Author Archives: Cynthia Gehrie

About Cynthia Gehrie

As a botanical artist, I am inspired by the natural world, and search for techniques of representation and expression. As a professional documenter, I use photography, video, field notes, and qualitative methods to record naturally occuring events, which I return to for reflection and analysis. My work has expanded over the years to include evaluation of arts integration and early childhood grants in universities and early childhood centers. The purpose of this journal is to record and reflect on the relationship between my work as artist and as documenter/evaluator.

Craig and Jennifer from Seattle reply to 7 Questions at the Flock House Omaha Project – Bemis Center at Old Market

  1. Craig and Jennifer form Seattle write responses to 7 questions.

    Craig and Jennifer from Seattle write responses to 7 questions.

     

1. What did you think of when you saw the Flock House? (Its design, a memory, how you would change it, a feeling you had about it?

Transitional, adaptable

I thought of a play structure – fun and exploration.

2. Would you like to spend time in a Flock House? Spend the night?

Yes

Yes

3. How can a Flock House be equipped with its own source of water, energy and waste collection? Gardens to grow food and herbs?

Water = rain & containment system, Energy = pedal wheel/bike for creating electricity, Waste = Huma-Nure, Garden = Green Wall

Rain collection systems could be used as well as solar panels. Portable gardens could be installed and moved to take advantage of changing light sources.

4. If you were on a Flock House design team, what recycled building materials would you suggest?

Clear plastic clamshell = variety of sizes and closure designs.

Recycled plastics – plastic bags & water bottles, tires and rubber could be used as other building materials

5. What could you contribute to a design and building team? (Skills, knowledge, experience, interest)

Skills = outdoors experience – cooking

Not much! Sewing skills! and an interest to learn from others.

6. Now there are only a few Houses in a tiny global Flock. Imagine if hundreds migrated to one place, and set up for several weeks. Would you want to be there?

No – would become a place of community reliance – seems to go against the need for /nature of Flock House.

Yes, but probably for a more limited time.

7. What role might the Flock House idea play in addressing population displacement and suffering? (Such as: Drought, Scarcity, Famine, Armed attack and property damage, Disruptions or absence of utilities such as electricity, communications, sanitation, and water?) 

Adaptability to current situation/need

The portability of the Flock House would make it ideal in these situations – moving to better climates, food sources, more secure/safe areas and would make repairing the houses with any available materials so that the structures of those houses may change as needs and circumstances change.

 

The Archimedes Palimpsest – Most famous example of palimpsest in antiquity

Inside the Archimedes Palimpsest

  • By Lexi Krock

inside-archimedes-palimpsest-in

In October 1998, a battered manuscript of parchment leaves sold for $2 million to an anonymous bidder at auction. The thousand-year-old manuscript contains the earliest surviving writings by Archimedes, the Greek thinker who is regarded as the greatest mathematician of antiquity. In this interactive, see how sophisticated technology uncovers Archimedes’ faded text and diagrams from beneath another Greek text that was written over it. Also, below, follow a time line that tells the fascinating story of the 174-page volume’s journey from its creation in Constantinople to the auction block at Christie’s in New York.

See the Complete story on Inside the Archimedes Palimpsest

From PBS on NOVA

 

Palimpsest V – origins of absorption – Maine Memory

A few years ago I made a presentation at an educational conference at a college in Maine. I rented a car after the conference and drove to the coast where I found a B & B to stay in for a few days. Nearby, an establishment struck me and has stuck.

It is hard to say what it was as a genre. It was on about an half-acre. They grew ornamental and vegetable plants and trees. There was an old building that housed a book store, a botanical store selling essential oils and creams made from the plants they grew. In another small space they sold baked goods. There was a small kitchen and serving area with two pots of homemade soup, bread and two salads from the gardens. They served coffee and herbal teas grown in the gardens and dried in a shelter.

When you purchased food, you could eat it inside, where there were 3 small tables and chairs, or take it outside. Among the plants there were open patio areas and rough shelters sprinkled here and there on narrow brick paths among the nursery plants. Each shelter had a small eating area and at least one table. They also served as spaces to maintain and propagate the planting areas. Did I mention that they used organic methods of growing?

As I carried my soup and tea out to the gardens, it started to rain. I ducked into a shelter where twig furniture (table and chairs, for sale) invited me into a rough structure made of a few stripped boughs overhead, and covered with a big sheet of plastic. I was able to sit and enjoy the garden in a downpour, perfectly dry except for a few times when a gust of wind carried a light spray my way. It was peaceful, green, beautiful, economical in price for me, and a cunning way of presenting outdoor furniture for sale. Had I lived in Maine, it would be hard to leave without buying a chair or wooden basket.

