The Roundrock art space show closing today.
I have missed this guy.
Additional artist statement and title -
A few months ago I found an article online regarding equestrian women and suffrage. Specifically the role of riding aside vs riding astride and the right to vote. The side saddle is in fact a symbolic of man's empowerment over women and riding astride was used to protest for the right to vote. It is a fascinating story. Details are in the link below. http://www.lrgaf.org/articles/sidesaddles_and_suffragettes.htm
This additional historical layer in the piece's beautiful narrative calls for me to write an additional artist statement. The purpose is not to provide historical fact that can be obtained on the internet. The purpose would be to convey the experience of the suffragettes and Victorian equestrian women. To encourage the viewer to listen to the stories enscribed by ages of wear and tear, to feel the frustration women without voting rights have felt, to experience the fear women felt riding a 1200 lb. animal with no control. Below is the piece and my first attempt at this additional artist statement.
suffrage - victoria aside
10" X 20" X 30" bronze and distressed gold leaf 2014
My first attempt at rewriting my statement-
suffrage
Torn billets - whisper tales
of antiquated sexual expectations.
A single iron slipper stirrup - weighs
of masculine oppression.
A lower pommel - lames
fashionable Victorian feminist.
The crackled and distressed girth - surrenders the scars of suffrage riders.
Riding aside - symbol
of suffrage.
Peace Pigeon project #11 - inversion pigeon
Detail of tail
I have documented the steps it took to make this piece below.
10/12/2016 - I went to Clark's exotic woods today and purchased a plank of tamarind.
I plan on cutting shapes out of it to make my next pigeon.
Detail
11/11/2016
Armature and a lot of wood feathers cut.
Wood armature body and leg muff for support. It is missing the head.
Head attached and 1 tailfeather added.
11/13/2016
Pile of wood ready to turn into feathers. A little intimidating.
Tail feathers and wings attached.
11/15
Wood chip over wood chip
11/23
Back left side
Back view
Back right
I think I should call him the "tamarind inversion pigeon".
suffrage 10" X 20" X 30" bronze and distressed gold leaf
Peace pigeon project #10 Native American
I picked up these abandoned scraps of metal laying around in the metals section of TXRX labs. They work nicely to make a German beaked trumpeter pigeon with leg muffs.
German beaked trumpeter pigeon with leg muffs.
He reminds me of the symbols drawn by the Native Americans to symbolize birds.
witnessing evolution - an artful moment
November 22,
Curtis, Griffin and I went on a mid day dog walk. Griffin pointed out (evolution happening right before us) an egret hunting for food (in the neighborhood). Egrets normally hunt frogs and fish near edges of bodies of water. Hunting near four way stop signs is a change in eating habit. This egret is evolving to eat the Cuban brown anole. Houston has had an abundance of brown anoles the past few years. The brown anoles are so abundant they have pushed the green anoles to a higher habitat niche. The egret has apparently seen an opportunity and is evolving his diet to the current food environment. I hope we are not having a shortage of fish and frogs in the bayou. I do wonder why an egret would venture into a urban environment eat.
This artful moment of evolution proposes so many questions and opportunities for artful expressions. I
There is a lot of information regarding the anoles on the arboretum website.
http://houstonarboretum.org/2015/09/new-lizard-cuban-brown-anole/
playing with a new material.
Up cycled chicken wire. 😊
Not invited - Two disappointing words for any artist.
victoria aside
I submitted one of my best sculptures to the Assistance League Art exhibition at the Williams Tower. I really wanted to have a piece shown at Williams Tower. Unfortunately I receive the "not invited" email yesterday. In my heart I was not surprised. I am confident about the quality of the piece. I am not confident about my artist statement for the piece. It was one of my earlier artist statements. It is a complicated piece with many layers that take more than a glance to have meaning. First the piece is a bronze casting of a ready made. Ready mades are complicated. For more information on ready mades see the below link.
https://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/themes/dada/marcel-duchamp-and-the-readymade
also
Ready mades much like conceptual art works are more than their aesthetic surfaces. My artist statement really did not go deep enough. It did not expose and convey the beautiful layers of the piece. My current statement was factual but not compelling. I have realized for awhile that I need to work on this artist statement. Truth be know I have been procrastinating. Writing is not a pleasure or nor does it come easy. I would much rather sculpt.
