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Johnnie Meier | Curator, Restorer & Historian | Embudo, NM
My education in art, passion and perspective….It truly is about perspective, and maybe a little laziness and ignorance. I watch American Pickers on occasion, and absolutely love it, though more for the people than the picking. I just have a curiosity as to why a person would collect acres of anything, and while the show didn’t really answer this, I had the good fortune to find out first hand. I was driving between Santa Fe and Taos, and noticed a large collection of old gas pumps and drove by. About a mile down the road, it struck me that I’m not going anywhere, and the purpose for my trip is to discover passion and why people do what they do. I turned around and headed back.
As I walked through rows of old gas station equipment, bikes, signs and everything else you can imagine, I looked briefly and moved on to the next item. This went on for about 15 minutes, and while the size of the collection was impressive, I seemed to be missing something…..And then I met Johnnie. After a quick introduction, I was taken to the gallery, where there was much of the same, but fully restored to beautiful condition. Johnnie began to point out the details in design, and spoke of color palettes, lines and how there was a time when design was the most important element. As he spoke, I began to see, and everything changed. There was magnificent beauty in everything, and it struck me that what I was looking at, was an amazing art collection.
The wonderful thing about what Johnnie does, is he is not only the curator and historian of the work, he actually gets to work on the pieces. Through the hands on restoration, he is able to spend time with each individual component, and truly see the beauty in the details. To remove a functional handle from a pump, and see that individually, it stands on its own. This work is made of all these wonderful individual pieces. The beauty of Johnnie, is that he saw what so few do, and is taking the time to share it with the world.
In a day when production costs and function dictate design in most industries, it’s truly wonderful to see and appreciate what was once possible. Thankfully, we have Johnnie Meier’s in this world, who don’t just look, but see. People whose passion is to help the rest of us lookers learn to see and appreciate.
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