Философ и гончар Кнокс Гилспай делится историей жизни и опытом оценки коллекций с помощью ИИ

Redwood Valley resident philosopher, radio show host, musician, potter and artist Knox Gillespie was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he “lived in the woods with the crayfish, the daffodils and the blueberry bushes.” His mother’s divorce led to a major life change: a move to New York City with his mother and brother. “I went from 1960 country life to raw city.” Back then, there were still old men making handmade cigars and six stories of dress shops on East End Avenue. “I remember a man in an oriental carpet repair shop, with his little tray full of threads and ink. I enjoyed seeing what he was doing. They were a repair shop for very high-end, super-famous oriental rugs. Following my brother’s death, I was cleaning out real carpets from the 1880’s. Unfortunately, the bugs got to them. But I was thinking like a scrivener, looking at doing something with the parts that might be good.” His father’s family store was pure Deco. “Ther was fabric, men’s and women’s wear, a big, circular machine that turned and dispensed Coca-Cola.” He attended boarding school and lived in New York for 6 years. His life in New York was mixed- living with an alcoholic mother. “I was flatlining for a time. At the end of high school, I attended Boston University. I got pretty tossed around in a car accident. I could have died. What was astonishing was my family’s lack of response. It triggered a psychological reaction.” That reaction was one of among several that led Gillespie to take the road less traveled. “I had to get out of the funk from being born into a family that didn’t respond. My mom paid lip service to the past. My dad was a gambler and a playboy. Alcohol always ends with the same story. I learned I was a scapegoat and realized through Al Anon that my parents were doing their best, and that freed me.” He was fortunate to be born in a time when others were conducting the same types of searches. He investigated many spiritual and philosophical practices over many years- the philosophy of George Gurdjieff, whose epithet of “Don’t become a mechanical person” resonated with him. He read the Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramhansa Yogananda. “It made me ask myself, ‘Knox- Why are you using your sassy verbal skills to make people sad? Do you think that’s a good thing?’ I remember being in Grand Central Station after verbally whipping one of my uncles into shape, and realizing that taking those skills and whacking people with them was not right.” He read the Bhagavad Gita. “I realized that spirituality can be learned. The Yoga sutras teach that union is achieved through restricting the mind chatter. Then, your own true nature emerges. ‘Oh, I thought. That’s about arresting my attention.’” The study and practice of palmistry became a lifetime pursuit. “I started out using a palmistry book as an inner voyage. I thought, ‘Here’s something that sits both on the outside and the inside.’ All palmistry shows is a psychic vector for humanity’s evolution- the ability to use reason. Palmistry has been a great avenue toward understanding myself, other people, psychology, and a range of emotions.” Like many young men of the time, he knew he had to leave home- physically and psychologically. He and a friend headed west- of course, to California. He ended up at “The Crab Cooker,” working as a fish butcher man In Newport Beach. He resettled in Laguna Beach. “I found a $50 room. A third of this room was on the ocean, right next to Betty Davis’s former house. I got a job at Stottlemyer’s Sandwich Shop. They named their sandwiches. A Bagel with tongue and horseradish was called a “Don Rickels,” he smiles. Gillespie had been drawn to pottery, and prior to his becoming a potter in earnest, he had made one, single pot- which he still has today. Laguna Beach was and is famous for their annual, still-legendary Sawdust Festival. Alan Davis was a well-known potter who was also an instructor who taught at the Laguna Beach School of Art. “I was at a craft show, and I asked Alan if he needed an apprentice. He needed someone to work at Sawdust. I initially got a sales job, and because of my mouth, we were packing in the money and clearing our booth.” Then he started making pottery in earnest. “I was throwing, glazing. It was so much fun. Alan challenged me to make 50 cups by the end of summer. Three years later, it was time for my own studio. At Sawdust, I got 10% of everything I sold, and 50% of the cost of my mugs- which translates to $1,200 at the end of every weekend- a lot of money back then. I received a studio full of clay and kilns. There I was, making rainbow cups, unicorn cups. Then, I realized I was getting cobalt carbonate all over my skin. ‘I’d better quit,’ I thought. I moved into raku. From there, I began experimenting with