From my perspective I saw that none of the structures were complete. There were workshops where furniture’s built. There were plastic hoop houses – low tunnels filled with seedlings and small plants (for sale). Some shelters roughly constructed with this and that. Others old outbuildings with parts missing, scraped bare, reinforced, and used as they were – open and perfectly functional. The stark clarity of the structures left the impression of sculpture, not poverty.

I walked back into the “house” to find a book. Then I realized that instead of having been rehabilitated and returned to its original state (an expensive proposition) it was scoured, reinforced, some interior walls removed, wired for electricity, a wood stove installed, and used as it was. Each room felt like nook or cranny as a small, focused sales area. The books were mostly about making your own, growing your own, and selling your own.

I was in awe of people who had a vision, lived among plants, used what they grew, honed all their skills, and created an environment that radiated integrity, focus, and aesthetics while reflecting intelligently what is at hand.

They constructed their own lives with an open structure. And let me tell you, Maine has lots of cold and snow for many months of the year. By studying the layout I could see its design to shrink back into the most sturdy spaces from ice and snow, and then open up again when weather permits.

It dawned on me that this could be done anywhere. Using vertical agriculture and hydroponics, it could even be reproduced in urban areas, in and around any boarded up building or factory.

This memory embodies my vision for Palimpsest, as a project of urban agriculture, artisan and craft preservation.

Mary and Roger Nichols from Council Bluffs bring granddaughters to draw in the NYC Flock House

 

Mary Nichols, draws and writes while waiting for Roger and her twin granddaughters.

Mary Nichols, draws and writes while waiting for Roger and her twin granddaughters.

Mary arrived from work in downtown Omaha. She had time to write her ideas in the 7 Questions and draw a pull able cart design for a Flock House.

The Flock House reminded her “of dice – rolling to any place or direction.” Spending time in a Flock House is a “Maybe,” because “I need a certain degree of comfort and would need to feel safe.”

To be self sustainable, “A house like a gypsy caravan could collect rain water and have roof top garden and manual/bicycle type wheels with energy collector like a battery.” Recycled building materials are “Roofing, metal sheeting, fiberglass – use anything available.”

Mary Nichols - Envision a hard back on the cart that could raise up for added protection and to guide water collection.

Mary Nichols – Envisions a hard back on the cart that could raise up for added protection and to guide water collection.

Mary modeled her drawing after the gypsy cart. She envisions,”small caravans designed in a way that they could come together and form a community, larger form that allows greater safety from elements.  Maybe like pieces of a pie. The very center could be where resources are shared.” For greater safety, they “could raise up a hard back screen…so that all together they form a tornado/wind resistant dome.”

Twins arrive to draw in NYC Flock House

Lily and Aislinn, age 4, climb up and settle into drawing their Flock House.

Lily and Aislinn, age 4, climb up and settle into drawing their Flock House.

Aislinn, Age 4 - Flock House drawing is sphere on platform, like the NYC Flock House. Wood and cloth are indicated by color.

Aislinn, Age 4 – Flock House drawing is sphere on platform, like the NYC Flock House. Wood and cloth are in code by color. If you look carefully in the blue base, you will see the floor and pillows.

Lilly, age 4 - Flock House Drawing on pedestal with free form shapes like the wooden forms surrounding the Flock House platform.

Lilly, age 4 – Flock House Drawing on pedestal with free form shapes like the wooden forms surrounding the Flock House platform.

Roger’s idea.

A To-Go box Flock House.  Made of styrofoam, you fold a sheet in half, then fold a second sheet in half and overlap the sheets.  Add more sheets, folded in half and overlapped. The overlap establishes strength. The overlapped forms can grow in any direction forming walls and vaulted ceilings. We can try this as an art project during the Palimpsest days at Flock House Omaha – Old Market, August 6 – 16.

 

 

Lilly, age 4 - Flock House Drawing on pedestal with free form shapes like the wooden forms surrounding the Flock House platform.

 

Gifted Student’s Flock House drawings, Grades 9 – 2, from Nebraska City

A group of gifted students from Nebraska City traveled to the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts. They visited the Flock House Omaha Project gallery, envisioned a Flock House expressing their ideas and made drawings.

Sarah - Modular unit with solar panels, cut out vents, windows, and removable side panels to connect to other family units.

Sarah – Modular unit with solar panels, cut out vents, windows, and removable side panels to connect to other family units.

Angelica - Tent-Ish Flock House, fabric walls, doors and windows, support rods, foldable tile floor. Folds up for easy travel.

