This project started with the inspiration that came from a piece of birch wood I picked up at the Restore. This wood was way (WAY) more expensive than I usually indulge in for substrates for an art project but the piece spoke to me so it came home.
art thou?
Tuesday, February 9, 2021
If Only I Were a Root of the Tree of the Sky
Sunday, January 24, 2021
Birdland
I decided to make a piece with birds and that led me to doing a piece inspired and in honor of the famed jazz club, Birdland.
Here is a brief history of Birdland from their webpage:
"Ever since most of Chicago’s top musicians moved to New York in the mid-to-late 1920s, New York City has been the Jazz Mecca. Nearly every major jazz style of the past seventy years has been initiated in the Big Apple. It was Charlie Parker, familiarly known to his fans and fellow musicians as “Bird,” a contraction of Yardbird, his formal nickname, who was the dynamic creative personality and genius of the alto saxophone who served as the inspiration for Birdland. When the original Birdland opened sixty years ago in December of 1949, Charlie Parker was the headliner and the club was located on Broadway, a block west of the 52nd Street scene, which was a hotbed of jazz in the 1930s and 40s."
The base of this art was a piece of wood carved into a tombstone-like shape.
I auditioned my collage onto the board before any glue was used to affix it.
I like to have extensions on this time of art and regularly use nails. This time around, because of the theme, I decided to use some vintage piano mallets I had in my basement.
With all we have been through in 2020 I consciously decided to select an African American image for the history of jazz, Charlie Parker and BLM.
Monday, January 4, 2021
Running From the Nothing That Pursues
Running From the Nothing That Pursues
At the end of 2020 I took three online courses that helped me complete this project. They were ConcerTINa with Seth Apter, A Mark in Time with Jen Crossley and The Bookmaker with Roxanne Evans Stout. This project was an amalgamation of the ideas in these workshops but ultimate felt free to go its own way.
The project started with a tin (suggested in both ConcerTINa and The Bookmaker). My tin was a Tarreyton Cigarettes tin with a date incised in the back of 6/8/25.
Monday, November 2, 2020
Not In This World To Be Liked: a Project Based on a Geoffrey Gorman Online Workshop Finding the Soul of Forgotten Materials
In October, 2020, I signed up for an online workshop with artist Geoffrey Gorman called Finding the Soul of Forgotten Materials. The class was held on Zoom and was sponsored by Peters Valley School of Crafts.
Here is the workshop description: "Experiment with innovative and intuitive ways of creating a variety of structures and forms using organic, found, and recycled materials. You are invited to think about shapes and forms that hold particular interest and bring these ideas to the workshop. Using unusual techniques to overcome construction challenges, everyone will explore a variety of forms created from your own favorite cast off materials. This class is perfect for beginners seeking an introduction to creating curious objects as well as intermediate and advanced participants wishing to reach the next level and break out of their comfort zone. You need to be familiar with using hand and power tools such as drills, band saws, and sanders."
The basic building blocks of the project is taxidermy foam. I got mine from Dick Blick.