When I was in Santa Rosa Saturday, my friend Honora and I visited Fulton’s Crossing, an industrial artisan center that provides workshop space to local artists, crafters and makers of visual and functional art. There were some interesting pieces of furniture that tempted me and some of the art work and sculptures were intriguing but I was stopped dead in my tracks when we came across a workshop empty of people but filled with chaos and energy.
I couldn’t tell what kind of creations this artisan makes but whatever they are, they are created in the midst of colorful, textural chaos. The light was perfect; it revealed bright colors and deep shadows, and there were pools of light from the skylight above. The disorderly mishmash of seemingly unrelated items covered every inch of the work table and the surrounding surfaces. Tools, ladders, brooms, rags, boxes, even a butane torch and a can of acetone, a rather dangerous juxtaposition, given the volatility of acetone. The back of the workshop features a wooden barn type door set into a wall made of rusted corrugated metal with windows on either side. I took a couple dozen shots in the workshop, including closeups of the door and windows but my favorite shots showed the entire scene.
I loved the original photos I took of this place but decided to edit my favorite in Topaz Impressions using one of its chiaroscuro filters that played up the light and dark places in the photograph and added just enough of a painterly look. I could imagine Salvador Dalí or Pablo Picasso or another avant guard artist emerging through the door at the back of the workshop.
Ok, what was he making? 😄