Who Loves...

Thats right I am asking.

Who loves whipped cream?

Lots of people do.

For the 2010 Nights in White Salmon Art festival I rented a space and set up a booth. Not to display my work but to spread FUN and also to break the whole "shopping and buying" energy. In the booth, my good friend and fellow artist David Brandt gave out whipped cream. Thats all. We just gave it away. Spraying it in peoples hands, on their food, whatever.

It was fun. We bought labcoats for the occasion and made signs. We gave away about a case of whipped cream to passers by.

I don't think this needs too much more explanation. Too bad I was so busy giving out whipped cream that I didn't get any video. Here are a few moments captured on film.

Back in the studio

Back in the states for a few months now. Australia was an amazing experience for all of us. I am sure that I will take a new direction with my art. Doing the "displacement" series and all of the research really made me aware of how much I love to dive deeply into a topic then create work based on the time I have spent there.

I sold some of the bronzes from the displacement series but I am creating new bronzes that, while different than the ones they are replacing, will fit conceptually into the show. If this all goes well I will recreate the "Displacement" installation in the Portland Area.

The bronzes are underway as I have delivered the waxes to the foundry in Sandy Oregon. I should get them back any day now. Here are a few photos of the waxes. The bronzes can be mounted in stone of wood bases. They are all available... I can send you info, photos, prices etc.










As this blog is a place for all of my studio experiments I will share one that I did this week. I am not a 2d artist per se. I have done some photography (the airliners underwater) those projects were about the action of setting up the scene as much as about the resulting photos.

This drawing I did is truely a 2d piece. It is Graphite on a black gesso on a board.


It is hard as an artist with a decade of experience in art practice to start in another discipline. Especially one that is as established as painting or drawing. It isn't easy to be a novice at something. I look at what I do and I know it doesn't match the concept that was in my head (which is perfect of course. It isn't easy but it is real and it is part of the creative process.

In other out-of-my-league news I am working on a play. It is a two-character single act play. Very interesting to do work that happens (shows itself) over time. Thinking of sculptures and creative projects usually doesnt involve a plot that occurs over a period of time. It is alot of fun to think about but it is definitely hard being a novice.

I have hired a studio and marketing assistant. In the next few months I will update all of my online info and have more of a regular, and updated, presence. Feedback is so valued.

Solo Exhibition

Finally after nearly 6 months of research, and studio work I am preparing my solo exhibition of the body of work I have done while on my artist residency in western australia.
The work consists of 15 bronze sculptures inspired by the maritime history and tragedy of the western australian coasts.

Here is my artist's statement for the show:

Being in Fremantle on a 6 month ArtSource residency I have had time to take in the culture, history, and environment of western Australia. Being displaced out of my normal life and studio practice I have been drawn to stories of others washing up on these shores; for better or worse.

I have spent months diving deep into the Western Australia's rich and sometimes tragic maritime past as well as spending significant time free-diving off the coast of Fremantle. These immersions have inspired a body of work that seeks to address displacement in our lives, the intervention of fate, and the processes of time.

Today, as hundreds of years ago, we are willing to put our lives in the hands of others and the fates to travel across worlds to seek our fortunes and connect with others. We rarely connect the idea of shipwreck with our own time and fate. The metaphors of displacement and shipwreck can also extend to our inner lives, careers, relationships, and bodies as much as to our mortal outcomes.

The creation of fantasy wreck artifacts has allowed me to study not only the history of the incidents but also the unique visual language of the ocean and its processes over time. Within this body of work I have used sand abrasion, natural seaweed and sea-salt patinas among other techniques to replicate and celebrate the oceans work of reclamation.

It is my hope that these cryptic artifacts can partially stand in for lost stories of the countless vessels that have ventured intentionally or accidentally around these wild shores and were never seen again.

This body of work is truely of this place and doing to research and work has been one of the best experiences I have had as an artist.

The week of the exhibition will be a full one.

On tuesday the 20th I am giving a talk as part of the 6x6artist talks sponsored by ArtSource.

Wednesday there will be a concert of soundscapes that I have commissioned from W.A. composer Rupert Guenther. The soundscapes are based on my sculptural works and the stories they represent. The show starts at 7pm at kidogo and is free.

Thursday I will give a artist talk at the gallery showing other work and discussing my experiences with "displacement"

The show will run until the 25th of april.

The exhibition opens on Sunday the 18th of April, 3-6 pm at the Kidogo Arthouse Gallery on Bathers beach in Fremantle. The official opening and comments will be given by Mack McCarthy, the curator of the Maritime Archeology at the Western Australian Maritime Museum at 4 pm.

