3/19 end of the day
“score” #26 adding some icing
My favorite part of a cake is the icing and my favorite part of this sculpture is the part I am just getting to - the icing. The little pieces, that create the quiet moments. The little nuances that add the extra flavor and detail that will hopefully make it sing. The pieces that will visually depict those tiny, fragile notes that are unique to the violin.
“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.
“score” - #25 marching on
I was able to get another full day of work in. I was primarily focused on integrating the large piece of welded wire that makes up the movement created by his right arm with the steel and plaster figure’s arm and head. I am integrating the two by adding small broken pieces of wire cloth within the welded wire.
Shoulder and neck attaching to the head
Shoulder view from the front
I also added some tiny delicate wires to the movement of the bows. The delicate sounds coming off the strings.
the top back of the head
One of my artist friends Vincent Blair stopped in and took a quick pic as I worked.
My wire stash is on the pedestal.
“Score” today’s progress.
I made a lot of progress today. All those wires that were making me crazy because they were in my way were very useful today. They came in handy for creating the movement of the right arm pulling back as it moves the bow across the strings of the violin. They also worked out well to add motion to the left leg as his body sways to the sound of the violin, in creating the motion in the upper back of the figure and the movement of the bow.
I also added the violin bows
I listened to a playlist of violin solos on Spotify. I was working on the bows when Massenet: Thais/Acte Deux Meditation religieuse came on. It is a tear-jerker. I kept thinking about my 90-year-old Dad who is not doing well and was just approved for hospice. It is ironic that the piece I am working on during this sad time is titled “score”. The title today has a double meaning; it not only refers to the music score, but for my father's love for sports and scoring on the football field.
https://open.spotify.com/track/2TkpA2qsGI60157gXszMg0?si=Hma56nj1ToiImjelxQsn4Q
Below are a few of my favorite pics of the day.
The motion of his right shoulders it moves back and down.
The head focusing on the strings of the violin.
right hand movement
Right hand movement.
view from just left of him
the right hand and bow in motion.
upper body
gust - patina - una mas
Thursday nights= patina night. One more ✅
the before
“Score” - a change of plans
3/6/2018
The entire time I have been building the armature, I have been wrestling with which media to sculpt it in, concrete or plaster. There are pros and cons to both.
Pros and cons of Concrete and plaster-
- I have a lot more time to work with the concrete, before it sets. Working in plaster is very fast and does not have to hydrate while it cures.
- The color of concrete is not as bright as plaster.
- The concrete I would pour at home, and then allow it to hydrate for five days between layers. This would tie up my welding space, and keep me from starting a new armature.
- If I make it out of concrete at home, then I will have to hire movers to get it to my studio at Glassell, in order to photograph it, and then pay to have it moved again, as we are moving out of the building in May. That is a lot of extra expense.
- I have never made a large plaster piece.
Plaster it is, now is the time to try new things.
one last look before I start mixing the plaster.
The left foot- plaster and cut up pieces of wire and broken wire cloth.
The right foot and leg.
Detail of right leg
Human chain commissioned piece
“Human chain H20” it took me 6 attempts (that is X 5 pieces in a pentaptych) to get the colors perfect.
Score - the finish ???????
I have thought and thought and thought about how about the specific application of Concrete and wire on the piece. Last week I did a small piece to experiment with the materials. For simplicity sake I used plaster instead of white Concrete and every type of wire in my arsenal.
I am considering this application. It has a thin layer of plaster over the lath. Next I added the wire that creates the volume, movement and energy of the figure. Some of the wire is covered in the concrete.
The wire I used on the tail feathers and wings I plan on using to create the sound made by the violin.
detail of the wire used for the tail feathers that look like the sounds made by the violin
welded wire-
another example of the wire from the experiment that I like for my sound from the violin.
Pareidolia - peace pigeon project #?
peace pigeon - pareidolia
found object - stone
10” X 6” X4”
Pareidolia- a psychological phenomenon when the mind perceives a familiar pattern where non exist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia
http://glasstire.com/2018/02/26/first-sculpture-handaxe-to-figure-stone-at-the-nasher/
Gust- porcelain
4 more. I now have a total of 12. By May I plan on having 16. I need to get cracking.
"the road" - father and son
the road - two cyclist I
the road - two cyclist II
the road two cyclist III
the road VI two cyclist
the road - Randy and Ben (number V in the series of two)
the road - two cyclist VI
“Score” #18 the lath
I know have supports on the ground and I am comfortable that the piece is not going to fall on me. In the end I may cut them off. Right now they stabilize the piece and they are not visually distracting to me.
Now to start adding the lath.
I started with the right arm and hand.
Jumping around I next added his right coat tail then his left arm.
Left arm
Left back of his jacket
1/16/2018
working on the folds in the fabric of the left pant leg.
