The Paddling Glass Artist

by Erik Olsen on

What do paddling, glass and breasts have in common? Why, they are all the passion of the artist Steven Wrubleski. known as one of the best glass artists in the Northwest today. Glass art is such a Northwest thing. I don’t know why that is, but it seems to be the case. When I lived in Seattle, there were several stained glass shops there that taught the Middle Ages, um, age art of stained glass making. And of course, Seattle is home to the world famous, and famously irascible Dale Chihuly.

Well, Mr. Wrubleski (rhymes with Trubleski) is as I say an avid paddler, and manages, in addition to lovely breasts, to work water and paddling iconography into his work. He is also a big-time avid paddler, hence the reason why he made it in to the pages of Canoe and Kayak Magazine.

The story here talks about Wrubleski’s life, how he ended up in the San Juan islands, the boats he likes to paddle, his disdain for the fast-paced lifestyle and why he has selected glass as his artistic medium: “its similarity to water”. Good answer. It’s a nicely done profile about a guy you’ve probably never heard of but will be made slightly better for, well, having heard of.

Squaw Founder Dies

by Erik Olsen on

(I know I’m a few days late here….but)

My first job after college…OK, not my firs REAL job, but a job none the less…was working as a photographer at Squaw Valley. No, not some shooter for one of the slick magazines, I was one of those dopey guys that hangs out at the top of the hill and will snap your photo for $25. That was all back in the day when we still shot on film and people didn’t carry around palm-sized cameras that shoot 10 mega pixel images. I don’t refer to them as the good old days.

Anyway, here I was hanging out reading the various blogs and news items and I see that Alex Cushing, the founder of Squaw Valley resort and major supporter of the U.S. ski team, died last week at the age of 92. Cushing was a big figure when I lived at Squaw, a towering figure, even if he had a reputation for being a bit ornery and even at that time was ancient-looking. But he still managed to get himself up and down the hill every week, and was an inspiration to the lot of us. He biggest claim to fame is that he was instrumental in bringing the Winter Olympics to North America in 1960. Even though Squaw fell on hard time for a while after that, the big tram that he built is still there, and the resort always kept its luster from having the Olympics there. So we bid you adieu, Alex. Good luck at the big mountain in the sky.

Richard Wiese

by Erik Olsen on

A few years ago I produced a television piece about the Explorer’s Club and got to know its president, Richard Wiese. Richard is a very cool guy, some would say too cool, and his uber-handsome looks and surfer-dude demeanor rankled a lot of folks at the Explorer’s Club.

I got to go to the famed Explorer’s Club dinner and chatted with various folks there, big-time adventurer types and bona-fide scientists, who spoke disdainfully of Wiese. I more or less figured the venom was due to the fogeyness factor, that these hard-core old types just loved to grumble about anything that had the whiff of being hip…and of hair spray. I found Wiese engaging and a solid dude, and I think he was doing a fine job turning the Explorer’s Club into a place that welcomed younger adventure types, even if all these folks weren’t studying microbes at the top of Everest, the club was still the kind of place you could go and rub elbows with really smart, accomplished people. IT was, in a word, inspiring.

I’d heard that Wiese was no longer at the Explorer’s Club helm and wondered what happened to him. He is an avid self-promoter and has a face for TV, so I was pretty sure that’s the direction he went. I was right. I learned that and a whole lot more over at Outside Magazine, which ran a feature on Wiese last month. It’s a fine article and discusses many of the controversy I mention here about Weise’s reputation at the club. But it’s also a fairly sympathetic piece that lays out his contributions to the club during his tenure. I for one, hope he does well as he heads off on new projects, and I hope as well that the Explorer’s Club stays the course and remains welcoming to a broader audience.

New Orleans & Katrina Revisited: A Photo Gallery

by Adrienne Wilson on

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of one of the costliest not to mention deadliest storms to hit U.S. landfall — Hurricane Katrina. To prepare for the occasion last Friday USA Today featured a photo gallery and fairly detailed report on the state of tourism affairs in the grand ole’ city. This being the first summer since the storm hit last year business owners are said to be down 60% compared to last year. Thing is areas like the French Quarter, Garden District, Warehouse and Arts District which made it through the storm much better than other areas are just waiting for tourists to come. If there’s a way to bring the much needed dollars in to help the city blossom again people are going to have to take a trip to the bayou and start sight-seeing.

They’re ready. And I know I’m long overdue. What are you waiting for?

Looking Back From Ground Zero

by Erik Olsen on

As we approach (quickly) the fifth anniversary of 9/11, there are lots of things happening in New York to commemorate that horrible tragedy. One of the more noteworthy exhibits happening is in Brooklyn, where a new exhibit opening at the Brooklyn Museum examines the physical history of the actual area where the World Trade Center stood as well as how artists responded in the aftermath.

Called “Looking Back From Ground Zero: Images From the Brooklyn Museum Collection” the exhibit opens Aug. 30 and runs through Jan. 7. The show features a massive photograph of the construction site that is currently ground zero (really just a big hole). And then within the galleries, you get a glimpse of what the history of that area of lower Manhattan has been, and what it was like on that day in 2001. Looks interesting.