Vince Skelly doesn’t just carve wood into sculpture, he coaxes out a kind of memory from it. Working with salvaged logs sourced across California and the Pacific Northwest, he shapes each form from a single block, letting the grain, knots, and natural rhythms of the wood guide what it becomes.
Vince Skelly doesn’t just carve wood into sculpture, he coaxes out a kind of memory from it. Working with salvaged logs sourced across California and the Pacific Northwest, he shapes each form from a single block, letting the grain, knots, and natural rhythms of the wood guide what it becomes.
Make coffee and stretch.
Espresso with a little water. We prefer Ethiopian coffee, and I usually have two small cups before leaving the house. We use the Breville Barista Pro at home and the Moccamaster at the studio.
I have about 10 handmade mugs from friends, but I tend to use only three of them—all from Portland, OR.
Until recently, the best seat in the house was our couch, which overlooks the giant timber bamboo in the front yard. But the new daybed is getting a lot of use these days. Also on warm mornings, I’ll sometimes have my coffee out in the garden.
My parents were both art teachers, so our house was filled with supplies, everything from painting to found objects to crafts; we were surrounded by art making. They were encouraging with it, but never pressured us into anything. I hadn’t really thought about wood carving until I discovered J.B. Blunk’s work in 2011.
One of the common threads that shaped my practice was growing up around public art and viewing sculptures as objects to interact with. I always liked sculptures that felt inviting, timeless, and playful. Claremont still has some great public art.
Being a dad is probably the furthest I’ve stretched my patience levels, but I really enjoy it, and definitely a better person because of it. Another form of patience I enjoy is growing food and gardening. In contrast, stepping on a skateboard gives me instant gratification. After skating for 25 years, it’s still the funnest thing in the world.
1. Seeing people skate on sculptures by the artist Jim Miller-Melberg.
2. Arroyo Secco stone structures.
3. Looney Tunes backgrounds.
Middlebrow Podcast - by far.
I’ve been listening to the audiobook, Everything She Touched: The Life of Ruth Asawa.
Also on rotation: mix tapes from Mississippi Records in Portland, OR.
1. Seeing people skate on sculptures by the artist Jim Miller-Melberg.
2. Arroyo Secco stone structures.
3. Looney Tunes backgrounds.
For Mariah Nielson, the familiar is never static. Mornings begin inside the hand-built Inverness, CA home her father, sculptor JB Blunk, shaped from salvaged redwood in the 1950s. It’s where Mariah now lives, and is raising her own son amid the textures, tools, and stories of her childhood—alongside traded works from friends, artist-made artifacts, and her own growing contributions.
For painter Jereme Brian Mendez, mornings move at their own pace: ice water, meditation, and a walk through the quiet streets of the Berkeley Hills, where deer roam past and the fog hangs low. His studio hours don’t begin until the light shifts in the afternoon, but those early rituals—quiet, steady, tactile—form the architecture of his day.
Kassandra Thatcher is an LA-based artist specializing in ceramic lighting and sculpture. We recently paid a visit to her Arlington Heights studio to see her in action, and learn more about her story, life and work.