SITE Gallery- Sculpture Month Houston - Building the support system

Finally, I feel like I can make some progress. Step one is to make a structure that I can hang my sculptures from. The gallery owners are trying to preserve the space in its original condition, and ask the artists to deface the silo as little as possible when installing our work. Normally I use acrylic hangers that I designed to hold the pieces. Each bracket takes four anchors. I feel like that is too much destruction to the silo. Instead, I decide to buy some black 14 gauge wire fencing, 20 feet X 36”. The silo funnel has metal bands tack welded to it. The middle metal band is 31” from the wall. I cut the fencing in 31” pieces. I cut one end in a concave shape and the other end convex. The convex end will rest on top of the metal band and the concave end will be supported by two screws in the cinderblock wall. This is 19‘ high, and I feel pretty good that my screw holes will only be minimally defacing the silo.

Close up of support system

The moment I got off the scissor lift and looked up at my support system, I realized I had made a big mistake. I should have painted them white. The black stood out too much on the white walls. I could not sleep that night trying to decide if I should repaint them... It was not easy, but I spent the next half day painting the system 19’ in the air white.

I think it was worth it, the support system is much less intrusive.

I hung from the support system 8 fishing tackle swivels with 25 lb filament attached to each swivel. Four of the swivels are 36” apart 18” from the wall. At these distances the pieces will not touch each other or the wall. Everything should move independently. These are for the big pieces. The other swivels are for smaller pieces and are spaced randomly. I am guesstimating where I want these. Tomorrow I will start hanging work.

My new best friend’s name is Scissor Lift- Another day setting up my silo to work.

I am so grateful to not have to deal with that 19’ tall scaffold. It was very difficult to maneuver in the space with the mouth of the funnel hanging in the center of the space. Aztec picked up the awkward scaffold today, and they delivered my new best friend, scissor lift. Getting the scissor lift in my silo was not a simple processes. Electrical conduit hangs below the door frames of the silos between my silo and the delivery door. As a result the delivery man had to drive the scissor lift through 8 other silos to get to mine. It fit in the door of my silo exactly with not a pinch to spare. The scissor lift rubbed the top of the opening.

My safety engineer and the most supportive husband anyone could ask for. He is affectionately known as Mr.Safety. 🤗

The view of my silo workspace from the scissor lift.

Detail of grid system.

Sculpture Month Houston

In May I started seeking a space to exhibit new environmental, 4D kinetic sculptures. I hoped to use this new work as a start to an art installation inspiring conversations about topics I am very passionate about; the unexpected consequences of forcing natural processes into an industrial model and the complex relationships between humans, plants, and animals. 

The stars aligned in July when Sculpture Month Houston’s founder and curator, Volker Eisele, invited me to be one of the 19 artists asked to create a site-specific sculpture in the historic Success Rice Grain Silos behind the Sawyer yard’s artist studios. In the 50th anniversary year of man landing on the moon, this year’s exhibit title is Outta Space from the 2012 Van Halen album A Different Kind of Truth. Outta Space will combine two curatorial themes: one features work focused on environmental degradation issues and the other focuses on interpretations and explorations of Alternative Worlds as envisioned in the fantasies of the artists. 

I have passionately committed myself to this installation every day since July. My passion comes from spending my early years on a farm in west Texas, from my concerns regarding industrialized food and its effect on our health, from my love for historic buildings and, most importantly, from my desire to make an impact on the return of our most important keystone species. 

As a site specific installation artist my aspiration is to create a piece that is unique to the silo’s space and true to my work. My silo is a circular space constructed from cinder blocks, 18’ in diameter and spans 20’ in height. It has, in the center of the space a 10’ tall funnel suspended from the ceiling. There are a few old, large light fixtures, conduit runs vertical and perpendicular on the walls and there are three entrances to the space. I have three weeks to install the work that I have assembled to date. My mantra as an artist is “if I am not nervous to take on a new project then I am not stretching myself”. I am slightly anxious, yet happy to embrace the butterflies and honored to have my name listed among this year’s SMH artists.