The good news is the "not invited" is motivating. I will quit procrastinating. I will rewrite the statement over the holidays. I will set my sights on another local important show. (It is a little big to ship across the country so a local show is the goal.)
I would lke to congratuale my studio mate Sarah Fisher and who did get a piece acccepted in the show. She is an awesome psychological portrait artist. Her work is very compelling and she could not be a nicer person. Way to go Sarah.
I just found out that another studio mate Shangyi Hua also got a piece in the show. Shangyi's sculptures are exceptional and I am not surprised. Below is a link to her post.
https://www.facebook.com/sharlene.yu.14/posts/10211824143745664
peace pigeon project #9
And wahlaa - I caught me a pigeon.
killing time at txrx while David and Carlos work their tails off trying to get the furnace hot enough for the bronze. I pulled up all this chicken wire the txrx guys left on the ground.
I am holding the pieces together since I don't have anything to attach them with.
Notice it looks white when lit by my ca lights.
The morning light makes amazing angles in my garage when I open the door.
It looks black in daylight.
Some views in my Glassell studio
New discoveries are a treat.
Discovering a new material - wire cloth
11/17
At the temporary MFAH Glassell studio school foundry I discovered a new potential material to sculpt with. The temporary facility is the TXRX hacker space on Roberts in east Houston. Some of the TXRX guys cast in aluminum. They wrap their plaster molds in wire cloth. When they break their pieces out of the molds they leave the wire laying every where. I usually clean it up so we do not trip on it when we cast in bronze. On 11/17 there were problems that caused us to have a lot of standing around time. Out of boredom I started playing with the used wire cloth. I made a pigeon for my "peace pigeon project" I liked it so much I ended up piling it all in my car and taking it home to work with.
Discarded chicken wire
Chicken wire pigeon left in my garage. - basically it sculpt it's self.
peace pigeon project #8
Salvage copper pipe.
Copper head
peace pigeon project #7 prickly bird
Detail of thorny twig from a trifoliate orange shrub.
At least two years ago I picked up this thorny twig at Armand Bayou Nature Center. I was there to see the buffalo and go on a family hike. (If you know me then you know to sculpt life size buffalo is part of my artist plan.) The buffalo never stood up and I didn't get any usable photos of them; however, I did pick up this sweet thorny twig as we hiked the trails.
This little twig has attacked both curtis and me in our garage. It is amazingly Curtis has not thrown it away when I was not looking. I think it has found a new use- pigeon #7
I hope to cast it in bronze.
peace pigeon #7 - light as a feather
view of birds left side. He is looking back at his tail feathers. The tail is on the right.
detail of base- found object.
My drawing that inspired the series.
GERMAN BEAK - CRESTED TRUMPETER
19" X 24" charcoal 2014
Photo shoot
As an artist I spend hours, days, weeks and maybe sometimes years on a particular piece. Then I photograph the piece myself. In order to get an ok composition it takes me half a day, then a half a day editing. I know my photographes are not horrible but they are also not what a professional (artist) photographer who can compose. This summer I started looking for someone to create photographs of my work who would take the time and care I would take but, also have the knowledge about lighting and shadows that I do not. I want someone to not just shoot my work but to compose the photographs as carefully as I create my art.
A few weeks ago at the Center for contemporary craft I heard Will Michels speak about art and photography (for artist) and documenting your work. His lecture was very well organized and his photographs were stunning. Will's understanding of lighting and the way he manipulates shadows was just what I was looking for. In addition, his resume is very impressive; he teaches at Glassell, he has won numerous awards, he is one of the MFAH photographers and curated the war photography exhibit at the museum.
November 5, 2916
Will started photographing my sculptures. This is one of the photos Will took.
shake shake shake - wire II
photo by will michels
I think I made a good decision and look forward to future photo shoots with Will.
Checkout his website
A shout out to my grand doggy - Grito
11/13
I am working at home today and getting a little help from my grand doggy Grito. We are babysitting Grito while Griffin and Alex are in Morocco at the climate change meeting.
He is a sweet guy and must be missing Griffin and Alex since he is napping in the sun and snuggling up to my knee as I work on a new wire piece.
Grito found my son Griffin on Mexican Independence Day 2015 in the mountains outside San Miguel Allende. Griffin was on a thirty mile trail ride (horses). The vet' said Grito was a day away from starvation and he had numerous infected sores on his body.
Mexican Independence Day 2015.