Huge extra credit for any north americans who come for the show!!!

Click on the below images for bigger view.

Australia

Long time no blog. Lots to tell and even more to imagine and guess. We are in Australia and settling in to the town of Fremantle (Freo as it known locally).

On the way here we stopped for a week in Brisbane and then Sydney. The opera house in sydney is very iconic and famous. I wasn't really prepared for how dramatic it is up close. Here are some pics:







Freo- We have been in Fremantle for 3 days now and it is a lot to take in. The town is very similar to Charleston with a dash of new orleans mixed in. Very busy, a ton of cafes and market stalls.

As for art: It isn't easy to wait. My impulse is to jump in start something but I know that the good stuff (creativity) takes a while to come out of its shell in a new place.

Displacement

As the time is getting shorter before heading to Australia I have not been taking on many big projects but slowly working on a list of things that must be handled before we leave for the winter.

Here is a project that I recently finished. I traveled twice from california to Hawaii on containerships to get the footage used here. Definitely a new medium and lots to learn. IT is fun taking on a huge challenge though...

THis is about 7 minutes long and has a great soundtrack so turn up your speakers.

Displacement from Beholdthemayo on Vimeo.

End of August Update

The blog is not easy to keep up. THe news is all good and the work is flowing but taking time out to write about it seems to slide down the list.

Over the summer I completed a copper sculpture and installed it in its new home in Montana. It has three halogen lights that shine down on the table. The metal os copper and it is really great to work in heavy copper plate. The stuff is soft and easy in certain ways that steel is not.




It feels good to work and is fun to patina and finish. The center section of the work is oak. The wiring for the piece is part of the structure. The support wires are copper coated steel and they each carry a 12v DC charge. I tried to make the circutry as transparent as possible- something reminiscent of 1920s technology. I fell like it is a very successfull piece. I have the option to make one more similar to it. Please let me know anyone is interested. It can be shipped relatively easily.

BIG NEWS>>>>>> I have been granted an artist residency in western australia for 5 months this dec-may. The whole family will be going and we are very excited about it. We will be staying in downtown Fremantle. It is just a few miles from Perth. I don't know exactly what projects I am going to do down there.
Please let me know if you have insights or stories about australia! I have had several ideas for public art projects and sent out emails in order to get the ball rolling but have had little response. is it me or is email response optional down under? Oh well. It will work out one way or another.

We are planing to spend a week in Brisbane before going to Freo (Fremantle). We want to get a sense of life in the east coast first.

So the two residencies that I have lined up are almost exactly on opposite sides of the earth- (antipodes); Newfoundland and Fremantle. It seems like that fact should somehow be tied into the work. I can't quite see how to do it yet. Please send comments and ideas...

Studio over the North Atlantic

So far I have used this blog to as sort of a virtual studio. To show projects and ideas that are in progress or might never see the light of a gallery. It has been several months since my last post but my lack of writing has nothing to do with my creativity level. I have been very busy working on several commission projects and a few new sculptures.

Today I want to write about an inspiration instead of an action. I have always tried to follow my interests- investigate them thoroughly and hopefully they become fodder for my work.

At the moment I am totally absorbed by air traffic over the north atlantic. It sounds pretty strange, I know- but there is a alot here. It is the busiest air corridor in the world and also one of the most isolated and potentialy hostile.

I have the air trafic control frequency for Gander, Newfoundland playing on my studio computer. The controlers can't really talk to the plane once they get out over the ocean- they set them up with certain clearance containing altitude, precise speed, track, and time of entry and they funnel them onto this set of 6 or 7 skyways that are laterally separated.

Late in the afternoon pacific time is when many of the big jets are heading out eastward over the ocean for an arrival early in the morning in europe and asia, I am hearing flights receiving there clearance as they pass the maritime provinces of canada. Delta 72 from JFK to Itanbul, American 236 to Rome.

Coming back the other way in the morning and mid-day are westbound flights and the controllers are quizing them about the state of the air at their altitudes for the last several hours so they can pass the info on to the eastbounders.

There is something so exotic, dangerous, and romatic about it to me. To the people o the radio it is another day at the office. Navigating high above the north atlantic in the dark of night at 8/10th the speed of sound; It seems so brave and at the moment it is so interesting.

I am scheduled to do an artist residence on the north east corner of Newfoundland in the fall of 2010 . It is directly under these tracks. I know that focus will translate to something in my work, if not sooner than later.