Highlights from the past year, looking towards the next year
AO INTERN THE FIRST
In addition to turning 2, Adaptive Operations has reached another important milestone in hiring its first intern!
Originally from Houston, Texas, Paris Bezanis is a rising fourth year at the University of Chicago, studying Russian Eastern European Studies and Visual Art. His art practice explores sculpture and collage, and is grounded in found and re-used building materials. Other creative work includes scenic design for the University Theatre Company, as well as furniture design and fabrication. Paris has had a long interest in architecture and the built space, and is interested in pursuing further architecture education in the future.
Paris is helping out in a number of ways with lots of hands-on projects that are floating around, and will hopefully be learning a lot about what a tiny alternative architecture/design/art practice looks like on a day to day basis.
Scenic design for Next to Normal (Fall ‘17)
Lamp (2018), butcher paper, stain glass, square tube steel, rebar, thread
28cm x 64cm x 28 cm
Middle Brow Bungalow dining area
Middle Brow Bungalow
Over the course of much of 2018, I advised in various capacities on the design and build out of Middle Brow Bungalow, the brew pub from Middle Brow Brewery that opened earlier this year. This culminated in the design and fabrication of benches for their communal tables, as well as two cantilevered banquettes. The communal seating benches are based on my "split seat" design that I've explored in various pieces of furniture, including the Provisional Chair that was designed specifically for Cellar Door Provisions. It allows for the seat surface to be a bit cozier without any additional shaping of the wood, and it also allows the furniture to be built using smaller pieces of wood without glueing anything up. Cutting out those steps means it's a simpler and easier build process. Similarly, there's only one cut that is not 90 degrees. The wood itself is reclaimed mid-century douglas fir procured from Great Lakes Yard, one of the finest purveyors of salvage wood in the Midwest.
A stack of the “split benches” for Middle Brow in progress
For the cantilevered banquette seating, we wanted something that would be a bit of a curvier contrast, so I designed something that would require the use of a CNC router, which my fabrication assistant extraordinaire - Andi Crist - had just learned how to use at the Polsky Exchange in Hyde Park. A single shape would be cut out of sheets of plywood dozens of time to make up the profile of the seat, mounted to sections of plywood backing, then mounted to blocking on masonry walls.
Andi rocking the fussiest of fussy CNC programs
slicing up the plywood
the engineering strategy here is redundancy
After that, we then covered the cantilevered panels in slats that were milled from leftover red pine from the Edward Hines National Forest sculpture by Sara Black and Raewyn Martyn that we had worked on the previous year. Middle Brow gave the slats a nice white wash and we then went to town with giving the seat some skin. Afterwards, they covered them in beautful and cozy pillows that set everything off just right.
Cute photo via Sed Bona
Thrupple, installed at Eckert Art Gallery at Millersville University
Life As We Know It
Last fall, I was invited by the Storehouse Galien to participate in a group art show at Millersville University in Millersville, PA. The show, Life As We Know It: A Storehouse Project, was about exploring “the everyday as site, medium and muse,”. I took the opportunity to create a new salvaged clothing weaving made of three pairs of traditional mens pants called Thrupple. The show ran from Oct 23, 2018 through Dec 16, 2018, and included the work of:
75 Dollar Bill
Lisa Alvarado
Aram Han Sifuentes
Georgia Hubley
Chad Kouri
Archer Prewitt
Joe Puleo
Kaveri Raina
Sonnenzimmer (Nadine Nakanishi + Nick Butcher)
Cassie Tompkins
Charlie Vinz
Emily Frances Winter
The Storehouse is a multi-disciplinary arts space run by Penny Duff and Michael Slaboch at their home in rural Southwest Michigan.
Installation view of Life As We Know it at Eckert Gallery
Posters for Life As We Know It
Process image of Thrupple
Process image of Thrupple
AO is still a going concern
Oof, 18 months since the last news update... It's been a busy 18 months, that's for sure! Two restaurants I designed opened on the same night last week. You can look at and read about Wherewithall, the second restaurant from the owners of Parachute, here and here. You can do the same with Superkhana International, the bricks and mortar version of the pop up restaurant Bombay Breakdown, here, here, and here.
Also, Amber Ginsburg, Sara Black, and myself built a giant sculpture in Thailand as the US representatives in the first Thailand Biennial, which took place primarily over the winter.
More news and updates soon!