In celebration of the opening there will be food trucks, a bar and music provided by Chapel In The Sky with projections by Michael Walrond - SHDWSOFDUST. 

OUTTA SPACE

Public Opening for the Exhibition 

Saturday, October 12, 6-9 pm

SITE Gallery Houston, 

1502 Sawyer St. Houston, TX 77007, 

(The multi-story building behind the artist studios facility).

https://glasstire.com/2016/11/04/the-problems-and-rewards-of-houstons-silos/

https://glasstire.com/2017/10/30/a-conversation-about-art-and-the-silos-on-sawyer/

7 days left

7 days left to rip and wrangle rusted wire cloth, then delicately stitch the wire fragments into biospheres of frail and vulnerable abstract wild bees and organic shapes. Then coat hydro stone and cast shadows, to kinetically unveil the unintended consequences of forcing natural processes into an industrial model. Then pack, transport, unpack, install for 21 days, and open........ find more locations to install......... rinse and repeat.

Butterflies and family

One of the joys of parenthood is enjoying nature through your kids at any age. Last night, Griffin sent us this image of a monarch caterpillar that he found in Minnesota this weekend. A few years back on Thanksgiving, we went to see the monarchs. It is a site to behold and a lovely outing. They really liked Sage. Respectfully enjoying the beauty of nature has long been a great joy for our family.

Sage provides fb a resting Place for a monarch

Griffin sharing a caterpillar with us from Minneapolis.

Bee school birthday gift.

For my 62nd birthday, my son Griffin and daughter-in-law Alex gave me bee school for two at Beeweavers outside of College Station. Below are some photos from the day.

When we got out of the car, immediately we noticed a lovely white noise–the hum of busy bees filled the warm, summer air. I love that sound.

This is Roosevelt (or as Roosevelt would say, it is what is left of Roosevelt). He has been at BeeWeavers since he was 22 years old. Roosevelt is our teacher, guide and bee guru for the day.

You need to wear long sleeves, loose jeans, and closed-toe shoes. They provide the bee nets/hats and jackets. We are posing in front of some bee boxes and trying to let you see the smoke can behind us. Roosevelt really wanted the smoke to show in the picture. You can’t see the smoke.

When you arrive one of the first things you see is this sweet bee bath. I have never noticed bees bathing and drinking water before.

A close up of the bees in the bee bath floating on corks.

Selfie time

These are the boxes they use to show the public. I think they have thousands out and about nearby fields.

Roosevelt is smoking the honey bee boxes before we take a look Inside.. The smoke calms them down.

The bees were not aggressive.

Bees on the outside of the box.

The bees carry on with their work as we inspect the first frame.

The bees secrete a brown wax from their abdomens to close the cells. The yellow in some sells is pollen and the tiny white spec is a larvae. It is all very fascinating. Some cells are empty.

The yellow bag on this bees leg is pollen he has brought back to the hive.the pollen sticks to the long hairs on their legs.

Here is a guy with 2 packs of pollen.

This frame is used to raise queens. They sell 500 queens a day.

A close up of the wax cells the queens are incubated in.

When the queen is ready to mate she is put in a boxe like these. She flies out to mate and returns to the box she came from. Beeweavers queens are not artificially inseminated. I was really glad to hear that.

If you are starting your own honeybee farm you can purchase bees instead or robbing a hive. They will arrive in a box like this. I personally prefer to support local bees.

They put in the bee boxes a piece of cotton like this. The bees do not like it and they try to get it out. Their efforts fluff up the cotton and beetles get trapped in it. It is a great way to get rid of pest without pesticides.

Here is a piece of the cotton and a few trapped beetles.

Here is Roosevelt when he first joined Beeweavers. He Was a great guide and teacher.

