Dechambeau Hotel and I.O.O.F. Hall 2003

Replica od the Dechambeau Hotel and I.O.O.F. building. High fire ceramic, redwood, metal, glass. 26" x 20" x 6". 2003

Bodie, California. Constructed 1879

Artists that work in any medium could find an abundance of inspiration in this quintessential ghost town. For me, recreating the Dechambeau hotel and Oddfellow’s building in Bodie was my way of preserving the history of this wonderful place, and the beauty of it’s weathered wood and pitted brick façade. It is also very interesting to see the gradual test of time on the surfaces through the countless photos taken over the years. Being only my second piece, this was my first attempt with ceramics. I took a class at the local community college to get a feel for the medium, and soon began developing my own hand building techniques. Extremely tight- grained redwood with very small knots was used to construct the IOOF building. Although I have to process a lot of wood to find the quality of scale that I need, I have still not found such a perfect piece as is used in this replica.

Wikipedia has a excellent synopsis of Bodie, and definitely check out the following links. It is truly a magnificent place. If you are ever in the Nevada/California border region, Bodie is a must see.

I.O.O.F. Hall - Photographed in 1981 by Paul Charron

Additional Information

• History and images
• Dechambeau Hotel and I.O.O.F. Building
• Official Bodie State Park site
• Facebook page
• California’s Eastern Sierra
• Preservation and the Bodie Foundation
• 10 minute documentary about Bodie from the 1950s
• Western Mining History’s extensive Bodie image gallery

Tags: architecture, art, Bodie, building in the past, california, California State Park, historic hotel, historic preservations, history, minature buildings, minatures, miniature architecture, models, paul charron