Renaissance Man

Yesterday Steve and I drove to Ojai to visit a young man we haven't seen since he went off to college 30 years ago.

We parked beneath a giant oak tree and entered a property alive with creativity.

Scott began taking pottery classes when he was an engineering student at the University of California San Diego.

He worked as a mechanical engineer for 7 years, but this Renaissance Man needed to be working with his hands.

For the last 20 years Scott has been honing his craft.

Seven years ago Scott moved to Ojai, California and bought a piece of property 

that is a work in process.

An old barn sits at the back of the property

and I hope he never touches this chippy goodness.

I am curious what plans he has for the outhouse.

The potter's wheel is in the main house, but there is so much more going on outside.

This is the wall of one of the work spaces - the vines that appear decorative are actually hops he grows for making beer.

Two different varieties of his three world class home brews were tasted.

I remember Scott as a teenager interested in space camp and surfing so I was totally surprised to get a glimpse of Scott's varied interests.

He recently finished building this kiln using his engineering skills.

He is refurbishing a guest house on the property by himself,

but it's taking a lot of time

because Scott is making every single tile for the kitchen himself.

He made this beautiful hollow, wooden stand up paddle board in the style of Tom Blake.

He raises chickens and grows veggies -

of course I love the color palette of his crops.

The gardener in me fell in love with his flowers -

 how about these sunflowers!

Before we left, we strolled through this building to pick something out and I was torn between white or colors.

We settled on this beautiful two toned jug.

It was so fun to reconnect with someone who was just 18 years old when we last chatted.

And, we hope he invites us back for homemade pizza from the outdoor pizza oven he built.

 You can check out Scott Chatenever's work at Village Potter.