Dame of Details
A Day in the Life
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10/29/07
Happy (almost) Halloween
Filed under: a day in the life...
Posted by: @ 6:20 pm

Well hello all you goblins, demons and fairies! This is your Dame of Details giving you an update from the big house. Just for this holiday let me be your Dame of Destruction - it has such a nice post-apocylyptic ring to it. Genius Girl Monday is here today keeping me company and helping out with autumn cleanup. She took this lovely photo of Margaret caught in her Marilyn Monroe moment.

And here are the girls at their version of a coffee klatch, catching up on the neighborhood gossip and enjoying their cookies!

It’s a little lonesome here without the boys. But they’re having such wonderful adventures on their trip around the world. Check out their blog to get the latest. All I can say is we’re looking forward to the slide show with popcorn and cocktails when they get home!

I hope you all have an excellent All Hallows Eve. I’m looking forward to spending it with my own little miss dame of details who is three and a half and will be dressed as a fairy in head to toe pink glitter and sparkles. Can you get any more fabulous than that?

Until next time…

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08/23/07
Genius Girl Monday made me do it…
Filed under: ronco interruptus
Posted by: @ 6:55 pm

So I was quietly minding my own business and Genius Girl Monday said…”you have to do a blog!” Well here it is…
currently we are getting ready for a giant Garage sale before we leave for our “round the world in 79 days” buget trip (I say budget because if we did the standard trip it would be 80 days like everyone else)
So this is a pic of the Great Room as it currently looks. The Sale will be September 1st and we are getting ride of loads of stuff. The shelves were put together by David all by his lonesome,
no peter the great carpenter to help with this project. Come on by and see all the cool stuff we will have for sale and come the day after for the really good bargains…later, ronco

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08/18/07
Orville
Filed under: girl monday virus
Posted by: @ 5:01 pm

Genius Girl Monday here, and I’ve broken into Dame of Detail’s Blog. This is so Soviet Era espionage!

Last week was Orville’s Ice Cream Social memorial. All the Chatt kids were there: Julie, Beth, Mark, Scott and David. This Blog is for you.

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08/06/07
Orville K. Chatt
Filed under: a day in the life...
Posted by: @ 2:17 pm

David asked me to share this with you all.

Orville Keith Chatt spent his life teaching us that eyes are for more than navigation.

He was born on December 12,1924 in Tekamah, Nebraska. His family owned the stockyards and also farmed. At age 19 he joined the air force. He was stationed in the Philippines during World War II where he was Commander of a B24 bomber. As the war ended, the GI bill and his creative interests led him to Chicago where he pursued his Batchelor of Fine Arts degree at the Chicago Art Institute. It was there that he met Patricia Horner. They were married on January 14, 1951 and soon thereafter moved to Eugene, Oregon where they began a family and fell in love with the Pacific Northwest. In 1956 family ties and opportunity drew them back to the Midwest. They moved to Des Moines, Iowa where Orville taught at North High and earned a Master of Fine Arts from Drake University. He then took a job at Iowa State University and moved the family to Ames, but inclement weather and memories of Eugene made him keep an eye out for an opportunity to return to the Northwest. In 1964 Orville was offered a job as Crafts Coordinator at Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon, Washington. They loaded their six children, a white German Shepard, a parakeet, a gold fish and all of their possessions into an old school bus they named Gigi and headed west.

Orville taught at the College for the next 25 years, eventually becoming Head of the Art Department. He was a regular in the early years of the Anacortes Arts and Crafts Fair. In 1971 he published a book called Design is Where You Find It, in which he juxtaposed his jewelry designs with photos of nature or common objects and encouraged readers to find inspiration in the ordinary. Orville shared his love of art and design with countless students over the years and will be remembered as one who inspired and encouraged his community to appreciate art and to find and create beauty.

He was recently honored with an Award of Excellence for jewelry arts and education by the Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner, WA and was made an honorary lifetime member of Northwest Designer Craftsmen.