marbelization. I took white glaze, floated it on top of a dark glaze, and created a marble pattern. I had a jar with a swirled top. I figured out if I put a pattern in a bucket and rolled the lid across it, it would marbleize. That started my swirl technique. I did that until I left Laguna.” Gillespie guesses that he threw and sold at least 10,000 rainbow cups. “I did those for four solid years.” It was 1992. “Laguna was getting out of control. I would make $25,000 at Sawdust and be out of money by the end of the year.” He got into a bus with a friend and headed north. “Santa Rosa? Didn’t like it. Hopland?? Ooh, I could exist here. Ukiah? It had all the things I needed.” He set up a studio in the Carousel Industrial Park, but it didn’t work out. “I didn’t have the right team or the right mindset.” In 2000, Gillespie’s life took a tragic turn. “My wife got very ill. She became a paranoid schizophrenic. It was eight years of a downward spiral. She left the property and never returned. I’ve been trying to find her for years, and haven’t had any luck.” Lake County residents or listeners of KPFZ might recognize Gillespie, who has a Word Weavers Radio Show on the first Saturday of the month at 4:00. “I loved the auditory learning, enhancing audio files and compressing them.” The show goes wherever Gillespie’s brain takes him- from Beat Poets to Palmistry to Voting to the Seven Intelligences. “Wisdom. Why isn’t wisdom a verb?” he laughs. “Words and language are the big connector- the Big Kahuna. You can’t use your imagination unless you have spatial knowledge to go beyond. We’re in the doghouse right now, and self-knowledge and language skills are horrible. Vocabulary is evaporating like water on a hot day.” Following his wife’s departure, Gillespie took up music. Music was always a solace and a source of inspiration. “I was more of a Beatles guy than a Stones guy, and I loved Motown and all the good stuff from the ‘60’s. First I started learning the piano and drums, then guitar. I made up songs and learned to record. The making up music is a spiritual exercise that includes my deep feelings. Then painting came next. I go out in my shed, and I create a painting a day. It makes me feel accomplished. It’s about pushing the envelope. My best addiction is learning, and art is hard. Colors are hard- learning to mix and match harmonious colors.” Along with painting, Gillespie has continued making his beautiful pottery. When his brother Richard passed away, Gillespie had an opportunity to revisit his childhood again through the inheritance of his family’s art collection- from exquisite pre-war European travel posters to Civil War-era paintings and ephemera. A shared interest in collecting, art, and ideas led to a friendship between Gillespie and Jayed Scotti. Scotti was a decades-long student of Adele Pruitt, celebrated Mendocino County painter, art restorer and framer, who passed away several years ago. Scotti, who provided antique frame restoration and some art restoration for Pruitt has been an avid collector since boyhood- everything from Pre-Colombian statuary to Victorian plates- from Asian scrolls to botanical prints and portraiture. “I asked Jayed if he would be interested in helping with an informal ‘Appraiser’s Art Show’ to benefit the Redwood Valley Grange,” says Gillespie. The event, taking place on Saturday, September 26, will feature a vintage painting and jewelry show, along with an opportunity to have a single personal object evaluated by Scotti. The cost to participants will be $10. “I’m in no way a professional appraiser,” notes Scotti, “but I’ve had about 50 years’ experience studying, learning about and evaluating objects from many periods and many places.” Scotti will create a basic report for participants- noting the object’s condition, approximate age and origin, recommendations on preservation and a “very” ballpark value. His assessment will be cross-checked using AI, which Scotti has used extensively to assist him in evaluating his own collectibles. “For me, using Artificial Intelligence is like using a good dictionary- but one that can search dozens of sources in seconds. I have found that it helps enhance my understanding of my personal collection, and in this case, will assist with confirmation of things like maker’s marks, signatures and dating. My hope is this event will provide a basic blueprint for people who have something in their house they’d like to learn more about- and how to do so.” Attendees may bring one object for an informal evaluation. Evaluations will be offered first-come, first-served as time permits; participation cannot be guaranteed. These are informal assessments, not certified appraisals or authentications. The event takes place from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The Redwood Valley Grange is located at 8000 East Road. For more information, email [email protected].