. Shelter is a need and there are many needy. I believe art creates a positive difference in the world.
Ultimately, I want to insightfully ponder a solution for our growing population. I want to be part of the think tank that will tackle global spatial issues. Although the art of design is used to tell the infinitely different stories of people, shelter is a common thread. Everything on this planet shares the needs of air, water, food, and shelter. The loom of design stands ready. We will need to use common threads and artfully, responsibly design the interior of this architecture named Earth. Perhaps that is why the name Earth was derived from the word hearth, and the transcendental archetype of hearth and home. Everything in Earth, from it, and about it can be woven by the master’s hands into a meaningful shelter. •
My dual BA degrees in English and Theater reflect my inspiration. I briefly hoped to become an attorney and make the world fair. I was temporarily insane. Arguments are for winners and losers. Thankfully, art is an experience. Art is something to be shared, if not agreed upon. Art is a language more native to me than English. Art is how I understand English. Both use composition and likewise, space and a story can be read. The elements of a well designed space are like prose. Adjectives of color enhance nouns of shape. Verbs create momentum, like sight lines that lead the eye through a room. Contrast is like punctuation telling the eye where to start and stop. Art is how I transpose language and my life.
Theater Art is traditionally the art of imitating life. Shakespeare penned “All the world is a stage…” and for me the lives of clients are like scripts, and their projects are multifaceted sets. Theater exposed me to many styles of design, the Asian elements of the Mikado, the Greek columns of Oedipus. There isn’t a place, time, or style that hasn’t been used as a script setting. The principals of set design, lighting, directing patterns, sight line, staging patterns, costumes (now for the windows and furniture) all translate because art is art.
A person is a person, but they come in all shapes, sizes, and colors with ideas to match. I use my MFA in Interior Architecture and Design to put aside arguments and artfully consider the function and structure of this culturally diverse planet. I believe that higher education, partnered with a global experience in this field will open doors to solutions. The field of architecture and interior design is work that addresses global environmental issues and aids humanitarian efforts. Shelter is a need and there are many needy. I believe art creates a positive difference in the world.
Ultimately, I want to insightfully ponder a solution for our growing population. I want to be part of the think tank that will tackle global spatial issues. Although the art of design is used to tell the infinitely different stories of people, shelter is a common thread. Everything on this planet shares the needs of air, water, food, and shelter. The loom of design stands ready. We will need to use common threads and artfully, responsibly design the interior of this architecture named Earth. Perhaps that is why the name Earth was derived from the word hearth, and the transcendental archetype of hearth and home. Everything in Earth, from it, and about it can be woven by the master’s hands into a meaningful shelter. •
About My Family:
Hello cyber neighbors, welcome to my Bend, Oregon neighborhood! My name is Miriah, but I also answer to "Hey you, is that your kid?" and "Mom" said repeatedly like a string of firecrackers. I would like to introduce you to my family: my magical hubby Seth (really, he is a professional magician), my 20-year-old son Brogan, and my 10 year-old son Davek. We are thankful to live in a co-housing community called Higher Ground, where our community focus is living in harmony with our neighbors and nature.
The highlight of the week for me is community dinner. About 30-50 people from 35 households gather to eat at the common house. Meals are potluck once a month and cooking teams the rest of the weeks. Cooking teams are groups of 5 to 8 people in the community who work together to make dinner for the rest of community. These 10 teams cook together for a year creating on average 6 imaginative theme menus to present for the rest of the community on Wednesday nights.
My family lives in a thermally efficient straw bale house. The UPS guy always makes big bad wolf jokes when he delivers. He is getting more creative since he has been here quite a bit delivering school supplies. His last delivery was more of a dialogue, as he was wearing paw like slippers on his hands.
"UPS guy what big hands you have?" said I.
"All the better to deliver packages with." mumbled the UPS guy smiling through large plastic fang teeth.
There are two other straw bale houses in the community, as well as, other energy and resource minded alternative building styles.
My favorite features of my home are the bale-deep windowsills, spiral staircase, and our curly willow that springs like a Rasta hairdo out of our back patio. I am fascinated by the details that make a house a home to the person who lives there. Someday, I hope to travel the world and ask the question, "What makes your house, home to you...." in every language. When I am retired, I will spend my lazy afternoons crafting the images and answers from my clients and friends into a coffee table book on the subject. If you are willing to add to my collection now, just send me an answer to the question with a couple snapshots. Be sure to explain the details in the images and why they are meaningful to you and your family.
The highlight of the week for me is community dinner. About 30-50 people from 35 households gather to eat at the common house. Meals are potluck once a month and cooking teams the rest of the weeks. Cooking teams are groups of 5 to 8 people in the community who work together to make dinner for the rest of community. These 10 teams cook together for a year creating on average 6 imaginative theme menus to present for the rest of the community on Wednesday nights.
My family lives in a thermally efficient straw bale house. The UPS guy always makes big bad wolf jokes when he delivers. He is getting more creative since he has been here quite a bit delivering school supplies. His last delivery was more of a dialogue, as he was wearing paw like slippers on his hands.
"UPS guy what big hands you have?" said I.
"All the better to deliver packages with." mumbled the UPS guy smiling through large plastic fang teeth.
There are two other straw bale houses in the community, as well as, other energy and resource minded alternative building styles.
My favorite features of my home are the bale-deep windowsills, spiral staircase, and our curly willow that springs like a Rasta hairdo out of our back patio. I am fascinated by the details that make a house a home to the person who lives there. Someday, I hope to travel the world and ask the question, "What makes your house, home to you...." in every language. When I am retired, I will spend my lazy afternoons crafting the images and answers from my clients and friends into a coffee table book on the subject. If you are willing to add to my collection now, just send me an answer to the question with a couple snapshots. Be sure to explain the details in the images and why they are meaningful to you and your family.
My Quirky Hobby:
I have a fetish for quotes. I search for them like treasure and as a collector stash them in every nook and corner of my brain. Quotes are words that capture a moment of life and elicit a resonance in others. Hearing a great quote is like viewing a well crafted design. The experience is one that is clever, memorable, and connects people with a moment of profound bonding through a glimpse of a shared truth.
Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's original, you will have to ram it down their throats.
- Howard Aiken
Go to where the silence is and say something.
-Amy Goodman
A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions than anything else in the world.
- Edmond de Goncourt
Laughing at our mistakes can lengthen our own life. Laughing at someone else's can shorten it.
- Cullen Hightower
I look to the future because that's where I'm going to spend the rest of my life.
- George Burns