Friends of Fondren gala silent auction- donation
A few months ago I was at a dinner for mother’s of my daughter Sage’s high school graduation class. One of the Mother’s is a lady named Barbara Gibbs she asked me to make a donation to help raise money for the Fondren Library. I don’t really know Barbara but it turns out I knew her husband David Gibbs in the 80’s when I sold commercial real estate in Houston. I had a meeting with David Gibbs that I will always remember. I was in my mid twenty’s and I had just moved to Houston from El Paso Texas. I had basically just fallen off the cantaloupe truck but I was a hard worker and was doing everything to learn the city fast, and I was doing ok considering the price of oil had fallen and most people were were really struggling. I had made one deal with David I think it was a Pea In The Pod store. I was discussing with him a new concept I had discovered in Galveston and I thought it was deserving of a really great location. He told me that after working with me on the first deal that he knew that I knew what I was talking about and that if I thought a concept was good then he trusted me. I was so excited he was a very important developer in the Rice University area and it ment a lot to me to get his vote of confidence. I could not of been more excited. I went back to my office when I received a call from my husband telling me his firm was transferring us to El Paso. I was pretty devestated as I was just getting some respect in the Houston Real estate market.
“Score” #16 making it safe
January 11, 2018
This winter has had many events. All good events that have distracted me from working on this piece.
Today, I get back to work.
Step 1- Right now, I am welding on it in my garage home studio. However, I will need to be able to get it into the doors at my Glassell studio when it is completed. The widest door opening is 34” maximum. I can go wider, but the depth will have to be within 34”.
My second concern is stability. Right now, it is stable and balances on its own, even with the wooden violin in the proper position. The energy of the music will project primarily forward. Since it is steel and concrete, it will be very heavy and has to balanced, even if accidentally pushed from any side. So, before I can do anything else, I have to widen the base in order to make it safe.
It is raining today, so I will cut a bunch of random lengths, grind the ends to a point inside. When it stops raining, I will take them outside where I bend them.
Rebar cut a variety of lengths.
On a grinding wheel I grind both ends of each piece into a point.
I use this brace that is attached to the utility pole behind my garage to bend my rebar. Sometimes I have the put all my weight on it to bend the bar.
I stick the rebar through the hole and bend it a little and keep sliding the bar and bending until I get a curve I like.
And some times I take it out and stick the other end through and then bend it again.
These are ar ready thank go.
trying different ways to create a strong base
I use magnets to hold the rebar so I can stand back and look. These pieces are for stability but they can’t look like they ar for stability. If the position of the rebar works then I weld a tac to hold it so that I can then look at it without the red magnets. If I still like it I finish welding the two pieces securely.
The red magnet holds the rebar so I can step back.
These pieces are within the 34” and will keep the sculpture from falling forward if it is pushed from the back or from the weight I will be adding to the front.
I am feeling uncertain about what I am doing so I am going to stop for now so that I can look at it tomorrow with a fresh eye.
“The road” Houston to Seattle a father and son moment.
The poetry between a father and son - documenting a son’s epic ride, and a father’s support. I was contacted by a fellow St. John’s mother Lourdes Hernandez to donate my artistic skills to decorate a boots for the MD Anderson boot walk fundraiser. When Lourdes dropped by my studio, I gave her my typical studio tour/artist talk. She really connected with two bodies of work; first, my hat series 'gust'. Her grandfather wore the same hat. Holding it, her eyes filled with tears, she said she could smell him. This filled my heart, it is a dream moment for an artist to get that type of a reaction from a sculpture. She also connected with 'The road' series of a cyclist. Her son rode his bicycle from Houston to Seattle. Her husband rode the last two days with him. She wanted her husband to see the work. A few weeks later, Lourdes and her husband Randy stopped by. It was clear to me that the connection between Randy and their son Ben on their cycling trips were very important to both Lourdes and Randy. I offered to do some more pieces with just two cyclists a father and a son, and asked to look at some of their photos from their trips. All the photos of Randy and Ben were in evergreen environments. Randy and Ben are extremely fit. I did the the five pieces below incorporating trees in the background, making the cyclist trimmer and making the two cyclist closer together. Lourdes gave Randy 'The road' Randy and Ben V for Christmas. I really enjoyed getting to know Lourdes, hearing about her amazing son’s ride across country. I am honored to be able to create a piece of art for their family that documents their love and admiration for their son. I hope we can keep in touch.
Peace pigeon project
After 12 months I have finally had these pieces photographed. Nash Baker took the photos, I think he did a beautiful job.
It is a large body of work and I had to choose what should be shot and What would not make the cut.
Artist statement
In the fall of 2016 I decided to experiment with sculpture materials. I challenged myself to sculpt a new sculpture a week, each week in a different material. As my subject, I chose the German beak crested trumpeter with leg muffs pigeon because he allows me to express a lot of movement and energy. I have many drawings and a bronze sculpture of the German beak trumpeter. From a sculpturing point of view, his feathery feet keep him balanced without a pedestal allowing for lots of the expression of energy and emotion.
It turns out that the bird known in the US as a German beak trumpeter pigeon is the same bird that Picasso drew as the peace dove. Everyone knows His famous "peace doves". This particular pigeon was given to him by Henri Matisse. It is described as a Milanese pigeon. Possibly it was from Milan, but you can tell by the fancy feathers on his feet that it is a Germanbeak-crested trumpeter with leg muffs. In German and French, the term pigeon and dove are interchangeable.
I am no longer committed to sculpt a peace pigeon a week but I don’t hesitate if a material or found object jumps out at me to turn it into a sculpture. I was not able to photograph these until the end of 2017.
http://www.arttimesjournal.com/art/reviews/May_June_10_Ina_Cole/Pablo_Picasso_Ina_Cole.html
Feather finery
plaster and yard clippings
Nos Caves Vin - solo exhibition
“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.