Doug Ayers vases | ||
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Posted 10 years ago
NLF6114
(5 items)
These are all signed D Ayers. Some with the wood type some with the date. Some with all of the above. I cannot find any information online about Doug Ayers. Just his pieces. I've contacted galleries that have sold his pieces and Wood carvers associations etc and everyone seems to be at a loss. Can you help? They are beautiful!
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BEAUTIFUL!!!
Great Stuff! Those are really cool. They look to me to be different kinds of woods? I am not sure though.
A very beautiful and special group. Clearly a very accomplished wood artist.
Hi NLF6114,
Doug Ayers was a sculptor based in Mendocino, CA. He experimented with various media before settling on fine woods. He also had an art gallery in town. He died in 1986, I believe.
I've been fascinated by his work since stupidly passing on a vase at a flea market a little while back, and I think it's criminal that there's so little information available online (or elsewhere )about his life.
I have some contacts who might be able to help flesh out a bio for you. Drop me a line at andrew dot romano at gmail if you're interested in discussing further.
I'm a journalist as well as a fan of California modernist design, so this kind of research is right up my alley.
Thanks!
Andrew
Hello!
My husband grew up with a weekend house on the bluff of Little River Beach in Mendocino. His father was an architect who was great friends with Doug Ayers. We have many of his sculptures & vases ... most of which were acquired in trade. James Bell (father in law) designed Doug's house in the redwoods and they swapped their 'artwork'. There are very few photos of Doug & his home online, but there is one of one of his sculptures in a large picture window looking out to the trees. That is in the house that James Bell designed.
I can't add much more than Andrew synopsis above, but I can add a sad, final story. Doug had a severe peanut allergy. He was on a first date and the woman cooked their dinner using peanut oil. Doug didn't survive.
I wish there was more about him online as well!
If you are ever interested in selling any of your beautiful weed pots, we still collect.
Thanks, and take care!
Vanessa
My father, Robert McKeown, a woodworker, was friends with both James Bell and Doug Ayers. I remember visiting the Bell's house and playing with James's children. My sister and I were about the same age as them. If my memory is correct, a boy and girl? They took us down to the beach, while our parents talked, and we played there until the tide started to come in. I hope the Bell's beach house is still in the family - it was so wonderful too! It was a really foggy day. When I was in high school, my father, mother, and I went to an open house at Doug's and I remember the large round carving in the window up the stairs. The house was so beautiful, even the bathrooms were well designed. I didn't know that James Bell designed it. Whoever owns it now is so lucky. Recently I had one of Doug's large sculptures restored - it fell in the '89 earthquake, broke in half where it was open carved. I refused to get rid of it. Moved the pieces from house to house, until I finally met a woodworker who I trusted to restore it. I can't wait to tell my sister what I've learned. That's so sad how Doug passed - he truly was a master craftsman. Thank you, Vanessa for filling in many details that I wondered about for so many years. Best - Kely