what we think we become

I started this piece 1 1/2 years ago but neglected to have it photographed until this week. Seeing it through the photographer’s eye, it has an additional layer of meaning in 8/2020.

Originally it was a maquette for a memorial piece. We ended up going a different path for the memoriam. Personally I was happy this piece emerged from the event and cast it in bronze. It resonates with me because years ago I became fascinated, completely sucked in by modern neurology. Neurology was my obsession. I read everything a Mom could get her hands on. My favorite was Phantoms in the Brain by V. S. Ramachandran. The brain is amazing and especially since neurologists have learned that it is plastic and is changed with everything you do, everything you tell yourself or others tell you changes your brain. This knowledge is what gives every human a chance for hope. Dreaming is the first step, and self-talk is hugely important. You can control how you see the world, and how you see yourself, “fake it until you make it works“. What you think you will become”.

The additional layer - living through a pandemic is choosing how one reacts to stressful and depressing situations. Humans choose how we react and how we see. “what you think you will become”. The texture of the piece is composed of repetitive arched lines, they are mirrored in the profiles/contours of the work. It is an abstract sculpture but I clearly read “what we think we become”. What we look for we will find, 8/2020 is a good time to control your thoughts and look for the light. If you look for it you will find it.

“what you think you become”

bronze

12” X 4” X 3”

Gust- patina

November 15, 2018

I am working in the spacious new Glassell Foundry. There is abundance of space to work in.  

Hat 👍🏼 Patina👍🏼 Torch👍🏼 Welding gloves👍🏼 Paint brushes👍🏼 Respirator👍🏼 Eye protector👍🏼 

The patina I am using is a layered hot patina. First I heat the piece with a torch. Then I start laying a heavy dark brown, then a heavy layer of titanium oxide. About 30 minutes in I spilled the titanium patina.  

It is really a bummer because once I remix it I can not use it for 24 hours, the chemicals need to bind together. Grrrrrrrrr.😬  

November 19,2018 

Starting where I left off.  

Three days before thanksgiving and I can’t help myself, I want to finish this patina today.  

After a heavy layer of titanium ash I ran out of butane. Luckily a second tank was ready to go.  

“gust” building the shell

dip 3 - wet 

Ready for dip 4 

the top of the cup is cut off and the blind vents are cut open in order to allow the wax to expand and milt out of the shell. 

 In the furnace to burn out the wax and the felt 

with the wax melted out I now blow out what is left of the felt. 

burn out number 2 

With an pneumatic air hose I blew out the charred debris from each hat. 

A cure from above looking into the cup that the bronze will be poured into.  

After blowing out the pieces for a second time I seal all the holes with sparset. 

Last Thursday we did our best to pour these but............. plan B we will pour them this this Thursday.  

“gust” in porcelain

I rolled out 4 more porcelain “gust”  hat reliefs.

I have covered them in plastic and will let them slowly dry out before firing. 

gust - patina - una mas

Thursday nights= patina night. One more ✅ 

the before 

“Gust” getting ready to sprue

“gust”

1/19/2018

I am starting two new pieces for my “gust” series. 

Here is the first one viewed from every side. 

I have two coats of wax on it. Now I need to clean off and wax that is clumpy and make sure it does not loose its shape and character. Then I can begin the molding process to cast it in bronze. 

Gust

This is to be the first hat in the series (best laid plans). Like the last hat I poured this fall, it had cool spots that did not pour. I am going to finish it and consult with a commercial Foundry, Legacy Fine Art Foundry, regarding patching it.

I will use an angle grinder and cut the sprues off level with the felt. 

All the chasing is completed here.  

After legacy fine Arts Foundry matched it.  

I think it looks amazing. They did a great job. 

The next step is for me to add the felt texture to the patches. 

“gust”

This hat is planned to be the 2nd in the series. 

I ended up with cool spots in the pour resulting in spots that the bronze did not fill, big spots that did not pour.  :( 

I am going to clean them up and see what can be done to save it.  

