Flat Tire Delays Blount Street Move

  

As I post this, the 350 ton house being moved from Wilmington to Blount Street is sitting in the road, stranded by a tire blow-out that created a sound heard for blocks.  A large crowd is on hand as National Geographic films the event.  Workers are developing a plan to winch up that corner of the house and replace the tire, which is deemed necessary before further progress can take place.

crowd watches preparation for next shift

sliding down on to Blount Street

 

Goodnight, Raleigh! post

Raleigh Rambles Blount Street page

 Follow Up

   The picture above is this massive house while west of Blount Street.  Below it is safely parked in its future lot east of Blount.  The move took a couple of hours longer than planned.  We were sitting inside our house on Person Street when we heard a huge sound – not the tire blowing out but the lurch/shift of the house afterward.  I had been going back and forth all morning and missed being on the scene.  Once they got the tire replaced and got the house safely across Blount they started moving the smaller green house to its position on Person next to the Murphy School (along with 2 other previously moved structures).  The final picture of that move was taken at 3PM this Saturday afternoon.  A long day for Blake House Movers of Greensboro, a long wait for the utility workers waiting to restore the lines along Blount – and a circus of a morning for Oakwood residents, assorted vendors, and the ever present representatives (with brochures) from the Blount Street Commons development.

                            

The park with museum included picks up steam.

Lowe’s Park Pavilion, 2007

Mike Cindric and Vincent Petrarca
Steel, wood, and aluminum

   Designed and built specifically for this site overlooking the Piedmont prairie meadow at the NC Museum of Art, Lowe’s Pavilion is “art-as-shelter.”  Mike Cindric, as model builder and general technical guru, has been behind the scenes with a host of interesting projects over the years, and I’m thrilled to see him get such a prominent placement for his work, though I’m still mourning the removal of the Patrick Dougherty twig and branch castle recently removed from nearly this same spot. Lowe’s Pavilion has earned a merit award from the NC AIA, and a Sir Walter Raleigh award as well.   The metal skin of this outdoor classroom or meditation space changes with the available light, helping to integrate the inhabitants into the natural spaces around the highly sublimated structure.

     Mike has created a unique feel inside that highlights the experience of surveying the wonderful sculpture garden, heirloom prairie garden, and wooded hillside trails that have taken shape on the huge campus of the museum.  These amenities are the long fruition of one of the few positive trade-offs in the museum’s decision to leave downtown.  A few more outdoor images are below.

                     

      This place is well worth visit aside from the museum, whose new exhibition space is shown in progress below.  The liason with the Raleigh greenway system is also a strong piece of the project.  If you haven’t made it yet to the bridge over the Beltline, do it soon!  And stop by Lowe’s Pavilion to catch your breath!

Papermaking Open Studio

 

 

The Paper Plant presents an Open Studio Thursday and Friday, August 14 and 15 from 10 AM to 6 PM.  John Dancy-Jones will be working and demonstrating.  Papermaking, marbling, printmaking and letterpress printing will all be showcased with opportunities for hands-on interactions.

Location: 528 N. Person Street, Raleigh, NC

For information call 839-8277

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     I am wrapping my summer up with a bang!  Two big days of open studio with all the pistons pumping.  I will be making hand-laid paper, pulling Snapper prints with the flatbed press, printing a bookmark with the Kelsey 3×5, combining a block image with text on the Excelsior 9×13, and marbling laid sheets!  We will have our usual studio display of notecards, blank books, and stock rag papers.  Anyone who comes by can probably pick up a couple of tomatoes – our plants have gone crazy.

     Hope to see some of you.  This was a chance to respond to some of the many requests and inquiries since the N&O article last winter.  Also, I have a couple of friends who have been wanting to play in the book arts a bit, and I hope to see them for some hours of sharing and learning.

The Paper Plant was Raleigh’s home for alternative arts in the 1980’s.  Hand-laid paper and a letterpress shop was nestled in a used bookstore which also had monthly art openings and the Thursday Night Open Readings, which I, John Dancy-Jones, emceed for over seven years.  I also acted as papermaker, printer and publisher.  The bookstore closed in December of 1990 but I continue to make hand-laid paper, print, and publish.

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Studio Photo Tour

Studio Visit with “Historical Narrative”