This calf was found alone on their farm, they took him in, bottle fed him and named him buzz. I am not sure if he thinks he is a bee or people. He loves to be scratched, who doesn’t?

It was a great day despite the temperature. We learned a lot about honey bees. It was good to see a commercial bee establishment that cares about chemicals, pesticides and natural selection. A birthday gift I will remember for a long time.

Five eyes

Bees have five eyes. They have three small ocelli eyes on the top of their head, they are simple lenses that discern light intensity. They also have two very large compound eyes that contains about 6,900 facets on the sides of their head. I thought the below monoprint of Bombus Affinis (Rusty Patch) bumblebee did a good job of showing the facets.

Bombus Affinis II compound eye detail.

Bombus Affinis - looking back and comparing

I ran into the print making room to drop off some new paper. I took the opportunity to see how the last 6 compared to each other and how multiple bees might look together. I will do one more experiment and the plan the grouping.

I am really liking these 6 today. I don’t think they are your typical rendering of a bee. Any thoughts? I am glad I took the time to look at these as a group. They are inspiring me to make several different bees from different views in this same technique and showing them together. I am getting some interesting ideas of how to do it.

i will do one more experiment first.  

Technique experiment for endangered bees.

Bee technique experiment

Bombus Affinis - listed on the Endangered list 2017

Detail of head with a big white eye, thorax antenna and leg

Th ghost of Bombus Affinis

One is to heavy and ones too light. That is how they look to me wet. It is too soon to judge.

The Bees Needs

 “Modern farm economics have created an enormously productive system of genetically engineered, chemically dependent agriculture. But it relies on just one domesticated insect to deliver a third of the food on our plate.

And that insect is dying, a victim of the very food system that has come to depend on it.” - Josephine Marcotty, Star Tribune 

 http://static.startribune.com/news/legacy-apps/bees/

What the bees needs- Where you spend your grocery dollars matters, supporting local, organic farmers is supporting bees.  

Glyphosate

44” X 30” water color monotype  

The image above is the first piece I created in this body of work. I hope to start a buzz with urbanites regarding the ramifications of food purchasing habits, yard weed control and pest control in regards to the bee. 

 You can help the bees by letting our government know how you feel about our current situation. See the link below.

https://www.regulations.gov/comment?D=EPA-HQ-OPP-2009-0361-2340 

Sewing 🐝 road trip to Roam Ranch

I stitched endangered species on our  road trip to Roam Ranch near Fredericksburg. My supportive husband Curtis did the driving so I could stitch. 

I free stitched it and you can tell. Why make it by hand if you want it perfect, right?. It does look better than my regular handwriting but that isn’t saying much. 

The trip was an incredible experience; worthy of a well thought out post just on the Ranch and the stewards of the land and animals - Taylor, Katy, Cody and Julia.

One for the home team-conservationist win, we thought.

“12 neociotinoid pesticides are pulled from the market”- Muenster Enterprise

I can home Wednesday night a few weeks ago and found a newspaper clipping sitting at my place on our kitchen island. The clipping is from the Muenster Enterprise, a weekly newspaper from my husband’s hometown Muenster, Texas. Curtis reads it every week to keep up with his many cousins. He saved me the article because it reports great news for bee lovers. 

Besides 12 neonicotinoids being pulled off the shelves the EPA is now required to analyze the impact of the entire class of neonicotinoids on endangered species.   

This morning in my notices I read very disappointing news about the EPA.Even after loosing lawsuits the EPA finds ways to authorize use of chemicals that harm bees. See the below link.

https://secure.everyaction.com/vPOTL2gZnky8MGnqDAJEbA2

 Glysophate  

Artspace111 6th Annual Regional Juried Exhibition

Artspace 111 report the the artist that Hilde selected 59 artist out of 1300. Man! I feel lucky to be included. 

