Venture Hall

Venture
Hall

ven·ture ven(t)SHər/ noun
1. A risky or daring journey or undertaking.

Well OK, maybe they are not really all that "daring," but these are some of Larry's
"interesting" undertakings from over the years.

Hi, my name is Evie (e-vee) Strump. It is so nice to meet you. I wear many hats around here. And one of them is "Interpreter for Level 1" of the Museum. And, it's my pleasure today to welcome you to Venture Hall .

You are at the Durable Light Construction Exhibit. In the late 80's Larry began to experiment with techniques to build these light and less expensive but durable buildings for specific purposes. He referred to these structures as DLC's for short.

~ The Durable Light Construction Exhibit

This was the Burnett's first home. Larry built this house in the late 80's in Mississippi. It was a kind of precursor to the later, true DLC's. It was just not quite so 'L' as the later buildings.

By the mid 90's Larry's buildings had been noticed by a ministry called Teaching The Teachers which built Christian schools in Africa. Larry became a staff member in charge of their movable classroom project, among other responsibilities.

The DLC classrooms were prefabricated in the U S and shipped in a sea going container to Africa where they were then assembled.

Donna, Larry's wife, says she could see this coming a mile away...

<< A DLC Home

There were actually two of these full-fledged DLC homes for the Burnett's. However, there are no extant pictures of the 2nd home. Nevertheless, it was also a two story. However, it had quite a different shape. It was a six sided structure. It looked very much like a typical space observatory. And, it actually did have a small hatch on the tip-top where, on occasion, you could see a child's head protruding through. The family occupied that home for a little under 2 years.

The Home of the Future

~ The Fleet That Larry Flew

Larry has had a fascination with airplanes since he was a little boy. The planes above are the various aircraft types that he has flown, on and off, over the years. Typically, it has been the budget which has dictated both the "on" and the "off." Click Here to read an article involving his flying days.

Aviation
Here Come the New Guys!

~ The T*Boat Exhibit

And, then there are the T*Boats.

One of Larry's longest running adventures is the T*Boats. He began designing and building them in 2002. In this T*Boat Exhibit there are pictures which range from the earliest versions of the T* to the T*-5 (5th generation). And, the T*Boat continues to evolve. The new T*6 -2 (a 2 person T*) is due out soon.

^ To The Annex ^

You can learn much more about the T*Boat at The
Back 40 Mercantile where the Kits and Plans are presently sold by the Museum. The Mercantile is located in the Museum Annex. Just follow the Hall to the Annex.

~ The Furniture Gallery

High there. I'm Celeste; and, I will be filling in for Evie as your interpreter while she is at lunch. The exhibit where we are presently standing is what we call The Furniture Gallery. Larry has built furniture for may years, everything from Commercial, to Church, to Domestic pieces.
Larry's furniture making began as a hobby. But, for some years he earned his living, doing it professionally. His pieces actually total more than a thousand. And, He still does special order pieces now and then. The pieces you see on display here are merely representative of his work.

The Contemporary Gallery

Larry began the professional phase of his furniture making with his own company called Original Wood Designs. OWD produced many in-house designs, but there was also a multitude of custom designs produced by the company.

Larry also did work for a church furniture company, Sander's Manufacturing, building their pulpits and other podium furniture as well as special order pieces. He eventually went on to become the plant manager at that company.

Later, Larry also did work for a commercial fixture company called Laminarchie, based in Sherman, Texas. There he built laminated fixtures and other commercial wood furniture pieces.

Sadly, there are no extant pictures of Larry's work for these companies due to their policies restricting picture taking.

The Reproduction Gallery

~The Pavilion Project

Hello again. This Pavilion Exhibit furnishes an interesting way to look at the construction of a pavilion which Larry designed and built with the help of some great volunteers on the campus of the Scottsville Camp and Conference Center near Marshall, TX.

This exhibit shows Larry's makeover of his own back yard. The process has been about a 5 growing season project. And, it is presently ongoing, now on a kind of "hobby" basis.

~The Backyard
Makeover

It all began with the small out building at the left. When you click on the pictrue to enlarge it, you will see that the yard was pretty much a blank canvas in the beginning. The slides below show the progress over time which included a few architectural ideas as well.

~WARP DRIVE:

Larry has tinkered with barrel based wood heaters for years. He says, "They're just fun to build. And, they make the shop more efficient by utilizing its scrap wood."

This new heater typically puts out 150 cubic feet per minute of 100-200 degree air as needed. It keeps the shop toasty even on those frosty Arkansas days.

2018 VERSION

~ A Bucket List Item...

The Drawing Below: Building the "Whisperflite" is an item on Larry's Bucket List. Maybe, maybe not - we'll see. It would seem that, as Larry puts it, "The runway is getting shorter every day." Nevertheless, he does continue to work on the engineering for the plane - "on and off."

You Are Here: On Level 1

^ To Level 1^
Locator

^ To Level 2^
Locator

^ To Annex^
Locator

<< To Level 2
To Annex >>