BOOKS
FURNITECTURE
PROCESS BOOK
/ 2023
NICE MOVES
PROCESS BOOK
/ 2022
THE FADE
ART CATALOG
/ 2022
/ OMAHA, NE
"In surfing there is a move called “the fade”. It is considered by most surfers to be the iconic power move that demonstrates significant skill and experience to artfully execute. It requires the confidence of a Kahuna, the timing of a Ninja, and the deep Waterman instincts honed by years and years of lung bursting wipeouts on waves of significance. Watching a surfer “fade” after takeoff, essentially means you are watching a surfer go in what you think is the wrong direction. Where the average surfer would’ve taken off and predictably, safely gone right the fading Kahuna instead does the opposite. He (or she) goes left towards the pit of the breaking wave, the churning white water no man’s land that the average surfer is doing his best to avoid. The Kahuna tempts fate…intentionally. The fading surfer has now put themselves in a dangerous position, and calmly, almost nonchalantly they wait to the point of apparent procrastination. They’re drifting left. When are they going to turn you ask yourself? Why are they fading so far back in the wrong direction and seemingly so committed to possible annihilation? Why wait to the last millionth of a second to make the most critical carving bottom turn known in surfing? That turn and its apparent perfect timing is the best indication you’ll ever have that you are watching someone who knows what they’re doing. They’ve waited to make that turn and when they do it’s a revelation. Behold the neck snapping swift sudden change in direction and a sling shot burst of speed across the face of the wave…in the right direction."
- Robin Donaldson. "Re: Midwestern Bloc." Received by Thomas Prinz, 8 May 2022.
/ OMAHA, NE
"In surfing there is a move called “the fade”. It is considered by most surfers to be the iconic power move that demonstrates significant skill and experience to artfully execute. It requires the confidence of a Kahuna, the timing of a Ninja, and the deep Waterman instincts honed by years and years of lung bursting wipeouts on waves of significance. Watching a surfer “fade” after takeoff, essentially means you are watching a surfer go in what you think is the wrong direction. Where the average surfer would’ve taken off and predictably, safely gone right the fading Kahuna instead does the opposite. He (or she) goes left towards the pit of the breaking wave, the churning white water no man’s land that the average surfer is doing his best to avoid. The Kahuna tempts fate…intentionally. The fading surfer has now put themselves in a dangerous position, and calmly, almost nonchalantly they wait to the point of apparent procrastination. They’re drifting left. When are they going to turn you ask yourself? Why are they fading so far back in the wrong direction and seemingly so committed to possible annihilation? Why wait to the last millionth of a second to make the most critical carving bottom turn known in surfing? That turn and its apparent perfect timing is the best indication you’ll ever have that you are watching someone who knows what they’re doing. They’ve waited to make that turn and when they do it’s a revelation. Behold the neck snapping swift sudden change in direction and a sling shot burst of speed across the face of the wave…in the right direction."
- Robin Donaldson. "Re: Midwestern Bloc." Received by Thomas Prinz, 8 May 2022.
SHINY SIDE UP
ART PUBLICATIONS
/ 2021
/ Santa Barbara
"He enters an anteroom filled with steam and makes his way to the cardinal, whose attendants hold a muslin shroud in front of him as he disrobes—we see him only as a shadow. Guido tells the cardinal that he’s unhappy, and the cardinal responds, simply, unforgettably: “Why should you be happy? That is not your task. Who told you that we come into the world in order to be happy?” Every shot in this scene, every piece of staging and choreography between camera and actors, is extraordinarily complex. I cannot imagine how difficult it all was to execute. Onscreen, it unfolds so gracefully that it looks like the easiest thing in the world. For me, the audience with the cardinal embodies a remarkable truth about 8½: Fellini made a film about film that could only exist as a film and nothing else—not a piece of music, not a novel, not a poem, not a dance, only as a work of cinema."
- Martin Scorsese, "Il Maestro: Frederico Fellini and the lost magic of cinema", Harper's Magazine, March 2021.
/ Santa Barbara
"He enters an anteroom filled with steam and makes his way to the cardinal, whose attendants hold a muslin shroud in front of him as he disrobes—we see him only as a shadow. Guido tells the cardinal that he’s unhappy, and the cardinal responds, simply, unforgettably: “Why should you be happy? That is not your task. Who told you that we come into the world in order to be happy?” Every shot in this scene, every piece of staging and choreography between camera and actors, is extraordinarily complex. I cannot imagine how difficult it all was to execute. Onscreen, it unfolds so gracefully that it looks like the easiest thing in the world. For me, the audience with the cardinal embodies a remarkable truth about 8½: Fellini made a film about film that could only exist as a film and nothing else—not a piece of music, not a novel, not a poem, not a dance, only as a work of cinema."
- Martin Scorsese, "Il Maestro: Frederico Fellini and the lost magic of cinema", Harper's Magazine, March 2021.
OBJECTS
PROCESS BOOK
Objects is an exploraton in 1:1 form-making and collage in aluminum. More specifically, this the catalog presents moments and findings from our process. What developed was a nonchalant approach toward material composition at the intersection of a fabricators processes and our internal methodology.
FORMS
PROCESS BOOK
/ 2020
NOTATION
PROCESS BOOK
/ 2020
BETWEEN NONCHALANT& RELAXED
ART CATALOG
The crowd roars louder, with even higher expectations for instant gratification, however, your pulse is still calm, your focus never clearer as if you have done it before, three seconds away…almost a minute for the next second to pass, the collective roar of noise deafens the atmosphere, one more second and this whole time you are in a space BETWEEN NONCHALANT AND RELAXED...
SITELINES
PROCESS BOOK
/ 2019
A SURFER’S TIME
ART CATALOG
There is a saying that only time will tell...for a few, it should say only time will tell except for the moments they tell time.Robin Donaldson is an architect and artist who gives himself the time as only Maple St. Construct presents time...a timeless wave of slow reflection and of course, making stuff.
MASKING
ART CATALOG
/ 2018
MASKING is an exhibit of drawings representing a year-long conversation between Robin Donaldson, AIA and Mike Nesbit about the role of drawing within contemporary Art and Architecture. Working with drawing as a creative technique to distill new relationships from the architectural process for the purpose of art, this exhibit presents architectural drawing combined with the artistic idiosyncrasies of two individuals and the Master Printers with whom they worked.
MASKING is an exhibit of drawings representing a year-long conversation between Robin Donaldson, AIA and Mike Nesbit about the role of drawing within contemporary Art and Architecture. Working with drawing as a creative technique to distill new relationships from the architectural process for the purpose of art, this exhibit presents architectural drawing combined with the artistic idiosyncrasies of two individuals and the Master Printers with whom they worked.
ENDLESS SUMMER BEACH HOUSE
PROJECT BOOK
/2022
HILL HOUSE
PROJECT BOOK
/ 2019
EAST MOUNTAIN ROAD
PROJECT BOOK
/ 2019