Week 32: Like Dylan's Gates

The Iron Gate at Penland School of Crafts

   There's a beautiful iron gate at Penland School of Crafts. It was made in 2004 by a group of ironsmiths, artisans, and sculptors in honor of the 75th birthday of the school. It's a huge mass of curly cues, doodads, and images... all tied together in one design of artistry. This type of gate was also the focus of a show, Mood Swings, in 2013 at the Halcyon Gallery in London by the singer/songwriter and sculptor, Bob Dylan (http://www.halcyongallery.com/exhibitions/bob-dylan-mood-swings). Mr. Dylan has welded many separate and unique items into each gate. The gates, like the Penland Iron Gate, are beautiful... not just because of the skilled craftsmanship that went into each piece, but because of the diverse and complex nature of the elements. Somehow each element augments and enhances it's partners. This is exactly what the peoples of the world should aspire to do... to enhance and augment each other for our similarities as well as our differences. To honor that lofty goal, this week's book-of-the-week is a series of paper gates which have been assembled from a collection of common-place magazine cut-outs. It's titled, Like Dylan's Gates.

the cover

The cover board is covered in a sheet of vintage music... an homage to the poet/songwriter. A cutout of a 1950's era stove with the title, Like Dylan's Gates, letterpress printed on it serves as the title plate and is the first gate. The gates were pasted on single sheets of cardstock which were bound accordion style.. in keeping with the feel of a fence.

all six gates, spread out accordion-style

the to learn gate

the CANDYLAND gate... all good things

Shoes gate.. travel anyone?

Authentic effortless Impact gate... so tiring, have a seat

Relievers gate... meets your needs

FROZEN IN TIME gate

The last gate in the book is the gate of watches and clocks.. it's meant to remind us to live in the moment. Sure, make plans and goals, but treasure every minute!