We are really excited about WeMake, a proactive group of creatives that works to foster art and design in the community by providing a platform for fun, interactive events like the sketchXchange and this month’s “Put A Bird In It”. The event, Put A Bird In It (a pun off of a Portlandlia sketch called Put A Bird On It!) is a benefit for arts and music education in the Portland Metro area. All of the artists, designers, and makers who participated were asked to build birdhouses to be sold at auction. Representing us this year, Grove co-founder Joe Mansfield designed and built a truly beautiful piece of art to donate to the fundraiser.

Born and raised on the rugged Oregon coast, Joe Mansfield attended the University of Oregon, where he majored in Digital Arts. He started a custom laser business right out of college and has collaborated with a variety of artists, architects, and designers.
 

Check out Joe’s collaborative work with engrave!

He put his digital design skills to use creating this multi-layered birdhouse, constructed entirely of precisely cut slats of plexi-glass which are simply held together by two well placed dowels. One of the concepts behind this piece was that the cut plexi-glass holds within the center of the birdhouse a spherical shaped empty space, or nest. This space also connects the front and the back of the house with two entry points leading into the hollowed core.

The birdhouse was cut out using our lasers-- yes, the very same workhorse lasers that cut out our Bamboo Backs and delicately engrave our bamboo artists series iPhone cases. The piece also contains a cascading spiral of fauna imagery, printed with our state of the art printer (the one and the same that we use for our new WoodPrint cases). The hues of the fauna imagery, reminiscent of tree branches or the veins of an anatomical heart, shift slowly from pane to pane through a spectrum of colors from light blue to red.

The visual effect is really fun, and we had a great time trying to get a good photo of it, which Ken finally got! We are so excited to have this piece represent Grove, and look forward to the rest of the show which includes work from some of our favorite local artists and designers like Amy Ruppel, Emily Katz, Tom O’Toole, Terrazign, and Ryan Bubnis.

Joe has worked with WeMake in the past, and even hosted a laser bamboo workshop last summer!  Make it out to the benefit show Saturday, October 12, 2013, and help to promote arts and music education in Portland & Multnomah County Schools!

goGrove!