Connecting With the Past (from last week's newsletter)

We're so excited, we had to repeat last week's newsletter article in our blog...

A dilapidated log cabin… a decrepit barn…reconstructed…now a house, studio, or office.  Posts and beams from trees born hundreds of years ago in the Ohio Valley… when you lay your hand on one of the oak beams you somehow transcend centuries and connect with hard-working people who fell the trees, hewed the logs, and raised the barns…. people in small communities working together for more than survival—but for love, joy, beauty, family, and community.

We are humbled and thrilled to tell you that some of our first-issue photography will take place in old-made-new buildings, in and around Williamstown, West Virginia.  How fitting to showcase the magazine's first projects this way.  Our "primitive" art began long ago when those same hard-working people lovingly repurposed used or leftover fabrics and fibers into functional-yet beautiful quilts, rugs, totes, table mats, and the like.  Why do I suddenly want to curl up on a sofa in front of a fire and do some wool appliqué?

These structures are the amazing work of good friend and local business man, Chip Pickering.  Now here is a man who takes recycling seriously!  Several times Chip has disassembled old barns and cabins, transported them to his property, and then reconstructed them.  A few are now beautiful homes (he lives in one), another is the home of Pickering Associates, Chip's engineering firm.  The log cabin sits next to the office and serves as the firm's library.

We'll try to get more information and photographs of Chip's buildings and post them on our blog and in future newsletters.  So check back from time to time.