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The Tip is 'Keep eyes open' After reading an article about items made in America I thought about how many times I make purchases without thinking. I'm usually focused on budget and needs. Prior to reading this article on made in the USA products, I rarely thought about the importance of buying made in USA products. This helps create jobs in our country. Now I keep my eyes open and I am surprised how easy it is to find American products. It only takes a few seconds to look. Now I make a point when I am shopping to search for made in America brands. By doing so, I'm able to identify more and more what products are made in America. Even with my eyes open to made in USA I can get discouraged. Sometimes store clerks don't know the country of origin which can be frustrating. If this happens use your eyes to find the origin information yourself. Look at the labels and when you find a Made in USA product tell the clerk so the next time they are asked they will know. Also, when the label is not easily seen I use the other made in America buying tips to help me find made in USA. If the store doesn't carry what you are looking for, use Made in America Secrets to find it and tell the manager about your experience at their store. When enough people are asking for made in the USA products, more stores will begin to carry products that are made here. This technique does work. I also pick and choose the stores I visit. I do this because I have found that some stores are made in America friendly while others are not. Keep your eyes open for the made in USA label and pretty soon you will be able to identify which products are made in the USA. Buying Tip Continued - Read more on Made in America Products by Grainger McKoy Wood has been an integral part of my evolution from childhood into adulthood and from craftsman into sculptor. As a young child, I marveled at my father notching cypress logs as the cabin in which I grew up in the early 1950's took shape. Growing up with those interior logs, combined with the mystery of an old decoy my grandmother had given me from her attic, pressed something deep in me. I remember well my mother holding me up by my belt and her encouraging words as she allowed me to saw an extended exterior log from that cabin for my first bird. That is when I first peered over the edge of the nest into the world of sculpture. Carving a few birds and decoys as a teenager and working as a carpenter's helper not only strengthened my allegiance to wood, but also revealed a love of working with my hands. This love has only deepened with time. Leaving home to study architecture at Clemson University turned eventually into a BS degree in biology, which was, as I look back on it, a continuation of what was quickened in me as I grew up next to those cypress logs and a decoy. For the quarter century since then, the pursuit of the flight of birds in wood has been a passion of mine. The sculptor in me began to emerge as I worked under the wing of Gilbert Maggioni of Beaufort, South Carolina, for two years in the early 1970's. He challenged me like no one before or since. Gilbert inoculated me against mediocrity while at the same time encouraging innovation and preaching there is no substitute for hard work. Although I had long since left the nest, I was still precariously perched on an outer limb, not knowing where to fly. Gilbert kicked me from that position to soar toward a vision on the horizon his eyes had seen, but mine were not accustomed to. The first flight was the point in my life when inertia was overcome, and I began that slow, arduous process which continues to this day of becoming a sculptor. First Bird, 1960 Cypress With my path lit with the torch of Maggioni's enthusiasm, encouragement and work ethic, I continued to push wood and my subject matter to their limit. I believe that over the years I have been able to make wood fly, yet all along I knew there was more to be discovered and tested. Recently, the possibilities and boundaries of wood have been extended again as if a whole new territory has been opened for discovery and development. A peephole was given me into this new territory when I had a mold made from a wooden feather into which bronze and later sterling was poured. That feather triggered more feathers, then eventually a whole bird in bronze. This is not an abandonment of wood, rather using it directly to bring these birds out from behind their glass cases while retaining the detail and lightness wood has allowed me over the years. Having flown from Gilbert's vortex early in my creative experience, and then spending the next 25 years pressed to the grindstone of making a living with my hands, I'm prepared to continue to rise to the challenges that wood and metal offer. My vision is to make these materials fly as they have never flown before. Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see vision. ? Joel 2:28 |
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