Saturday mornings, as often as not, found Orville perusing the ads and mapping out garage sale strategies. The homes of his friends and family are filled with the fruits of these labors.

Orville was also known for his love of animals, especially the countless “used” dogs he rescued and showered with affection.

He spent his last days cracking jokes and teasing his caregivers. Orville died on the morning of July 25, 2007.

He is survived by his children: Beth McGurran, Julie Erickson, Mark, Scott and David Chatt. They and their spouses are grateful for the kindness, patience and humor that he brought to their lives. He is also survived by a brother, Bob Chatt of Tekamah, NE, a sister, Shirley Oleson of Crete, NE, 11 grandchildren, five great grandchildren and many dear friends. He was preceded in death by his wife and youngest son Jay.

The family wishes to thank his friends and especially the students who followed him after his retirement to his studio where they have been part of the Monday/Wednesday group ever since. The family requests no flowers but encourages memorials in his name to Hospice, Museum of Northwest Art, the Humane Society or a charity of your choice.

An Ice Cream Social will be held in his honor Saturday August 11th, 3 to 5pm at the family home at 409 Reed St. in Sedro-Woolley. All friends, colleagues and former students are invited.

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07/23/07
Happy July
Filed under: a day in the life...
Posted by: @ 1:49 pm

Hello readers,
It’s been a very wet few weeks (can you say global warming?) so Miss Genius Girl Monday and I are drinking way too much coffee and hibernating indoors. David returns tomorrow from his misadventures down South. He had a visit with his good friend Mary Schnelly in Kentucky, then went to Tennessee to teach a week at Arrowmont, and finally headed to North Carolina to check in at Penland - whew! While he was gone he had a stunning installation of his new glasswork at a fundraiser for the local Dunn Gardens - check out the picture below taken by our own Genius Girl Monday (she took the others as well). As always, there are many irons in the fire. David and Ron are preparing for their trip around the world in September. David will teach in Australia and New Zealand and lecture at an international bead conference in Istanbul. There will be lots of other stops along the way in Europe, India and Africa. David has promised to bring home lovely presents to make up for my desperate lonliness. I hope all of you are enjoying your summers and maybe getting a little more sunshine than us at the moment. Genius Girl Monday sends her regards. Until next time… your Dame of Details

2 comments
06/11/07
Well, it’s about time!
Filed under: a day in the life...
Posted by: @ 11:46 am

Hello faithful readers. I’m hanging my head in shame at the tardiness of my post. I feel a little like I’m back in fifth grade and the dog ate my homework, except I can’t blame my corgi for this one. I’m having a wonderful time here at David’s though - it’s too much fun to call it work. There are always many interesting things afoot at the Chatt/Cole abode. Since I last wrote, there have been several fabulous luncheons (I am always very well fed here), a studio opening for our Genius Girl Monday (aka Lynda Sherman, one of the most talented women I have ever had the luck to know), a lovely Memorial Day picnic, and a trip around the world to plan. I hope you enjoy the photos. The glass is a glimpse of the future of David’s artwork (or at least a new avenue), and the other features his ode to the wardrobe malfuntion of a superstar. More on that later. I swear on my favorite lipstick that I will post again before the month is out. Until then…

yours truly,
Dame of Details

1 comment
04/18/07
Welcome faithful Readers
Filed under: a day in the life...
Posted by: @ 4:00 pm

Hello patient bloggers. I’m finally posting my first entry - yippee! It’s been a flurry of activity since the last posting from that lovely Genius Girl Monday and David has been extremely busy with various projects. He’s finishing up an amazing necklace that will go to the Mobilia Gallery to be part of SOFA New York, opening May 30th. Today he brought us a wonderful lunch from Red Mill (the best hamburgers you’ll have in your whole life, not to mention the chocolate milkshakes), and we were joined by Genius Girl Monday and Maureen who has just started working as Ron’s assistant. Maybe we should refer to Maureen as the Dame of Numbers since she’ll be in charge of them. Enjoy the photos and I promise to post more before spring leaves us, maybe even before April does. Blog on…



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