Al was a wonderful 'small house' architect, an artist, photographer, baker and businessman, in whatever order was his priority on any day. He was active in the arts communities both in Portland and the coast, and had a special fondness for designing libraries for small towns.

Building his house at the coast nearly twenty years ago taught me a lot about what makes a house feel the way it does — whether windows look up or down; what materials compliment other materials, and what 'upscale funky' was all about.

Mostly I will remember Al for his generosity, both personally and professionally to a couple of rookie contractors, and for his definition of being an artist: that we're all artists by nature, we just need to learn how to live our lives creatively.