Or should we say, Jonathan, inventor, mad scientist, painter, gardener, musician, craftsman, and otherwise jack of all trades? After 20 years at Conant Metal and Light, Jonathan is invaluable for his encyclopedic knowledge of lamp parts and past projects, and for his genius of a mechanical mind. On any given day, you can find him quietly working in the back of our shop under the constant breeze of a fan. Ask him to solve a tricky mechnical problem and he’ll say “sure, that’s easy.” But then, that’s only the tip of Jonathan’s iceberg. To get a fuller picture, let’s take a tour of his house, aka “The Museum.”
The house, largely concealed from the road by a thicket of plants, is a relic of the twenties. And stepping inside, it almost feels like a step back to that era. Electrified antique gas lanterns spread pools of soft light around tables in an otherwise shadowy living room. Under each one is a sort of exibit. Of what? You squint your eyes to see a series of models: miniature ships that Jonathan built or restored, toy trains, weapons, functional and sculptural, experiments in electricity. Jonanthan has a passion for understanding the way things work, their physics, their systems. As a kid, we ask questions like, “Dad, how do microwaves work? and “Is time travel possible?” Apparently, Jonathan never stopped asking.
“Well, my father was an engineer and my mother an artist.” That’s how he explains the blending of his love for facts and mechanics with his creativity. Or it could be his varied employment history–he’s done everything from make jewelry to working in a steel yard, playing class A baseball, to working in a saw mill. Jonathan’s fascinating and strangely beautiful creations could be described as “steam punk.” They blend a love of history and antiques, science and science fiction. His style has greatly influenced our aesthetic at Conant Metal and Light. Here are a very few of the projects you will see on a tour of his museum:
The Balista, below, is Jonathan’s redesign of a Roman Balista (similar to a cross bow). “As a kid, I watched a lot of movies like “Ben Hur” and “King of Kings.” It’s about 5 inches long and shoots 75 feet, will stick straight into the wall.
The red target in the background is made of gooda wax. “The cheese wasn’t bad either,” he says. “A little dry though.”
Jonathan’s much celebrated Ray Guns are actually not his invention. They arrived on a spaceship that crashed in Victory Bog in the Northeast Kingdom. He is in the process of writing a science fiction book about their story.
For more on these guns, click on the photo link.
This miniature coal operation is a fixture on the dining room table. When and where does he eat? Apparently he consumes knowledge.
Lightning bugs that Jonathan calls his “Frankenstein monsters.” He likes to electricute them with 20,000 volts and make them “light up.”
Many children are interested in automobiles, right? Jonathan completed this one at age 12. It is two inches high.
In the music room can be found what Jonathan refers to as “The Shrine,” a monument to his love of music and science fiction.
He plays the guitar.
In this same room can be found a functional replica of a Remington Buffalo gun that he made himself out of salvaged cherry wood.
The bedroom, like every other room, is a jungle of plants. He shows you one that belonged to his Great Grandfather, and a tomato plant that produced two seasons. You get the feeling that each plant is an individual with a story. Or maybe it is a science experiement?
His entire attic is full of model trains. And in his basement…a toy baseball game that he constructed over a period of 20 years. A series of minitature stadium lights illuminate the field, business cards advertise along the walls.
Come take a tour of our workshop at 270 Pine Street. You just may see him there.
Read Full Post »
Metal & Light 