Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
Oh it was so wonderful. Eames and his mother, Lucia Eames, were so 
generous. We even had a picnic. (Picnics were very important in the Eames 
scheme of things.) 

I've been meaning to write a thank-you note to Eames and Lucia and the 
Eames House people who helped but every time I tried, it came out so 
effusive as to seem mawkish. It's like a holy, sacred memory to me. It was 
magical.

Just things like being *in* the house -- being in the room with that Bird 
(the black bird sculpture that appears in several iconic Eames images) -- 
walking into the alcove -- and then, going upstairs. Seeing those 
scrapbooks. It was just indescribable. I had a notion of writing about it 
but I am still assimilating the wondrousness of it, and it was nearly two 
years ago.
  

    
It's funny talking about the event.  Because I re-read my post
describing it as "a blast".  And I stand by that quote on one level
because I don't want to get too serious all the time when I talk about
the Eames world.  It is a lot of fun too as it combines these themes.

But on another level, the event feels like it was private (even though
anyone could sign up theoretically, and very few of the people who
came were people that I had known before).  And it was what we wanted
to do: share an intimate experience of the house with a small number of
people as part of a number of ways of celebrating and sharing the
house for the 50th anniversary.

We did a completely different event for teachers (we did a sunset
visit to the house with lots of candles).  200 teachers came and we put
plastic down so that people could walk through the house without
hurting it.  And that was neat too, but more a group experience.  Then
we did some web things, but the emotional core of the celebration was
these seminars.

It started with a visit to the gallery, and an introduction to the
ideas and philosophy of Charles and Ray to kind of bring everybody up
to speed and then we came to the house, ambled through it, had a
wonderful spread--just delightful, the whole staff pitched in,
presented beautifully.  My Mom and I kind of led the tour, my wife
Shelley and Tereza kind of organized the food part and the whole thing
was co-ordinated by Bernadine in our office.

Then we went upstairs which is a very personal space and looked
through images and drawings.  And there was just a lot of special
sharing and conversation which won't be done justice by summarizing. 
There was mystery and intangibles here too.

And then one wild card was that each time we went to one of the other
Case Study houses on our  driveway so help people understand the
neighborhood component to it.

And it was fun for us because it was sharing a deep experience with
new friends as opposed to what we usually do which is share a short
term experience--the exterior of the house.  This let us give something
in depth to people who really cared.
  

    

That sounds truly amazing.

What does this mean:

>  And then one wild card was that each time we went to one of the other
>  Case Study houses on our  driveway so help people understand the
>  neighborhood component to it.
  

    
The Eames House is on a bluff where John Entenza, the publisher of
Arts and Architecture Magazine and the founder of the Case Study House
program bought 3 acres.  He and Charles and Ray spent a lot of time
there thinking about how the land could be used.  

Ultimately 5 Case Study Houses were built there, 1 by Charles and Ray
(original design by Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen), 1 by  Charles and
Eero, 1 by Neutra, 1 by Rodney Walker, and 1 by Neutra which he
disavowed, but is still quite nice and wonderful.  And well taken care
of.
  

    
One thing that's always troubled me about the house, and in particular the
decorating style of having hundreds of interesting objects sitting on every
surface:  isn't keeping it dusted just an unending struggle?
  

    
(I'm just going to chime in and say they're not really on *every* 
surface. Lots of surfaces, though.)
  

    
Well, we are very fortunate that Tereza, who started just before
Charles's death, is the part time housekeeper and she knows a lot of
things about the care and feeding of the interior of the house. She is
an incredible person and dusting is only part of what it takes.  So,
you are right in one sense, but it is manageable.  And, thank you, fom
for the clarification--it is dense with objects, but there are also
places which don't have them. 
  

