Category Archives: art

anatomy of an installation.

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fauna installation.

this week i was honored to be part of a four person show curated by kara walker tome in west palm beach.  the show took place at the whitebox at the whitespace, the personal collection of west palm beach couple elayne and marvin mordes.

the space was mind blowing.  you enter from the back and walk into a beautiful, labyrinth of a museum-like space.  white walls and gray floors act as a backdrop to the fanciful and exciting collection of cutting edge contemporary 2D and 3D art including gilbert and george, frank gehry and gelatin (among many, many others).  one of the back walls actually turns on an axis point and allows access to the mordes’ home.  it’s totally wild.  a portion of the space has been used this season for a series of exhibitions featuring regional artists.  the last of the series, “approaching nature” opened on friday.

the very good company i was in consisted of ryan toth, rick newton and bethany krull.

on a warm and fuzzy note, i really could not have pulled off this installation with out tons of help from my friends (and a lot of cooperation and understanding from the curator.)  i flew in on wednesday, then second day of installation for the show.  a.w. my bestie, was in philly with me so we flew down together.  we got picked up by m.m. just in time for surprise brunch for 4 other friends who were in town.  the brunch graciously swelled to include us and we got to breakfast on home made eggs, greens, plantains, potatoes, tortilla’s and beans (yummmmm).

after that we headed to AAA sod and supply, my “sponsors” who helped me out with my crushed shell needs.  the owner there is such a cool guy.  he totally remembered me and asked after j.w. my partner in crime during the 2008 10 x 10 show (during which he gifted a van full of crushed shell and garden stones).  we then loaded up and headed to the whitespace.

installation went pretty well, we ran into a few snags but a.w. and j.g. were there helping out with heavy lifting and strategies.  i don’t think i could install a show with out a.w. lending her good eye and moral support.

of course all this running around was done in the car m.m. so lovingly lent.  a lot of other people where involved behind the scenes to make that happen (c.j., w.) and s.s. came out the day before the deliver my work to the space and i’ve been crashing on her super comfortable couch all week.  all this not even including everyone who came out to the show, or my new friend l.a. who i’ve been hanging with all week.

basically, i didn’t realize just how much would go into making this installation happen.  somewhere else i would have had to rent a car or truck, run around, hire an assistant (or something??)  but it feels really good to have so much support and encouragment from my friends.  it was highly tight, budget wise, for me to make it down here, and i really appreciate everyone who helped make it happen.  :- ) love love….

getting a little more work done…

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some pics of the previously mentioned work.  new sculpture, and new blue wall peices.

the idea with these new pieces is for them to go on the walls.  i’m embarking on a kind of challenge, figuring out how i would like to finish these.  so i’m looking at everything as a test right now, not knowing if anything will come out well.  i did some tests with raw materials, trying to keep the surface and the substance closer to each other, and playing with the color clay is the same idea.  trying to avoid putting a layer of surface over the whole thing.  i GUESS that soda firing amounts to the same thing, a layer of surface treatment on top of raw clay, but i feel that the interaction of the soda, fire, clay and carbon means it’s more of an extenstion of the clay surface vs. a covering of the clay.

with awesome guidence from g.m. i’m looking at artists and doing some reading in a more studious way then the last few years and right now, form wise, i’m really interested in ron nagle, ken price and especially kathy butterly.  of course their surfaces are amazing as well, but i love the forms.  BUT they all treat the form so intensely with surface, and there is this idea that they are 3d paintings.

i’m really intrigued by the work i’m seeing both in person in philly (super great art town and gearing up for nceca with a plethora of clay exhibitions) and in research, and trying to figure out what kind of inspiration i can take from all this to push my own work forward.  definitely moving along at turle pace right now, but i’m not worried.

today.

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i put some finishing touches on my first sculpture.  coiled a bit on a second larger sculpture.   last week i mixed up a batch of porcelain and stirred in a blue mason stain to a portion of it.  today i made a couple of wall peices out of it.  i also sprayed some test tiles.  just testing some raw materials: custer feldspar, nepheline syenite and gerstley borate in the baby kiln.

i’m excited to see what they look like and to put some tests of the blue porcelain in but tomorrow is shaping up to be another snow day.  ehhhh…..all this snow.

well, i’ll post some more pictures later this week or next.:-)

what i learned from iman.

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what do i love more than project runway?  project runway canada.

i would love to have iman come into my studio and give me a critique.  she doesn’t care if you’ve never sewn a suit before, she doesn’t care what your client wanted.  you’ve got to step up and deliver or get going.

here’s what i learned from project runway canada:

1. you succeed or don’t.  don’t be a baby.

2.  be a gracious winner.  be a gracious loser.

3.  stay focused.

4.  be flexible, but don’t lose your aesthetic voice.

5.  manage your time well.

talking about working

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well, the big challenge of my new studio life is all this talking.  for me, talking, speculation, thinking out loud, comes naturally.  but i usually just try to keep my mouth shut when it comes to my work.  on the one hand, i’m not so confident talking about my work.  on the other, i do think there is a bit of fantasy in my work and i don’t want to give people words to hinge their interpretation on.

it’s about nature, and the nature of things.  ehhhhhh, blehh.

maybe this is something i should continue writing about.  we’ll see.  anyway, here are some shots red sent me of the shot glasses i made for the anagama firing before leaving florida.  hopefully soon i’ll get to post shots of all the lovely shot glasses i receive!

thanks red, for the sweet shots!

great day.

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it’s really weird not living 8 blocks from the studio.  i start my job (reproductive health clinic) tomorrow and my schedule is going to be something like thurs-sat.  so once i finished up some wall pieces and the sculpture i posted a pic of yesterday, i realized there wasn’t much point in starting anything else.  once i get accustomed to these train schedules (and it’s not so death-by-hypothermia cold) i might be able to swing nightly visits to the studio but for the time being i think my best bet might be to work on pieces start-to-finish sunday through wednesday.

today i went with new friend m.d. to visit a very well known local sculptor.  i’ll be working with her a few days in the next months prepping/installing work before and after NCECA.  her studio was beautiful.  seeing her work in person (in the gallery) and in different stages of completion (in the studio) was breathtaking.  her husband is also a well established sculptor and it was really inspiring to meet them both.  they were super friendly and chatty and asked lots of questions, which of course i kind of geeked out while answering.  (i.e. way too long description of the japanese alphabets…….) when i really would have like to hear more about them and their journey to where they are now.  hmmmm, well moving forward, i hope to get a little more insight.

getting shit done.

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it’s true, getting adjusted to a new space kind of sucks.  you don’t know where anything is, perhaps like me you didn’t get to bring all your favorite blue plastic and chunks of old foam mattresses.  anyway, the point is i feel all awkward in a studio at the beginning.  oh, and the clay situation is different (as it turns out better) BUT then i finally just dig in and make something.  something that i’m excited about and then i remember why i’m there.

i mean, nothing beats that feeling of satisfaction.  i don’t know if it’s just having brought to fruition this image from inside of you or the point when you start to get totally warmed up and loose and the clay and your hands kind of start to do their own thing but it’s good stuff.

anyway, here’s a pic from my phone.  i’ll post some later today when it’s finished.