Semesters end

After another long haul of a semester the dust has finally settled and I am ready to reflect a bit on the outcome. I set out early in the month of September on a piece that took pretty much the duration of the semester. I was interested in creating a work that defied the idea of the ascending/ descending nature of a stairwell based on changing the ordinary formal language of a banister handrail. 

Some crude cauls I used for a series of glue ups.

This particular technique for joinery gave me the freedom for error in glue up as well as a room for grain movement. 

A zillion passes later the form began to take shape.

FYI

http://www.vincenterobles.com/

With the help of Hurricane Irene and my good friend Travis Melvin my website is now finally operational. whoo hoo and all that jazz. More to come as things get oiled and polished.

http://www.guildgreyshkul.com/artist.php?id=116

When I first came across this I thought to myself, "wow, it's like a fucked up Rothko painting..."

http://www.jennifermaestre.com/index.php

I thought this work was beautiful, an amazing use of colored pencils that have been connected through traditional weaving methods. Blew my mind.

Tidbits

So here we are deep into fall once again, the trees are still the same and there is a slight chill in the morning that can only be the remains of some coastal fog. My sunflowers are way past their prime and the lawn is starting to look like an old shag carpet that has seen better days. I traded a chicken for a pumpkin today, halloween is near. With the semester in full swing I thought it would be appropriate to show some work I have been doing recently. These one week assignments have been valuable to my current thoughts about my advancement in spring, I think of these as formal investigations.

 Deepo Vortex

 Untitled

 Sweeper

Untitled

Scabbing on

Thought this was a great concept, blending the two forms of chair and bed frame together. I want one.

http://www.kharismafurniture.com/beds/the-bed-blend-by-roy-letterle-lero/

Cassiopeia Dreams of Better Days

I thought I would post this quote by Mimi Frank who just recently had a show at the San Diego Art Department;  "The chair represents so many things to us.  We see it as a connection between people and the positions they occupy.  Chairs are place holders. Chairs are settings where we expect to see someone relaxing, resting, thinking, and working.  They imply humanity. We anthropomorphize them.  We make them.  We break them.  We use them in weddings.  They are symbols of authority.  Coronations occur in them and the powerful rule from them.  We can chair an event, or we can “lose our seat”.  We populate chairs with our own meaning and fill them with our own human activity.  When we see several chairs together, we see them in conversation.   Chairs are laden with our own symbolic language.  These chairs tell us a little about Cassiopeia and her regrets, but they are really about our relationships with each other."

The show depicted the chair form reinterpreted in many different gestures using small bronze maquettes. I was especially intrigued by this show for its use of the chair and how playful Mimi could get such a strong material to look.