"Welcome to New England" / Smith Society Fundraiser at Carter's June 28 a Huge Success

On Saturday, June 28, Carter Smith welcomed almost 40 BSLUGs to his beautiful new home. Just two years after his old Victorian burned to the ground, he has rebuilt a lovely big house in the same place. Decorated with woven rug versions of his Shibori dyed fabric, the spacious house provided us with the perfect venue to hold an early summer cookout. Carter offered us many salads, chips, burgers--both veggie and otherwise, hot dogs, drinks and cakes, cakes, cakes--what a feast! Alums of all ages came: graduates from the Pioneer classes and recent grads from 2002 and 2003. Among the guests were 6 kids, 3 dogs, and two friends from UCSC University Relations--Allison Garcia and Sandra Gresham.

After the barbeque, Carter led a tour through his home and studio. Carter gave us an autobiographical and philosophical talk about his life and art. As he explained the technique of sewing on the bias, using a powerful sewing machine, he created an elegant dress from one of his tie-dyed fabric samples in less than ten minutes. The demonstration captured the simplicity and genius of Carter's designs which you can check out by clicking here.

Next, Joseph Ayers, Professor of Biology at Northeastern University, led another tour to the Marine Science Center in Nahant, located in a World War II bunker only ten minutes from Carter's house. This is where Joe and his colleagues develop neurotechnology which could have many applications to improve our lives. His lobster robots could search for mines and other hazards in the ocean, collect marine science data and patrol for pollution. For more information about his important work, click here to check out his website. After a fascinating talk about his research and a tour of the marine laboratory, Joe showed us another bunker which looked like it dated from WWII, but was actually recently built for a movie set for the film Shutter Island, to be released next year.

A tired, but happy group walked back in the fog to Carter's to enjoy the cakes and coffee as a sweet end to this very full day. Even sweeter is knowing we raised about $1200 (including Bill Dickinson's matching funds) for the Smith Society!

Click here to view the photos Zoe Rath took at the party.