In 2005, on a great migration from our home state of Vermont to Oregon, my partner Jess and I stopped in Colorado and hiked the 460 mile Colorado trail. As usual for me, time in the mountains was a place of introspection into the next creative endeavor. On this trip my thoughts were about the self employed business I was about to start in Portland doing commissioned metalwork. We had lived there previously and I was hoping to build upon my professional network from that earlier time. Emerging from the trail I bought a welder from a pawn shop (that I still use to this day) and opened Altility Art Studio on Mississippi Ave in N. Portland. Focusing on architectural metalwork, public sculpture and collaborations with local artists, the studio grew it’s equipment, employed a few remarkable artisans and completed some fantastic projects over the following five years. After Jess finished Naturopathic college we decided to relocate to Bellingham, WA for it’s smaller community and proximity to the North Cascade mountain range.

Two box trucks loaded to the brim hauled my gear north to a dreamy rundown old barn in the heart of town. Low and behold the neighboring shops were occupied with an incredible community of creative, hard working, and likeminded artisans and for the next ten years we made local history enlivening Bellingham’s downtown with our collective businesses and creative collaborations. This unique co-existence was a remarkable life and professional experience, and deserves some elaboration of it’s own in a dedicated journal entry.

Bellingham shop and historic barn — *Bellingham shop front and historic barn*

Bellingham Semi-annual arts event — *Semi-annual arts event*

My work began to transition more heavily into blacksmithing processes and from project to project I began building my equipment, client base and experience within the craft of metalworking and as a sculptor.

In time the terrible axe of redevelopment hung poised to destroy our shops and the “Bellingham Alley District” as a whole. Along with the exorbitant cost of downtown commercial property, it was high time for me to find a piece of land to construct my forever shop and eventually our home. Our paradise refuge was found on a forested property above Samish Bay on Blanchard mountain, Bow WA.

With the acquisition of the land and an excavator named the Do-dactyle, I set in post hast to clear a building site, run utilities, mill the wood, weld the I-beams, raise the walls and get my equipment safely relocated before demolition of my old shop. The deadline for this major endeavor came down to literally the day!

It has been an exceptional transition relocating from always an urban setting to this nature oasis, where, needless to say I gain a great abundance of artistic inspiration, and not to mention the solace of at last owning my shop and relocating no more! Through the process of becoming deeply connected with the land as I re-appropriated it for my “development”, I gained a high reverence for this place within the tree tops on this beautiful northwest foothill. This experience, combined with an intent focus of my work towards more fine art and public sculpture, it seems suiting to rebrand my company as Canopy Art & Iron. Annex to the shop, I’m very excited to have also integrated Canopy Gallery to showcase the exceptional work of this new community of artists.

First there was a shop, and then a shop, and then The Shop

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