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Design Diva • Laura Bush Sees The Light
Former First Lady Seeks San Diego Craftsman
October 20, 2011 – Insider status is not to be dismissed lightly. No telling what the morning e-mail will divulge, when you've been circling the inside track for as long as I have. Word recently came in that former First Lady Laura Bush sent a request to Jim Gibson (of Gibson & Gibson Lighting in Chula Vista) for the price and size of some ceiling fixtures for the new George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas.
Now, these would be the same replica fixtures that Gibson reproduced for President and Mrs. Bush for the Cabinet Room during their years in the White House (pictured). Mrs. Bush apparently liked working with Gibson, and wanted the same for Dallas.
Size: 30 inches in diameter.
Price? Not telling.
When the Presidential Center opens in 2013 on the Southern Methodist University campus, you may want to look to the ceiling. Gibson was recognized by San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles as a 2009 "Star of San Diego." We've always said San Diego has many great craftsmen. For more proof, head for the San Diego Craft Revolution exhibit currently at the Mingei (through April 15, 2012). It's part of Southern California's giant, 60-venue survey called Pacific Standard Time, which looks at our art and design past. Curator Dave Hampton led a tour last week of this eye-opening survey. It connects a lot of dots to our early importance in the field of crafts. -Phyllis Van Doren