We think he is a cur mountain dog. Curs are mixed breed treeing dogs. Grito does keep his eye out fo all squirrels and other small creatures that dare to crawl our wall.
Plus curo mountain dogs have very bizarre dew claws and Grito has very interesting few claws.
Grito keeping me company in my garage studio as I work on a new wire piece.
Just in case anyone asks- He is in a he US legally as Griffin got him a doggy visa.
He is very obedient if you speak Spanish. He only understands Spanish so Curtis and I are working on our Spanish dog commands.
Grito' commands.
He has been a pleasure but I think he is ready for Griffin and Alex to return.
Poetic moment
November 13, 2016
I experienced one of life's poetic moments this morning.
The back story: I have been working on a sculpture since 2013 called "gust" a series of bronze hats that are caught in a gust of wind. They tumble, twist and dance into frayed, tattered and torn abstracted shapes. When you consider my dedication to this body of art you will understand why this morning's walk was punctuated with a poetic moment.
Poetic moment: On a dog walk this morning my husband saw this tiny acorn cap hanging about 4' high from a single thread of a spider web. We took the dogs home and I came back to shoot this video. If you listen carefully you will hear the taptaptap of a dog walking quickly in the street to my left. As the taps get louder, the dance of this precarious tiny cap - grander.
As an artist whose focus is capturing energy through drawing and sculpture (not to mention my focus on gusts and hats) this was a moment of sheer poetry.
- "gust" (acorn) cap
One of my favorites in my "gust" series
"gust" - (acorn) cap
November 13, 2016
I experienced one of life's poetic moments this morning.
The back story: I have been working on a sculpture since 2013 called "gust" a series of bronze hats that are caught in a gust of wind. They tumble, twist and dance into frayed, tattered and torn abstracted shapes. When you consider my dedication to this body of art you will understand why this morning's walk was punctuated with a poetic moment.
Poetic moment: On a dog walk this morning my husband saw this tiny acorn cap hanging about 4' high from a single thread of a spider web. We took the dogs home and I came back to shoot this video. If you listen carefully you will hear the taptaptap of a dog walking quickly in the street to my left. As the taps get louder, the dance of this precarious tiny cap - grander.
As an artist whose focus is capturing energy through drawing and sculpture (not to mention my focus on gusts and hats) this was a moment of sheer poetry.
- "gust" (acorn) cap
"gust" one part of the series.
peace pigeon project - powder room sink
I just realized that I made my first pigeon in 2004 when remodeling a home built in 1938. The only downstairs space for a powder room was under the stairwell. The space measured 46" X 33" (that is not a typo - inches). I bought a small toilet but could not find a sink small enough. My solution was copper bucket. I mount it on 3 claw and ball feet and placed it on top of a tiny marble shelf. The faucet is the head. = peace pigeon
The handle is the tail.
It does not have the energy I like to have in all my pieces however ............ it was 2004.
The nose in the far right is Grito my son Griffin's dog. Grito is a rescue from the desert outside of San Miguel Allende. Yes he is in the US legally. Grito has his own visa.
Bronze pour 11/10
Recycling 31.95 lbs.
Weighing the bronze
Building up the heat.
Warming the bronze before adding it to the crucible.
Putting on my protective gear- leather chaps, leather shirt, insulated gloves with welding gloves over and wire mesh face hard and helmet.
The actual pour- David Medina in the dead man position with Carlos Garcia pouring the bronze. My job is covering the pieces with tiles to keep the sand out of the shells and having them uncovered as each piece is poured and then recovered (and to make sure I am out of David and Carlos' way). kris poured sand around the pieces to keep them warm and stabilized. John was also on hand to add spar set should we have any leaks.
Excess bronze poured into inget molds.
The new set up at TXRX took to long to heat the bronze and I need 75+lbs. to pour mine so we just poured a few small pieces. We will pour my pieces next Thursday. 😊
peace pigeon project #6 - grounded
Roots
These roots have been taking up space in my work area for at least three years. It feels so good to finally use them.
Rear view
Drawing that inspired the series.
German beak trumpeter pigeon with leg muffs
peace pigeon project #5 - - found object
Peace pigeon # 5 - found object
I think they make a great pigeon. I will not weld these two pieces together because part of the beauty is the balance of the body on the legs and the light that breaks through between the two objects. Welding would ruin that.
It even has the leg muff that the German beak trumpeter pigeon has.
This guy is resting not in motion as are the other pieces in the series.