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” 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
“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
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/
"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
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.
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.
Score
Loading him up for my last studio visit of 2017.
I love the shadows he makes on my brick wall.
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
“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 .
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.
I didn’t get to say goodbye
memories - unequaled
I stopped by Sloan/Hall to give the sales staff my artist statement talk about my memories body of work.
https://sloanhall.com/
This is my first experience letting someone else sell my work. It has always been one of my favorite Houston stores. The staff is very friendly, attentive, and very knowledgeable about the products they carry. I they will do a good job of representing “Memories”. I talked about my work and about the pieces they are carrying and then Shannon Hall handed me an envelope. It was a payment for the the big piece “Memories- unequaled”, and I am still shocked. I didn’t expect anything to sell so quickly. - I didn’t get to say goodbye. Clearly, I have some separation anxiety with regard to my art.
“memories”
Driving home from Austin, I was stuck in traffic and very stressed. My whole body was tense and I was gripping the steering wheel tightly. I looked up to see a giant billboard for one of the Hill Country lazy river family resorts. On the billboard was a stick with roasted marshmallows on it. Instantly, the tension melted away as I was overcome with happy memories. I thought, "Wow! That imagery is so powerful, it drastically changed my mental state. I have to share this." Working on the pieces I felt a little silly, but the more I thought about my bronze sticks with marshmallows on them, the more I realized that the American leisure time tradition of roasting s’mores is a story not only worth sharing but worth telling: families and close friends gathered around a toasty campfire, roasting marshmallows on a stick, telling ghost stories, and making warm, sweet memories.
Peace pigeon #22
Last fall I started a project - an experiment with new materials. I made a new sculpture every week, with a new material. My subject the German beak - trumpeter pigeon. He is graceful, interesting and conducive to expressing energy. Picasso drew this same pigeon and called him a the peace dove.
http://www.arttimesjournal.com/art/reviews/May_June_10_Ina_Cole/Pablo_Picasso_Ina_Cole.html
I can't seem to stop the project. Here is another pigeon, I found him on our afternoon dog walk.
Healthy herds
A few summers back I drew three monumental elephant drawings. Enlight of the recent national news I repost these. We need protect the elephants, we can not risk a mistake, conservation and healthy herds a are a necessary fact to sustain life.
“Score” #14 armature of the face and head
11/15/2017
And just in time as I have a studio visit tomorrow with Patrick Palmer the master of heads.
full face frontal.
Below is the head and body from every angle
Front right
front
Front left
left
back left
Back
Right side
Front right
close up
“ Score” #12 armature/fingers to hold the violin.
Here is a pattern I made to Help me gauge how big each finger section should be.
Here I have tacked the first and second joints.
Once I decide if I like the placement of each joint then I will strengthen the welds.
The fingers on both hands seem to be ok. Hopefully when the lath and concrete are added I will still be happy.