Jan de Swart: Video
Creating The Jan de Swart Video: By Jessie
Allen Cooper
"In the mid 1990's, Jock de Swart,
Jan de Swart's son, came to me with the idea of filming the Eagle
Rock, California art house he grew up in. When entering the property
it was obvious that every inch of the surrounding land was about
the art. In Jocks words, Jan would get up in the morning and
create all day and night only stopping to eat and greet friends
and collectors that would come to visit. As a woodworker myself,
I was highly impressed by the tools he used and in some cases
created himself by altering and inventing new parts that he would
add onto tools to create his visions, such as lathes and a assortment
of different wood, plastic and metal styling tools."
"I lived with the work for several weeks while filming this
short video that was shot by my good friend Jeff Haymes cut by
Curt LaFurney with Post Production Supervised by Brian S. Hanish.
From my perspective Jan's work was delightfully creative with
a degree of un-paralleled sophistication. Aside from his insightful
and intuitive notion, much of his art embodied a sense of functionality.
From a creative and artistic prospective, it felt like his art
was inspired by the school of found art, that is, everything
around us could be apart of the art or influence the making of
the art. All of the furniture in the home was created by Jan.
He had even created an elaborate game that was featured in the
living room of this lovely art house. "
Jan de
Swart website
Jessie Allen Cooper ©
2016
Music: Julianna, Tomorrow, from Moment in Time
coopersoundwaves.com
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