Au-Ra 2024

Greetings!

It is our pleasure to inform you that Nemo Gould will be a featured presenter for our 2025 Fall Gathering.

Art is a process of discovery through materials. For Nemo Gould, this discovery is not found on a blank canvas or within a block of marble, but from a hoard of junk. It starts with a hunt of conservation, sifting through trash, prowling flea markets, and appraising the offerings from well-intentioned enablers of his “high functioning madness.” At this stage there is no clear vision, just the itch of potential in objects deemed useless by society—the more hopeless the case the better.



Deep Rift 2021

Nemo collects by a guiding principle: “If you can’t find it, you don’t own it.” This means that the self-titled “Chairman of the Hoard” must be a strict librarian, keeping his Oakland studio’s collection of potential from falling into a hovel of forgotten parts. Crucial to this curation is separating an object from its original purpose. Instrument parts no longer exist to make music, they are knobs, wire, and bits of wood dispersed accordingly. It is through this decontextualized organization that the transformation process begins.

The Grind 2021

Megalodon 2016

Born to artist parents in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Nemo was destined for a creative life. Early explorations in animation show that there was always an interest in kinetic art.

The real art of Nemo’s work is in matchmaking. Items filed away in his refuse refuge eventually make their way to his workbench, where they may find a permanent home together in a work of art. These relationships are made with one well trained eye for aesthetics, and one carefully preserved eye for child-like whimsy. In his own words, Nemo "[takes] silly very seriously.”

The Protagonist 2016

Selfie Stick 2022

The headstock of a violin gets stop-motion arms and clock gear guts; the barrel of a rifle is replaced with a trumpet horn with its business end pointed back at the operator; an antique film rewinder with a saw handle joins with six ball-peen hammers to make a rotary hammer of dubious utility.

These are Frankenstein’s monsters of forgotten items given life through interactive mechanisms and anthropomorphized forms, a small act of rebellion against our disposable world.

Roto Hammer 2020

Viewmaster 2017

Drill Baby Drill 2010

The Travelers 2024

Check out Nemo's Instagram and website for more of his incredible work, especially video of his automata in action. He has also been featured in a couple of great YouTube videos by Tested on a past show and his shop.

The Plumier Fall Gathering will be held October 17-19 in Saltsburg, PA.

The program will begin Friday morning at 9 and conclude Sunday at noon.

Tickets for the weekend are $650. Plus-one tickets are $150. This will include lunch and dinner on Friday and Saturday.

To register, please email jackie@plumier.org.

Space is extremely limited, so if you are interested, register ASAP. 

For accommodations, we will have a limited block of discounted rooms from October 16-21 at the Hampton Inn and Suites Blairsville, which is about 20 minutes from the shop. These rooms must be booked by September 20th, but they probably won’t last that long. Use this link to book online or call and ask for the Plumier Foundation block at (724) 459-5920.

If you are interested in helping to sponsor a young craftsperson to attend, please consider contributing to our scholarship fund. Our Fall Gathering is a unique opportunity for both education and networking with established professionals that could greatly benefit a determined and eager artist early in their career. We can see the fruits of these connections made at our past events being cultivated within our community. This is a central mission of the Plumier Foundation, and we greatly appreciate any direct support to this end. 

Sincerely,

David Lindow

Support Ornamental Turning, Support Plumier. You can donate through the Join Us! page on our website, Donate Here.

We have also set up a Go Fund Me page which accepts donations of any size with more flexibility. It can be found here, Donate Through Go Fund Me.

A check sent to the address below is also a welcomed form of donation.