Noted furniture-maker and sculptor, Paul Reiber, a long-time resident of Caspar, will deliver an illustrated talk titled, "Chisels, Chairs, and Household Deities". The event will take place at the Caspar Community Center on Sunday, July 17, at 8:00 PM.
The evening is one of a series hosted by the Caspar Community called "Meet Your Neighbor", designed to showcase locals with different interests and talents.
Reiber was born in Washington, DC, and attended Boston University where he studied Greek and comparative mythology. His interests eventually took him to a Unitarian Seminary in Berkeley where he studied and carved totems under the guidance of a Jesuit priest. His enthusiasm for woodcarving grew from this and led Reiber to a career of building custom furniture and sculpting, always returning to the icons of mythology for inspiration.
"Preparing this talk has been an adventure for me," said Reiber recently. "It's the first time I've ever assembled a series of slides that reflects the whole chronological journey of my career." He will be discussing his interest in working with the imagery of myth and spirituality "at a domestic, household scale".
Reiber's work has been seen in numerous local galleries, at the Mendocino Art Center, the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco, and the California Contemporary Crafts Association, to name just a few.
The evening will be a benefit for the Caspar Community, on which Reiber serves as a board member. He recently took over the presidency of the organization for the coming year.
Caspar Community Center manager Dalen Anderson is planning to have desserts, coffee, and tea available for purchase. Price of admission will be five dollars. For more information you can call the Community Center at 964-4997.