    
I am sorry, but I did want to mention I amdoing a couple of book
signings during the run of this conference:


Wednesday, April 24th @ 7:00 p.m.
TALK ON EAMES DESIGN:  The Exploratorium
 San Francisco CA
For more information, please call 415.561.0324

Thursday, April 25th @ 6:30 p.m.
BOOK SIGNING @ Terence Conran Shop 
407 East 59th Street NY 
For more information, please call 212.755.9079
                        

Monday, April 29th @ 6:00 p.m.          
FORUM and BOOKSIGNING:  Bard Graduate Center
38 W. 86th St  NYNY
For more information, please call 212.501.3011

Wednesday, May 1st @ 7:00 p.m.          
BOOK SIGNING @  Modernbooks Gallery
1060 Westwood, LA CA
For more information, please call 310.209.9442
                        
Wednesday, May 8th @7:00 p.m.
TALK: AIA /UTSA Lecture Series
School of Architecture at the University of Texas
San Antonio Downtown Campus, Buena Vista Building Theater
San Antonio, Texas
For more information, please phone 210.458.4299
  

    
Sorry, folks, it had to be done.  Thanks for your indulgence.  I
realize I mentioned the Explorarium one a little on the late side,  but
I plan to do another one at the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate
Park when our Powers of Ten show opens there.
  

    
I intend to go tonight, so I hope to see you there.
  

    
I'll be there too!

About the objects on the surfaces thing: I have never seen them as 
"interesting objects." I mean, of course they are interesting objects, but 
to me the exciting thing about Ray Eames's arrangements of objects is the 
arrangement of the objects -- the choice of which things to put in a 
group, and how to relate them spatially and color-and-texture-wise to one 
another so they just sing.

I grew up in a house full of interesting objects; people used to always 
say "oh Felicity this place is like a museum!" -- but my mother, though 
she was a packrat with an eye for unusual little items and a good sense 
of composition, and she traveled a lot (so the items were from all over), 
was definitely no Ray Eames. The objects were not arranged in a wonderful 
manner, just arrayed or lined up on various bookcases and so forth. The 
only time I remember a really exciting arrangement done by my mother was 
when she had an assortment of conch shells she'd picked up on the beach 
at Martha's Vineyard and she arranged them in a spiral, smallest (very 
tiny) to largest. I can still see that in my mind's eye perfectly clearly, 
though it was in the 1940s.

But I think Ray Eames could have taken a torn bus transfer, a cigarette, 
a few pennies, and a couple of dry leaves and arranged them in a way that 
would make you go "Ahhhhh." I have spent many hours trying to understand 
this. Probably hundreds of hours. I take little things and try to arrange 
them, over and over, and I never get very far with it -- even though I, 
like my mother, have an eye for interesting items and a sense of 
composition. There's something more, something subtle and elusive, going 
on with the Ray Eames arrangements, and I am continuing to study and 
ponder it. 

I also see the Ray Eames arrangements as little labs where form and 
space and color and material and harmony and utility (and a dozen other 
qualities) were being explored, constantly. I don't see them as 
decorative, but as working compositions, the sketches of an artist, the 
experiments of a designer. And also, there's a dimension of table-as-altar 
(see Noguchi on that subject), where the precise arrangement of items, as 
on a curandera's mesa, evokes ineffable meaning and understanding.
  

    

I wanna see!

My mother has that ability, BTW.  She can arrange ordinary every day 
objects so that your heart just sings when you see them, or it fills with 
sadness at the beauty of it.  I study those arrangements and study them 
and can never in a million years duplicate them.  Whenever I move, I have 
her arrange the furniture and the tchotchkes and then I take pictures so I 
can put them back again, but I never quite get it right.
  

    
I went to the Exploratorium last night to see Eames's talk. The place 
(McBean Theatre, a smallish geodesic dome within the greater museum 
building) was packed -- I got there earlyish and had trouble finding a 
seat. 

No esau! I saved him a seat but he did not show. (esau, Eames asked after 
you, said he was looking forward to meeting you.)

The speech and presentation (movie clips, etc.) was great. Every time I 
hear the basic tenets of Eames design explained, I learn more. I took some 
very sketchy notes, mostly in the later part. Here are a few excerpts from 
them.

