Steadily Growing

 

“At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.”–Salvador Dali


Today, Byron turns 42.

He has been, and in some cases still is,

son, brother, friend, father, student

custard scooper

corn cross-pollinator

park ranger

naturalist

anthropology and earth science instructor

newspaper delivery boy

barista

office manager

book seller

mentor

traveler

greenhouse worker

runner

skiier

swimmer

biker

gardener

handyman

chef

bill reckoner

splinter remover

kickball roller

beer brewer

geocacher

crossword puzzler

logistics coordinator

observer

comforter

sounding board

voice of reason

purple beard sporter.

In recent years, he’s also been Artist.

For this piece, Byron laid out 275 one-inch by one-inch squares, and then, for each of 275 successive days, drew a mini-diary entry. There’s a teensy ink sketch of a necktie for the day he went to a meeting with the mayor to strategize about how to re-imagine park funding in a way that could keep libraries open. There are also minute depictions of a shovel, an owl, a planter, a pumpkin…among 270 other Lilliputian moments of life, all harmonized by the presence of emerging sight lines that meet up in the lower righthand quadrant.

Byron, the least OCD person on the planet, makes art that presents as fairly OCD.

He had a show this past summer and spent weeks deciding which pieces to include before working on matting and framing and layout. Below, you can see where we laid out the final drawings in an effort to figure out how they’d fit on the public wall space to best effect.

 

Our time living in a Muslim country affected him. Upon our return to the States, he spent some time studying Islamic art and the use of variations within sets of geometric shapes, as we had seen all across Turkey in the tile work of madrassas and mosques. Here is one result:

He is pulling together a website to showcase his art. Here’s a link to his “galleries” page, which includes both pen & ink drawings and digital collage: Laying Fallow. I love the precision of the pen & ink and the whimsy of the digital collages (the one with the Amish figure on the ship was a commissioned piece; he bartered his services, and, gollee, have we enjoyed the blueberry-lemon bread, pickled beets, and other baked goods from the recipient).

 

Tonight, we will celebrate with white bean/bacon soup, pumpkin bars, limited-release Surly Darkness beer (gaspingly expensive), and a night of music seeing his favorite group, Cloud Cult (having conveniently driven their biodiesel van to Duluth to perform on the anniversary of his birth).

This talented grown-up boy,

still discovering the myriad vagaries that constitute “ambition,”

is,

quite simply,

the best.

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11 responses to “Steadily Growing”

  1. Lil Avatar

    Lovely. He really is the best.

  2. lime Avatar

    happy birthday to byron who seems like a real renaissance man. hope it’s a day as fantastic as he obviously is!

  3. Green Girl in Wisconsin Avatar

    I’m gobsmacked by his art! That’s beautiful! Unusual! Thought-provoking!
    You married well, Jocelyn. I confess to having a bit of envy reading this post.
    Many happy returns to your dude.

  4. kmkat Avatar

    Awww. Happy b’day, Byron! Hope y’all had a great time @ the concert.

  5. Jenn @ Juggling Life Avatar

    His work is stunning. Happy Birthday, Byron!

  6. logo™ Avatar
    logo™

    Happy birthday to the artiste and all around amazing man.

    May I just say that I love how much you love him?

    and may your blessing be blessed on his special day.

  7. Jess Avatar

    I might be a wee bit behind on my blog reading, but please tell Byron happy birthday for me. I’m planning to convince Todd bleach his beard and dye it purple as a birthday tribute. And by “convince” I mean, do it while he’s sleeping. Wish me luck.

  8. christopher Avatar

    Excellent…Happy 42 to Byron…and with the best still yet to come.

  9. Bone Avatar

    Please pass along a happy birthday from your quite-possibly-soon-to-be-international friend.

    That’s a lot of titles. Gonna make for quite the Wikipedia entry.

  10. Meg Avatar

    And handsome to boot! That you two are well-matched is so obvious, I can only wonder at how much fun you create together.

  11. magpie Avatar

    i love that last work of his – it has a vaguely Gorey-like sensibility, to me anyway. i think it’s those floating pieces.

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