The modern wood gate #207 is a study in illusory planes. As a teenager, Charles first discovered the illustrations of MC Escher within the shelves of his mother’s reference library. Also an illustrator, she maintained a large inventory of those whose work she found either inspiring or technically beneficial to her own work. But to Charles, Escher represented a trend in geometric lines and intersecting planes he would identify with for the rest of his life.

The back, or property side of the modern wooden gates #207, photographed prior to the finish.

With the modern wooden gates 207-1 we’ve eliminated the two vertical mid-stiles and manipulated the arrangement of the light and dark tones of cedar for something closer to an Escher gate design.

To enhance and maintain the lighter and darker tones, the gate has been finished with two sprayed coats of WoodRX ‘Natural, with a lifeline of 7-8- years.
Without the finish and everything would ultimately weather to the same silvery gray.

Identical on both sides.

In-Progress

The pattern for the postmodern gate #207 must be joined and assembled in a specific sequence.

By the time the final assembly arrives, the multitude of joints comprising the inner layouts have been reduced to a single entity. Joining and clamping the the outer stiles and rails shown below for the first fully assembled look at the modern wooden gates #207.

By Ben and Charles Prowell
Featuring gate #207, among others.
Fine Home building April 2016
Click Here for the PDF download
Click Here to view the full Gallery of published Articles and Features.

Rummaging through old photos and discovering something worth noting. In his third year at Southern Illinois University, Charles shared a dank, swampy basement with five others. Desperate for a private studio, a niche was claimed within the boilerroom. Pinned to the brick is a miscellany of sketches as well as a mural that might be more of a testament to the culture of 1970 than anything of artistic merit.

But it’s the painting in the upper left that catches our eye. Having given up on the staid parameters of architecture that winter for the surreal and mind-expanding Art Department, he repeatedly produced paintings of geometrical influence. The same interlocking vectors that show up in works like the Escher gate design #207, 45 years later. What makes it more interesting is the paintings were his rendition of live nude model classes. Until eventually his professor kindly suggested that he head over to the Design Department, foregoing the nudes for the direct rebuttals of Professor Buckminster Fuller’s brand of art.