Sewing bee- Boundary Waters canoe area wilderness

Our son, daughter-in-law and grand dog just moved to Minneapolis. They are very adventuresome and planned a car trip with/for us to the boundary waters of their new state to hike and canoe. My daughter-in-law Alex is very supportive and helpful with my art, especially as it relates to the environment. She is the project manager at nRhythm and works closely with the Organic Consumers Association, Regeneration Canada, Regeneration International, and the Savory Institute, to name a few. Also, Griffin recently completed his MBA and is continuing his environmental work through industry. They have both been to several climate change meetings and know their way around that world. I knew Alex would be excited to help draw (or in this case stitch) attention to the plight of the bee and the impact glyphosate is making on the bees' intestinal flora.
Once we landed in Minneapolis we had a 4-hour-plus drive to our cabin. I suggested to Alex we have a driving sewing bee. She was all in. This time I supplied Madewell lined linen caps.

Map of the Boundary Waters north of Minneapolis  

the Madewell linen cap is a nice neutral color and has a leather adjustable strap. 

I like this cap because the inside of the cap is lined and that makes it easy to hide the unsightly underside of the stitching.

Above: Alex is stitching away with me as my son and husband caught up in the drive to the Boundary Waters. We discussed the Rusty Patch bumble bee, which is now on the endangered list, being one of the most important pollinators of the Northeast and northern Midwest US.

my cap - bee eyes, head and tongue 

Above- I am adding the bee thorax. This is the section the bee the wings and legs are anchored on. 

The best pollinators are extremely fuzzy. I want my bee to be an excellent pollinator so I am layering lots of randomly placed stitches in black and several different yellows. 

Above- More layers - it appears my thorax is too big for my head and eyes. I will fix that later. 

Below is some bee information we stumbled on at The End of The Trail Nature Museum . 

Here I am working on the wings and tiny legs. Stitching in a car on a curvy bumpy road is sketchy. 

I have decided I want this bee to be the Rusty Patch bumble bee so I am adding a  bit of orange/rust on the back of its abdomen. 

 https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/05/31/bombus-affinis-meet-the-rusty-patched-bumblebee-new-state-bee-minnesota

Alex’s bee was looking great I am hoping she will post a picture when she finishes.  

Below are some images from the rest of the trip.  

Griffin, Alex and Grito canoeing at Clearwater lake.  

The four of us after climbing to the top of the cliff across the lake from our cabin.  

Alex, Grito and Griffin Klement 

My soul mate checking out Clearwater lake. 

A river stop to test the possibility of one more fishing opportunity on our drive back.  

Above- strawberry plant

I would like to come back when the wild strawberry plants have fruit. Strawberries are self pollinating, their flowers are hermaphroditic. Each strawberry flower contains the male and the female pistil. That said without pollinators they produce 50% less fruit than with pollinators.  strawberries need bees too. 

Above- wild onions

Honey bees and bumble bees both visit onion blooms. 

and of course we made S’more memories.  The trip would have been perfect if our daughter could have joined us. 

We will miss these three. 

Sewing bee - stitch like nobody is watching

I am bad (or maybe it is a good thing) about hyper focusing on a subject. The subject of the moment is the plight of the bumble bee amidst the use of man made chemicals. Taking a break from my studio and catching up with my dearest friends. We had a beach based sewing 🐝.

Knowing my friends would not enjoy a beach weekend of me hyper focusing and preaching to them about how we need to do what we can to protect the bees intestinal flora from glysophate a sewing bee was a super fun solution. We stitched and caught up for hours on end breaking only to play canasta and sip a beverage or two. I see these ladies only once a year so there is a lot to catch up on.  My friends are all super supportive of my art and they are up on the latest problems for the bees intestinal flora. 

I provided pashmina scarves (in everyone’s favorite colors) and coordinating threads. We stitched cactus and bees that pollinate them. We are all from El Paso so cactus was a natural for us. 

Bag to keep our work in, (we all have bags from years past) embroidery thread, a few ball point sewing needles, tiny scissors, pencil or disappearing ink pen, embroidery hoops, and  images of bees and cactus. 

