russell baldon

I was loaned a digital camera by my sister and rediscovered my love of photography.  Here's a series of bird shots I have taken over the last few years. I have since purchased a Nikon D7000 and continue to carry it with me at all times.

I have been making furniture since my time as an undergrad at California College of Arts and Crafts in the early 1990's. Creating functional ( or at least semi-functional work allows me into people's day to day lives and forms a relationship between the user and myself with the furniture object acting as an interpreter in the middle.

A lot of my furniture work walks in the grey area between idea and utility. This gallery shows a range of my interests.

I've realized that I am more comfortable around people if we have a common problem to solve. This is the foundation of both my teaching practice and my social life.  These are some of the problems we've solved.

For as long as I can remember I've had a bird on my shoulder that continuously points out my short comings and faults. I suddenly realized that I might somehow lessen its destructive powers by given a face to it. This process has had an immediate effect and I do feel better about myself as I spend hours drawing tiny feathers and ruminating on the voices in my head.

My awesome daughter Annabel Blue started cutting up her toy figurines and reassembling them for party favors for her 9th birthday. Her best  friend Elsa jumped on to the bandwagon and MUTANTS were born. They then set up a booth at the monthly Art Murmur here in Oakland where they sold their creations for anywhere between $1 - 3 dollars. The Oakland Museum spotted them early on and the girls were asked to put their work into the we / customize show soon after.  They also started doing public events where the audience was invited to assemble their own mutants with parts supplied by Goodwill Industries. These shots are the portraits I did of the original creations.