Angelica – Tent-Ish Flock House, fabric walls, doors and windows, support rods, foldable tile floor. Folds up for easy travel.

Thomas - Features triangular base, wooden deck, glass walls, green fabric wood, and flag pole.

Thomas – Features triangular base, wooden deck, glass walls, green fabric wood, and flag pole.

NIck Z and Nick N - Design process moves from 2 folded tetrahedrons to expanding sphere stabilized with wood supports and latches. A conceptual Flock House shows bump out.

NIck Z and Nick N – Design process moves from 2 folded square pyramids, to an expanding sphere stabilized with wood supports and latches. A conceptual Flock House shows bump out.

Trey - "Hot-Air-House"

Trey – “Hot-Air-House”

Unknown - Hexagon design develops vertical space for plants, storage, seating. Lights hanging above.

Unknown – Hexagon design develops vertical space for plants, storage, seating. Lights hanging above.

Lilly - Outside Flock House design is 8 ft wide and 16 ft high. Schema shows solar panels, windows and door.

Lilly, Age 11 – Outside Flock House design is 8 ft wide and 16 ft high. Schema shows solar panels, windows and door. Inside, a recliner combines sleeping and sitting. A mini fridge is run on solar power.

Lily - upstairs bath

Lilly – Upstairs Bathroom with sink details of drain and faucet.

Zachary - Flock House Porta-Potty

Zachary – Flock House Porta-Potty

Quentin - raised Flock House on stilts with ladder. double walled with technical details (no schema.)

Quentin – raised Flock House on stilts with ladder. double walled with technical details (no schema.)

Unknown - Propelled Flock House with communications, food temperature control. External solar panels and satellite dish.

Unknown – Propelled Flock House with communications, food, temperature control. External solar panels and satellite dish. An unknown student said a Flock House should be “a Teepee.” Inside, “it could have a water cooler.”

 

Gifted 7 1 outside 72 800

Unknown - Outside triangular house with round door.Unknown – Triangular house with round door.

Gifted 7 1 inside 72 800

Unknown – Schema showing shingles and floor plan of triangular house.

Unknown - Outside rectangular house

Unknown – Outside rectangular house with schema showing two floors with upper for sleeping, stairs at entry and outside area.

Unknown - By placing a person inside the structure as a reference, the designer shows "How big it is." A ladder allows movement up and down.

Unknown – By placing a person inside the structure as a reference, the designer shows “How big it is.” A ladder allows movement up and down.

 

Kailey - Solar panels outside and electric socket inside.

Kailey – Solar panels outside and electric socket inside.

Destiny - Mobility of Flock House reflected in propellers.

Destiny – Mobility of Flock House reflected in propellers.

Alexa - Diagram with notation icons and either an elevation or perspective drawing of a Flock House structure.

Alexa – Diagram with notation icons and either an elevation or perspective drawing of a Flock House structure. Alexa’s comments on 7 Question form: Flock House “should have solid walls and no cracks.” It should be made of “wood.”

Jedidah - Complex diagram of Flock House with possible communications active above.

Jedidiah – Complex diagram of Flock House with possible communications active above.

Isaac - Raised Flock House

Isaac – Raised Flock House

 

 

5 Models for Flock House Structure

Designed by unidentified visitors to Bemis Center, their construction uses paper, scissors and tape set out  in the NYC Flock House. All visitors can enter this flock house and design a Flock House, or work at adjacent tables.

Updated July 28, 2014

This construction might be a flexible solar panel.

Model A – This construction might support a flexible solar panel structure. They could be positioned for solar collecting and lowered for washing.

Modle A - Solar panels might fold beneath cover  for safety during thunder storms.

Model A – Solar panels might fold beneath a cover for safety during thunder storms.

Model B: Suggests Flock House aesthetics that can be integrated into flexible materials.

Model B – Suggests Flock House aesthetics integrated into flexible materials.

Model B- Side view

Model B – Side view

Model FH B 2 72 800

Model B – This position suggests an elaborate door.

These models point toward the sculptural and adjustable potential of Flock House as an idea.

Model 72 800

This model and a sketch completed by an unknown person.

 

Sketch with model above.

Sketch with model above.

Gideon, Flock House model

Gideon: Flock House Model

Gideon, Flock House model with floor and wall extensions.

Gideon, Flock House model with floor and wall extensions.

Unknown: Complex layered Model

Unknown: Complex layered Mode

 

 

 

 

 

Tyler, a high school freshman in Council Bluffs, Iowa, draws a Floating Flock House

Tyler and Cammy Booth at the NYC Flock House design table.

