Art Card

I have recently designed the art card, poster, and table tents for the 2015 Thesis Show at Linfield College.  I am excited to say the finished product looks great, and that my colleagues love it!

Anagama

I was fortunate enough to have pieces in the Anagram kiln, formerly owned by the late Nils Lou.  I had two pieces in the kiln, which reaches 400 degrees higher than an erupting volcano.  The anagram needs to have wood dropped into it's doors in order to keep the fire going.  Below is a picture of me about to "stoke."  (Adding wood to the fire.)

Intertwined

I have recently realized that I will not be able to carve all of the wood I need for my installation. That being said I still wanted to dip them in beeswax and keep te shapes fairly similar.

I sanded the weathered surface of the wood off the shapes I had cut out. The wood appears darker due to harsh weather conditions but it is the same wood.  I then dipped them in beeswax.

The result is darker and looks a bit like drift wood. I plan on integrating these pieces with my carved lighter colored wood.

Carpenteress

My installation in the group show Invision will be a 12 foot long by 8 foot wide by 15 foot high installation.  I have started to make the frame for this installation.  The process for creating this was to first find the least warped beams as possible.  Beams this size can tend to be costly and also be bent slightly to make a curve.  I picked the least warped, 1 inch by four inch by 8 foot, or 12 foot depending, beams I could find.

I measured and cut the edges of the beams at a 45 degree angle.  I added wood glue and three sturdy screws per each corner of the frame. The difficult thing about working with this scale is that the super structure has to be incredibly sturdy in order to hold up 150 pounds of carvings.  Luckily, Totem, my mentor and carpenter expert, taught me and helped me build this super structure, as I needed it to be impeccably made.  I will add cross beams on Tuesday in order to make a grid that the carving may hang from.  I will paint the entire structure the same shade white as the gallery in order to make the carvings the focus point rather than the structure.

I will rest the giant frame up on a twelve foot beam that I will screw into the gallery wall and screw it into place.  I will then attach fifteen foot legs and screw those into place.  The end result will be very sturdy.  I will tie fifteen feet of clear filament to each of the carvings so that when I am in the gallery for the three days installing all I will have to do is tie them where I want them to go in order to create an interesting shadow on both the floor and the wall behind it.

Invision

The group show in the Linfield Gallery has been named by fellow artists and I: Invision.  The card we are using for advertising will have a photograph of a cake that we all decorate on the front.  The idea being that the show will be a visual treat.  There will be a larger version of that cake at the opening on May 13th as well as a chocolate fountain and desert wine!

If the Sky Falls

I have recently acquired a space in the Linfield Gallery to make a 15 foot by 10 foot by 15 foot installation.  I am going to install my carvings in a downward facing angle parallel to the back white wall.  In this way the lights from above the installation will be angled so that the carvings cast a shadow on the floor, this will make it appear as if something from the sky is falling.  I am excited about this installation as the lights on the beeswax carvings strung 15 feet in the air should look beautiful.

The Sky Is Falling: Artist Statement

There is an old saying, “the sky is falling.”  I am constantly in-between fearing that statement to be true: fearing the world, and being in awe of it.   I use another old saying to subdue my fear.  That saying is, “if you do something enough times you’ll no longer fear it.”  Repetition is the safest way I know to let go of my fear that the sky will fall.  This installation is the easiest, clearest way I know how to explain the state of crossroads that I live in.