We were getting away from the pressures of everyday life so the idea was stitch like nobody is watching, no judging. No stitch is a bad stitch, and the beauty is in the imperfections. No one wants a scarf that looks machine made. 

Below are images of my pashmina bee/cactus scarf as the work progressed. I will let my friends post their own work and hopefully spread a little 🐝♥️ to their other friends. 

saguaro cactus

Prickly pear cactus 

ocotillo cactus 

yucca cactus 

mark making with thread 

barrel cactus 

this guy ended up rather large. 

scarf w stitching 

finished? I am not sure but the trip is. 

Looking at this photo I must give a tip for wearing a scarf and taking photos- pull scarf up around your neck - 🤪 aging is 👎🏻 On your neck but it comes with knowledge and that is 👍. 

If anyone would like to host a sewing bee and talk about ways to save the bees give me a shout. I am happy to send you images of bees to stitch and help out in anyway I can. 

Artspace111: 6th Annual Regional Juried Exhibition

 As an artist, I know how important it is to get your work into exhibitions. With the Texas art scene being extremely competitive, having work accepted into a beautifully juried exhibit is an honor and privilege to be appreciated. It also takes a fair amount of luck, time and it can be costly. That said I am extremely happy that I recently got lucky, “Portrait of My Cousin” was accepted into the regional Juried exhibition at Artspace 111 in Ft. Worth. The exhibit was Juried by Hilde Nelson, the Curatorial Assistant for Contemporary Art at the Dallas Museum of Art. When there is an exhibition I am interested in before I apply I always research the juror. Hilde sounds like a very interesting curator. Here is her description as described in the call.  “Her work primarily concerns contemporary art at the intersection of memory, belonging, and political visibility. She has contributed to publications and exhibitions for solo presentations of Günther Förg and Jonas Wood, as well as the recent exhibition America Will Be!: Surveying the Contemporary Landscape, an installation of the museum’s permanent contemporary collection.”

I hope to get to meet her. 

 PORTRAIT OF MY COUSIN

48” X 28” X 28”

steel, hydro stone, wire cloth, wire mesh, and baling wire

photo by Nash Baker

Portrait of My Cousin was inspired by a long exposure photograph of my cousin, Arkansas Symphony Concert Master Andrew Irvin, that captured time and movement as he played his violin. I applied the same concept of capturing time and movement in photography to abstract sculpture. The piece is physically very light and hangs from a piece of monofilament connected by a swivel from an acrylic hanger. With one light source the piece cast shadows onto the wall. The air movement in the room causes the sculpture to slowly turn changing the viewer’s perspective. The turning movement causes the 3D sculpture and 2D shadows to disappear into each other and reappear at a different perspective. This creates the abstraction of time, movement and sound energy as the Concert Master plays. The gentle movement can be as hypnotic as a beautifully executed sonata.

It is extremely generous of Artspace 111 to take the  time and trouble to host the Annual Juried regional exhibition.  :) 

Pollinators live in the ground

We all see bees, hornets, and wasps in nests, but most bees and many pollinators live in the ground. That is another reason that it just makes good sense to be very selective with what additives you put on your lawn, garden or crops. I had no idea bees lived in the ground until I started my Impact body of work. Yesterday on my walk I saw this wasp fluttering around in the grass. I hope the homeowner uses inputs that will not hurt the wasp intestinal flora. Wasps are also pollinators but they are not as effective as fuzzy bumble bees. 

Glyphosate #12 (working title) kinetic sculpture -

Editing bee parts and adding botanical elements. 

Glyphosate #10 (working title) kinetic sculpture - another floral add

Glyphosate #7 (working title) kinetic sculpture - adding some details

In order to help the large abstract shapes read as botanical or floral shapes I have added some smaller botanical shapes and vines. I think they help. 

hopefully this flower is abstracted enough but not too much. 

Here is another