Brian Andreas
Brian Andreas (born 1956 in Iowa City, Iowa) is an American writer, painter, sculptor and publisher. Most notable of his works are the StoryPeople objects he makes using salvaged wood from old rural homesteads. These mixed-media works include a short story that focuses on a moment or a memory, and the deliberately crude folk-art-like shapes display bright yet soothing colors and shadowy amorphous faces to go along with the simple, declarative language of the prose.
Andreas' artistic explorations eventually led to a wide-ranging array of works, from the publication of nine books, to the production of handcrafted furniture and home accent pieces. In 1994, the diversity of his interests produced the foundation of his StoryPeople company.
StoryPeople:
With his wife's words and two young sons as motivation, Andreas went out into his backyard and pulled a weathered board from the fence and began to play with the boards and place little stories and some color onto them. Soon, shaped as 'people,' others became interested in purchasing them. Of the results of the fence-board experiments, it was eventually written that "he discovered the StoryPeople waiting to be carved out of rough barn board, painted in bright colors, and hand-stamped with their individual stories."
Of his work, Andreas says, "I like art that admits to being a part of life. The moments I have with my friends and family are really all that I need. I like to take them and weave them into stories that are filled with laughter and music and lunacy. And they are mostly true, but I'm not telling which parts. . ."
“If you hold on to the handle, she said, it's easier to maintain the illusion of control. But it's more fun if you just let the wind carry you.”
“She said she usually cried at least once each day not because she was sad, but because the world was so beautiful & life was so short.”
“I saw them standing there pretending to be just friends, when all the time in the world could not pry them apart. ”
“In the end, I think that I will like that we were sitting on the bed, talking & wondering where the time had gone.”
“They came to sit & dangle their feet off the edge of the world & after awhile they forgot everything but the good & true things they would do someday. ”
“You're the strangest person I ever met, she said & I said you too & we decided we'd know each other a long time.”
“My grandma used to plant tomato seedlings in tin cans from tomato sauce & puree & crushed tomatoes she got from the Italian restaurant by her house, but she always soaked the labels off first. I don't want them to be anxious about the future, she said. It's not healthy. ”
“We lay there and looked up at the night sky and she told me about stars called blue squares and red swirls and I told her I'd never heard of them. Of course not, she said, the really important stuff they never tell you. You have to imagine it on your own.”
“Waiting for the pen to dry up so he can start fresh with thoughts that are worth new ink.”
“I didn't listen to her because she was my mother & wouldn't know anything until I was much older.”
“finally has figured out there aren't enough quiet little British films around to protect her from the real world ”
“I wish you could have been there for the sun & the rain & the long, hard hills. For the sound of a thousand conversations scattered along the road. For the people laughing & crying & remembering at the end. But, mainly, I wish you could have been there.”
“Hoping something will happen soon, so she can sit down & watch it with a fresh bowl of popcorn.”
“Anyone can slay a dragon ...but try waking up every morning and loving the world all over again. That's what takes a real hero.”
“Remember to use positive affirmations. I am not a dork is not one of them.”
“I have a renewed commitment to elegance, she said, in case you think I'm just spending money for the fun of it. ”
“if there is any secret to this life i live, this is it: the sound of what cannot be seen sings within everything that can. and there is nothing more to it than that.”
“For a long time she flew, only when she thought no one else was watching.”
“The clock is a conspiracy & a crime against humanityand I would not own oneexcept I miss appointments without it.”
“When I first discovered the moon, he said, I gave it a different name. But everyone kept calling it the moon. The real name never caught on.”
“Every day he stood in front of the Bank of America. You're trapped in the belly of a big pink pig, he said. We ignored him. We had work to do.”
“There are your fog people & your sun people, he said. I said I wasn't sure which kind I was. He nodded. Fog'll do that to you, he said.”
“Don't you hear it? She asked & I shook my head no & then she started to dance & suddenly there was music everywhere & it went on for a very long time & when I finally found words all I could say was thank you. ”
“I spent a long time trying to find my center until I looked closely at it one night & found it had wheels and moved easily in the slightest breeze. So now I spend less time sitting and more time sailing. ”
“I used to believe my father about everything but then I had children myself & now I see how much stuff you make up just to keep yourself from going crazy.”
“Time stands still best in moments that look suspiciously like ordinary life.”