So, another #ArchiTalks post is upon us, and Bob has definitely picked a doozy this time. ‘Crafty’ Really?!? Crafty?!? For the past couple of weeks I have been racking my brain about this one and what keeps popping into my head, thanks a lot Bob, is Martha Stewert. So I decided to try a different approach, let’s see what crafty really means.
1.
skillful in underhand or evil schemes; cunning;deceitful; sly.
2.
Obsolete. skillful; ingenious; dexterous.
Hmmm, I’m thinking this is not exactly the direction I want to go with this.
And since I don’t consider myself obsolete, I think I want to focus more on the creative side of architects. Creative is a synonym of crafty, right? Well for this post it is anyway. Architecture is a very creative field crammed into the corner with all sorts of rules, regulations, codes, analyses, and what not. It’s not the architects that ignore all of these and try to create some homage to themselves that are who I consider successful, it’s the ones that can navigate the immense minefield of these hurdles and still produce an awesome project that I truly admire. But even the most successful of these projects had to do some compromising in order to just make it work.
So what is an architect to do when their creativity has to be put aside sometimes? This energy has to go somewhere. Lately I have been taking a few minutes after I leave work for the day to explore a new hobby of mine. Photographing the area around where I work. Luckily for me, I work in downtown Fort Worth, and there is no shortage of great areas to explore.
The different peices of art and landscape features are amazing, finding them all is an adventure in itself.
If you’ve never been to the Kimbell Art Museum, you have to make a point to visit it for yourself. Here’s a hint though, the parking area is located at the back door, go around to the front and make sure to enter from the other side.
The TCC campus in downtown, formerly the Radio Shack headquarters. A stunning campus that overlooks the Trinity river, make sure to check out the Bing Thom portion to. It’s a short walk away from here.
Enough about what I have been doing though, there are plenty of other architects out there creating amazing work in their free time that absolutely has to be seen. I’d like to actually highlight a couple of people I have had the oppurtunity of knowing over the years.
Check this guy out, Jamie Crawley, he has been doing what he calls #coffeesketch for a while now, and it never ceases to amaze me the talent this guy has. Here is his #coffeesketch on Pinterest and make sure to follow him on Twitter @falloutstudio. Here’s a couple of his sketches just for a taste.
And then on top of all that talent, he’s actually a really cool guy.
The other person I wanted to hopefully shine a spotlight on is Liza Williams. I had the good fortune of getting to work with Liza a few years ago before she moved. Talk about a person with talent to spare. Liza was an absolute awesome designer, could work on construction documents like no ones business, and even come up a new logo for your company. Recently she has dived into the world of photography. Check out her page here…
Liza Williams Photography and Design and be sure to like her Facebook page as well. LWPD Facebook link Here is a couple of her photographs just to peak your interest, I hope you think they are as good as I do.
These two individuals are just a taste of what a lot of architects are creating in their personal time. I could spend weeks just going through all of the work of architects that I have either personally met or have met through one social media outlet or another. Go ahead take a look around, search through Instagram, Facebook, etc for work done by architects, I’ll bet you’ll be amazed at some of the things you’ll find. And leave a comment of some other Architects you know of that are doing some truly creative things on their own.
Check out how all the other players have interpreted deceitful sly crafty, click on the links below to see.
Jeff Echols – Architect Of The Internet
@Jeff_Echols
Master Your Craft – A Tale of Architecture and beerLee Calisti, AIA – Think Architect
@LeeCalisti panel craft
Bob Borson – Life of An Architect
@bobborson
Architects are
Crafty
Stephen Ramos – BUILDINGS ARE COOL
@sramos_BAC
Ghost Lab
Jonathan Brown – Proto-Architecture
@mondo_tiki_man
CraftyCindy Black – Rick & Cindy Black ArchitectsMark R. LePage – Entrepreneur Architect
@EntreArchitect
How to Craft an Effective Blog Post in 90 Minutes or Less
The Emerging Architect 
Loved the blog Brian! I do follow your photographic jouney on Instagram. Thank you for introducing us to Liza Williams and Jamey Crawley- will check out their work.
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Great focus on creative outlets outside the profession.
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Brian, Wonderful blog. I like that you walk and photograph your surroundings. My blog has gotten me very into the same thing. And thank you for turning me on to Jamie and Liza. Very cool. -Steve
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