Tyler and Cammy Booth at the NYC Flock House design table.

Floating Flock House

Accompanied by Kammy Booth, Tyler draws A floating Flock House. His work informed by his Eagle Scout study. His design reflects his scout camping experience. It includes a “Trap for rain fly outside”, “three shelves,” a “removable hammock,” “clothes line,” plant containers, “Potty with waste bucket,” “camp stove,” “catch bucket to store water,” and “water turbine” as energy source for a light bulb.

Tyler's Floating Flock House

Tyler’s Floating Flock House

Recycled materials he would use include: “heavy net materials, buckets, fence post, reclaimed wood, and bot motor propeller.” On a design team, his contributions are “camping and wilderness survival” skills.

Tyler is not attracted to a Flock House gathering. “No, I wouldn’t want to be around lots of people.”

A Flock House idea might address population displacement.  “It would be a back up plan. It would help with populations in 3rd world countries.”

 

Kelly Klepfer from Council Bluffs, Iowa at Flock House Omaha Project – Old Market

Kelly Klepfer drawing in NYC Flock House on exhibit in Flock House Omaha Project at Bemis Center - Old Market

Kelly Klepfer drawing in NYC Flock House on exhibit in Flock House Omaha Project at Bemis Center – Old Market

On seeing the NYC Flock House, Kelly associates to “adventure – childikeness – backyard Glory Days – Playhouse.” She would like to spend time there, and spend the night. To equip the Flock House, Kelly suggests “Solar energy or wind energy harnessing – composting or off site waste disposal – reusing, repurposing pot or portable gardens in little pots, Etc or foraging if smart enough about food/wild food to do so.

Recycled materials Kelly suggests: “billboards, waste from building sites, Removed matter from deconstruction areas – using everything that’s found.”

In a design team, Kelly brings “interest, skills as writer and photographer, knowledge and experience.”

In addressing population and suffering, “Community can help / teach / supply. A Flock neighbor could have skills combined with someone else’s knowledge that would result in huge things. A communal sort of situation where everyone has a specific job that suits them or fits them and benefits everyone.” The opposite of “bureaucracy, which kills creativity.”

Kelly and I agree to meet on Friday to take photos of landscapes that could be background for drawings of scenes of Flock Houses in use to bring nature into the urban context.

Kelly Klepfer, drawing shows padded doors to storage units that fold down as mattress at night.

Kelly Klepfer, drawing shows padded doors to storage units that fold down as mattress at night.

Kelly’s Flock House incorporates a strong covering of canvas or billboard material, storage pop outs, and comfortable sleeping support.

 

 

Lizzy Davis, Kansas City Art Institute-Flock House design – at Bemis Center – Old Market, Omaha

“Big Top Tent” like shape

Seeing the NYC Flock House, Lizzy Davis wrote, “I thought of a raft, a weightless structure that is meant to always move. I believe the focus on the individual, the temporary nature of the project, and the focus on creator, undermines the environmental aspect by creating a space for those who already have a space.” Lizzy adds, “In a sustainable environment, I would think that the space should function as a necessity and for multiple persons/be in a place of permanence.”

Staying in a Flock House “would make an interesting substitute from a tent to a cabin. I would like to spend several days working in one.” Lizzy lists several ways to equip a Flock House with necessities. “Human powered machines (like the idea of a crank flashlight). As for water, it would almost be impossible to collect enough water from rain, which makes it entirely dependent on an existing water source.”

Recycled materials might be “used furniture, recycled/old clothes, melted down recycled aluminum.” “As an animator, I could provide video models of the finished product, as well as help with sewing and wood shop skills for cutting large materials.”

If Flock Houses migrated to a place, Lizzy says “No-” to attending. “- at least not without a plan. I would need to help set up a waste removal system, a schedule to have everyone rotate “chores”, and make sure not to disturb the area around the group.”

To the role of Flock House as response to disaster, Lizzy writes, “A flock house seems like a good idea in underdeveloped and overpopulated areas. For instance, the Gaza Strip, where thousands lack citizenship and are targets of hatred through violence. These houses would show 1) how little it takes to provide comfort and 2) shelter from terrible conditions these people live in.”

Lizzie Davis, "Big Top Tent" like shape

Lizzie Davis, “Big Top Tent” like shape

Details in the drawing focus on

Water capture: plastic liner for rooftop capture. Inside the structure a plastic hose carries water along structural supports to a basin for water storage.

The big tent structure supported with aluminum rods.

The octagonal base of recycled wood/plastic, 6 inches off the ground.

Recycled fabric sides, curtains at entry and recycled plastic holes in the roof.