The sprues are cut to the stub  

I have cut the sprue stub off flush with the felt. 

I have repaired the texture . 

“gust” patina and playing with the artist statement

10/17/2017  

Another Thursday night of applying the patina  to yet another hat. 

Woven in felt, every hat tells a story, shaped with memories, recording beliefs, and veiling sorrow, some eloquent and some twisted. Cradled in our imagination, they blow in strange, wonderful ways, spinning from generations that are inhabited by our respect to balancing our present responsibilities and fears. In generations past, in fable and in legend, hats sheltered spirits, represented people and occupations, and defended against the elements. 

“gust”

11/10/2017

guess what I did last night? 

this is the first piece in the series where the lining has blown away and the moth holes have grown into full fledge hole.  

The torn grossgrain ribbon and rip in felt. 

Why are some people ready, why do some people know the moment?

People ask me all the time where  do I get my ideas. And I too am fascinated by where creativity comes from. I do not believe it can be taught and for most part it is not easy to describe as creativity, it is one of the great mysteries of the brain. However the Eudora Welty quote in Glasstire this morning beautifully states how I often find inspiration, or how inspiration often finds me.

 “The title That Day underscores the viewer’s sense of being there beside the photographer and the way in which the captured moment remains ever fresh in the image, some of which were made as early as 1979. That was the year when Dallas-based Wilson began assisting Richard Avedon with his own six-year photography project, In The American West. Describing Avedon’s portraiture process in her 2004 book, Avedon At Work In The American West, Wilson noted that he would wait for what Eudora Welty called “a story teller’s truth… the moment in which people reveal themselves. You have to be ready, in yourself; you have to know the moment when you see it.” “

                                                         - gene Fowler 

-http://glasstire.com/author/gene-fowler/

I guess the question should be why are some people

ready, why do some people know the moment?

a moment caught by a "gust"

“Gust” artist statement tweaking

I continue to tweak new versions of possible artist statements for “gust”, looking for the perfect words.  

How does this sound?  

“Gust”

Woven in felt, every hat tells a story, shaped with memories, recording beliefs, and veiling sorrow, some eloquent and some twisted. Cradled in our imagination, they blow in strange, wonderful ways, spinning from past generations that are inhabited by our respect to balancing our present responsibilities and fears. In generations past, in fable and in legend, hats sheltered spirits, represented people and occupations, and defended against the elements.

“gust” In my kitchen after applying the patina.  Living with this hat for a few days making sure I am finished with the patina in it. 

“gust” - series update

I started working on this series in 2013.

October 19, 2017 - I have cast approximately a dozen pieces in the series. I did not cast them in the order that they will be installed. Instead, I started with the last pieces in the series. I am now ready to start applying the patina to the first pieces of the series; however, they have not been poured yet. This forces me to start with the last hat that I have cast:  “gust #3."

The abstraction of the shapes of the hats reveals  the power of Mother Nature, the patina of each piece outlines the impressions of the human spirit left on the felt. 

The Patina Process- 

I use a torch to impose a heat energy to the surface of the hat, when the metal glows a deep amber the surface is ready to unveil it’s history. I slowly brush on a ferric patina (a dark beige) and  as the fluid darkness evaporates off the bronze evidence of an invested grip by determined fingers surfaces,  I layer a white wash and the memories of opportunities missed fade into the folds. Next the ferric reveals unfortunate circumstances suffered during the darkest hours, then white washed with life’s lessons.  With each layer the impression of the human spirit tell the story of a life well lived.

Below is the progresss after one evening of applying the patina.

I slowly brush on a ferric patina (a dark beige) and as the fluid darkness evaporates off the surface evidence of an  invested grip by determined fingers is revealed, 

I layer a white wash and the memories of opportunities missed fade into the folds. 

Next the ferric reveals unfortunate circumstances suffered during the darkest hours, 

then white washed with life’s lessons