We have some major announcements: we won’t be saying ‘we,’ but instead ‘I’, because after nearly 30 years, Pamela is retiring, and I, Ryder Holmes Wilson, and will take over the business. I might be a bit biased, but I believe Pamela was and is one of the most creative and innovative concrete artisans that I have known or seen, and I will sorely miss her presence in the studio. Pamela will still be involved to help me as needed for consulting and such, but I hope to discover my own way, techniques, aesthetics, and business strategies. It has been such a joy to work and collaborate with my mother all of these years, to compose leaves or debate about colors, or to design whole new concepts together. But, surprise surprise, people retire! Well, she has retired from the tables — she will continue to prolifically dream up art, which can be found on her website Stranger Worth.
As part of this split, I have relocated Holmes Wilson Tables to a lovely studio space in Santa Rosa! I will never forget the coastal influences that have informed our work, nor the idyllic weather, but now the oak Savannah of the Sonoma Valley will be my creative terroir. Already I have (re)discovered the imprinting potential of the aggressive wild cucumber, and a rocky forest of Nopales in Howarth Park. Spring has finally sprung after this long winter, and I’m eyeing the ‘weeds’ with an artistic greed. And of course, I have many a non-botanical concept churning up in me from a change of place. The light is more intense, nature more squelched among the asphalt, the hub-bub more omnipresent. The birds here are not so furtive as in the redwoods; they have to out-scream the children and sirens. What concretions will I make of these observations, I know not yet.
Anywho, I have more announcements very soon (saying ‘I’ is a bit of a lie, shall we say), but I don’t wish to take away from both the sadness and celebration for my mother’s business departure. If you have something of ours that you wish to celebrate, send us a message! Or just a word of congratulations means a lot too! Hope to hear from you 🙂