----

"The extent to which you have a design style is the extent to which you 
have not solved the problem." (C)

"What works good is better than what looks good because what works good 
will always work good." (R)

----

honest use of materials -- trains in "Toy Trains" look like toys [not 
model trains], the tin looks like tin, the wood looks like wood

constraints [much about this, of course]

iteration, honing off the idiosyncrasies

guest-host relationship 

----

pelagic -- we have to become [are becoming?] pelagic creatures, secure in 
change

----

It was a great evening. Other members of the Eames family were 
there, including Eames's beautiful mother Lucia Eames, who said a few 
words (Q: "How did it feel growing up with Charles and Ray, in the Eames 
House?" A: "It was the most natural thing in the world, and it was 
absolutely terrific!"), and Eames's beautiful sister and her excellent 
8-month-old son.

It was lots of fun. Every Eames event is always fun fun fun -- that's one 
of the Eames design principles! The only film we got to see in its entirety 
was "Design Q & A," which, as always, was great. The audience laughed at 
the funny bits, and later someone asked a bit nervously if this was OK, 
and Eames said oh yes.

When I got home and told my son about it (he had to miss it because he has 
a class on Wednesday nights) he was eager to hear if I'd noticed all the 
invisible wires and cameras, which he and a couple of his coworkers at the 
Explo had spent the afternoon setting up. He was happy to hear that I had 
not noticed them at all. Apparently there were wires running along the 
floor all over the place, and they had taken great care to make them 
unobtrusive.
  

    
Oh man, do I regret missing that!
  

    

I'm sorry I didn't know about it in time to make plans to go.  
  

    
I am terribly sorry I missed it--I spent the afternoon working with one
foot out the door, but I ended up working until after 6:00 and driving
from Palo Alto to PFA is maddening at peak traffic time.

I will not miss the Powers of Ten event.
  

    
The movie next Wednesday night should be really interesting. It's also at 
the McBean, at 7. It's "Eames: The Hollywood Connection" (I'm not certain 
that is the precise title) and as I understand it, it's a rough cut of a 
movie that won't be shown again until it has been completed, so this is 
the one and only chance to see it for at least a year. It's made by Steve 
Cabella, Eames collector and curator extraordinaire (he curated the show 
at the SF airport last year as well as the recent Tokyo show), who 
collects, along with furniture etc., "Eames Moments."

Also I should mention that Eames Demetrios had to fly to NY early this 
morning for a book signing so it'll probably be a day or two before he's 
back here. 
  

    
fom,

thanks for sticking up for me--I just got in here to New York and have
found generous words about the talk last night waiting for me.  A nice
present.

It was a great crowd.  Standing room only, but not overly jammed.  but
a crowd with a great sense of humor.  Really revelling in the Design
Q&A.  I heard alot of touching stories.  It is very powerful to me how
many people were affected by Charles and Ray in a meaningful way.

One guy was in Los Angeles and met Ray at the House and had amazing
conversation with her and he brought me pictures of that day almost 20
years ago.  It was a lot of fun.
  

    <hidden>
  

    
Response #69 is the text to "Design Q & A," one of the most elegant and
instructive comments on the subject ever made. It was later made into a
short film, and I understand it differs slightly.

In Engaged you can click on the hidden response to read it; in Picospan
type o 69.
  

    
Thanks for posting that, esau.

Yeah, the film is a little different -- at least one Q&A in the film is 
not in the transcript, and the final "no answer" is actually a visual 
answer. There are undoubtedly several other differences that I'm not 
noticing on a quick read-through.

Some of those answers are enormously subtle. I love the fact that C&R 
were so good with words as well as with design.
  

    
My favorite answer is a question:

 A. Who would say that pleasure is not useful?


It seems that many recent designs have had sheer pleasure at their
core. I wonder how the Eameses would have reacted to the VW Beetle or
much of Apple's recent work?
  

    
That one sentence seems to me to be a refutation of the International Style.
  

    
E-mail from Marc Swanson:

Eames,

When can we expect a Charles and Ray Eames Exhibition in the great northwest
(Portland / Seattle)?


Marc Swanson
Eames enthusiast

P.S.  Would love to assist / volunteer in production.
  

    






I am an architecture student at Drury University in Springfield Missouri. In
my senior thesis I am currently investigating the ways that architecture
might benifit from industrial design. This does not mean mass produced
architecture, what I am talking about is the industrial designers process or
methodologies. I was wondering how you or the Eames might integrate your
industrial design/ furniture design interest in architecture?

-shane hood