Page 12 RAIN October 1977 Every now and then we come across something really special- an idea, a project, or perhaps a person who seems to represent "appropriate technology" in every sense of the word. Keith Jellum and Gary Morris are in the business of creating useful art, art for energy's sake, and one look at their woodstoves tells you they're something special. From the salvage yard to the fuel source, these fireburning masterpieces not only provide alternative space heat from a renewable resource, they are assembled almost entirely from recycled remnants of thrown-away treasures and are created by hand. Reminiscent of the days when craft guilds flourished and art was everything (or should I say everything was art), each stove has a personality and identity all its own. Keith had been sculpting and casting other people's work for quite some time and, feeling that all things should be beautiful, he fashioned his own sculptures into useful things. "Giving art a From the Fire purpose brings it to life, makes it tactual." Keith's philosophy on art had influenced his preferences toward making towel racks, candle holders, lamps and various other things that people could use and enjoy. He started in the woodstove business out of pure necessity. He couldn't support his gas furnace "habit" and needed a woodstove. His first attempt resembled an old toeless boot with a mysterious looking funguslike a growth around its ankle. It to the S worked so well it hobbled its way right into a friend's living room. Shortly thereafter, ten car bumpers followed him home one night and were soon part of his second stove, which he later entered in Oregon Artists' Annual and sold to Portland Art Musel,lm as a part of their permanent collection. He now averages 3-4 wood stoves a year, with various other functional and non-functional sculptures in between. His latest work, a magnificent wind vane, is flying Do It Yourself A stove is essentially a device to separate the smoke from the heat. The more heat-radiating surface you can run the heat/smoke through before it gets out of the room, the better. There is a point of diminishing returns where there is not enough heat to carry out the smoke. The following is a design for a simple, efficient, cheap, woodburning stove. It can be the end-product itself; it is almost simple enough and clean of line to be aesthetically pleasing. However, the almost is not quite enough for me personally, and I suggest you see it as a principle in an early evolutionary stage or as a skeleton upon which to hang your own personal fantasies. The extent of your own imagination defines both your freedom and your prison.
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