Experiment with Nature » urban

JOURNEYS 033 – HEARTLAND

Fri, 03 Nov 2017 15:25:22 +0000

“After you do something long enough it becomes a part of you. The way you interact with the world changes. Even walking down the sidewalk, I pay attention to the cracks. The spacing. The depth. How easy would it be to ride over this? I notice the texture of surfaces, take note of curb heights, and fantasize about hitting that handrail. I’ll scope out peoples feet to see what shoes they’re wearing. You can tell a lot by the wear patterns left on shoes by griptape. Goofy or regular? Kickflips or heelflips? If there’s wear on both shoes then they skate switch. Sweet. Not everyone can say they have something that has shaped their lives like this. Skateboarding has given us long lasting friendships, it has sent some of us all over the world, and it has taught us a thing or two about ourselves. It’s kept us young. As the late Jay Adams once said, “You don’t quit skating because you get old. You get old because you quit skating.” Skateboarding is our thing.”

– Excerpt from Will Corwin’s story about growing up, skateboarding, and find purpose in it all. Check out the full story HERE.

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Journey 023 – Old & Abandoned

Fri, 29 Jan 2016 21:23:45 +0000

In Journey 023, we follow along with photographer Laura Kaczmarek and friends as they explore an old, abandoned industrial park in Germany. What was originally planned as a search for unique, new places to skateboard turns into visual study of urban decay and the interaction between industry and nature.

For the full photo essay, click here!

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McNabb & Co. Studio

Thu, 14 May 2015 19:03:19 +0000

Philadelphia based McNabb & Co. Studio offers a refreshing and unique take on fine woodworking in their project, “The City Series”. Founder James McNabb meticulously uses a bandsaw to individually shape small pieces of various wood species, eventually combining them into stunning collages of sorts. The abstracted architectural forms come together in an interesting perspective on urban sprawl, and when combined with the application into the mediums of furniture and wall art. The final products are stunning pieces certainly fitting for any urban loft. In his own words, “Each piece depicts the outsider’s perspective of the urban landscape. Made entirely of scrap wood, this work is an interpretation of making something out of nothing.”

Check out some photos of the below, and visit the portfolio site HERE.

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Windows of New York

Thu, 18 Sep 2014 17:14:34 +0000

Here at Shwood, we are fortunate to live in Portland, a city surrounded by amazing wilderness and nature just a short drive in almost any direction. We love to get in the woods and often encourage others to do the same. Beautiful and interesting things can be found in urban areas too however, and even a short walk around your local neighborhood can be extremely interesting if you take the time to walk slowly and examine your surroundings. This is perfectly illustrated (pun intended) by Jose Guizar’s series, Windows of New York.

Here is Jose’s description of the project: “The Windows of New York project is a weekly illustrated fix for an obsession that has increasingly grown in me since chance put me in this town. A product of countless steps of journey through the city streets, this is a collection of windows that somehow have caught my restless eye out from the never-ending buzz of the city. This project is part an ode to architecture and part a self-challenge to never stop looking up.”

See the full series at http://www.windowsofnewyork.com/

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