Fwd: EPISODE 779 LATEST WOOD QUILT interpretation BARN IN ARISDORF SWITZERLAND

Begin forwarded message:

From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>

Subject: EPISODE 779 LATEST WOOD QUILT interpretation BARN IN ARISDORF SWITZERLAND

Date: March 10, 2023 at 10:54:39 AM EST

To: john Wardle <jwardle@rogers.com>, Marjorie Skeoch <marjorieskeoch@gmail.com>

EPISODE 779 LATEST WOOD QUILT interpretation BARN IN ARISDORF SWITZERLAND

alan skeoch

march 10, 2023

Well all the pieces have fallen into place. Some time has passed since Martin Leuthi and I admired this

old barn in the village of Arisdorf, near Basel, Switzerland.

“Martin, I would like to make a wooden quilt patterned after that barn.”

“Look closer, Alan,the farmer is discarding his fanning mill…perched on his harvest wagon now.”

“Really? Throwing it out?

“Looks that way to me, let’s ask.”

Yes, it was being tossed. The mill was old, perhaps early 19th century. Odd construction. Long like

a snake as opposed to Canadian fanning mills that are compact like a ground hog. We took the mill

apart and carefully packed the moving parts as cabin luggage for the flight to Toronto. Abandoned the

long sideboards whichI planned to replace but have no done. That was 20 years ago. The plans

are still in my shop. Never to be replicated.

So this wood quilt is dedicated to the memory that Martin and I share Without his fluency in Swiss German

it is unlikely anything would have been done. Swiss farmers are not exactly the ‘hail fellow, well met’ kind

of people. Understandable. Imagine driving up a farm lane in Ontario to inspect farm trash and then

have the nerve to ask if you could buy (or have) some ancient machine.

So while the snowstorms have been raging outside my workshop this February and March, I have

been reliving….recreating….a moment in my lifetime the I treasure.

THE SWISS BARN

Over the past few years I have been gathering wooden pieces…scrap wood…that could be shaped

into a memory. Unsophisticated. I am neither an artist nor an architect. Just a folk art enthusiast

like Maudie ,,,see the Netflix film, MAUD, that will help you understand folk art and either hate it or love it.

The only barn I ever made collapsed into kindling wood four weeks after I thought it was

wonderful.

This Ep[isode has been sent as a testimonial to the good times Martin and I shared while admiring

that Arisdorf barn so long ago. What you see is an impression…not a reality. DIMENSIONS