Horizons

A bit of an update:

Bisque fired stoneware. I always forget how much I love working with the figure... I gotta get more into this. Anatomy is great.

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Walking Landscape #2 is finished. Blown glass atmospheres are epoxied into place. The wood is sanded to 400 and finished with an oil rub.

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These landscapes are created from the waste emulsion from my recent scratch film. They will be mounted onto wooden frames that will all hang at different distances from the wall. The horizon line connects the small landscapes to one another, and the staggered distance alters their relationship as you walk around the piece. I'm gonna make like five more of them.

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 This is a photo collage I'm working on titled "M/Otherland"

These are all photos my father took during the time he fell in love with my mother in Colorado, where I was born. While I have no waking memory of these places, I'm incredibly drawn to them. I feel like these are photos of memories I've had and lost. They're samples of my sense of unknown belonging to the Rocky Mountains and the place I was born. The title at once describes my longing for my motherland, and the otherness I feel as a stranger to that land.

The photos are all aligned by their horizon line, connecting them to each other. Together, they create a surreal landscape of Colorado. Pictured above is my mother on a mountain slope, below is my father's truck we all used to camp in.

Scratch Animation

Here is the digitized version of the animation I made a few weeks ago. The following is just a test, just a study for a longer version I'll be starting soon.

This was done completely by hand, completely without a camera, on 16mm film.



I've been working with the concept of migratory identity; where you are is who you are. So, I took the symbol of the red "You Are Here" dot commonly found on maps and allowed it to transform during animation. I used the scratch marks from removed emulsion on the film to signify fast movement. The second half in color looks like a landscape when laid out horizontally. The audio featured is created by mark making on the optical section of the film. The projector catches these anomalies and creates sound.

Grease in the Gears

For the past few weeks I've been sort of treading water as far as my thesis work goes, but now I'm ready to kick it back into high gear. I feel like I'm finally really on the ball :) Alot happened this week that has really motivated me.

I received a grant for $500 to build my sculptures. I'll get an exhibit at the Research Fair this Spring as well.  Now I can afford the right tools and materials I've been waiting for!

Sculptor David Knopp, who I met at the Tri-State Conference, was kind enough to let me raid his studio for scraps. I filled my car with as much as possible, and now I've got quite a bit of material to work with!

He even gave some beautiful laminated mahogany...

Check out David Knopp's work:

And last but not least, I landed an interview with City Arts Apartments, which is a brand new complex being built in Station North, Baltimore. It's government funded low-income housing that is designated for artists. The ground floor will be a gallery. There's even a bicycle parking garage!! This interview is the final stage of the application, and if accepted, I'll be moving in this May :)

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Last weekend I went on a road trip to upstate New York and Vermont to uninstall some artwork at Salem Art Works. Very cool place- it's a non profit art center that hosts resident artists. They grow their own food, and people can live there for free in exchange for farm work. There's facilities for sculpting metal, wood, and ceramics. Plus, its beautiful out there!

Much of my thesis concept is based on landscape and its effects on personal identity; it was great to be back in the mountains, remembering how they feel. 

I took a billion landscape shots I'll be using in my thesis.

Scrrrratch

I've got some reels of exposed 16mm film. I've been getting the emulsion wet, then scratching it off. Then I draw on each frame of the film, so that when it's played through the projector, the drawings and scratch marks become animated.

This is camera-less film making.

The scratched off emulsion makes a great fibrous ink which dries hard, so I've been making some 6x6" landscapes with it that will be displayed triptych style.

This landscape will run through the projector and look like its wiggling. 

A"moving landscape"

I'll post the digitized video of this animation soon!!

Craigslist

I think it's important to mention how valuable Craigslist is to a working artist, especially in an industrial town like Baltimore. I've recently gotten in the habit of checking the listings every day, much like I check my inbox and Facebook. It's paid off- I got a GREAT deal on a vintage road bike that I now ride every day for my commute. The seller made all the adjustments for my fit and installed new bar tape for free. Nice guy, not as sketchy as I thought it would be.

I recently watched a documentary on Craigslist and the people behind the ads- it's pretty interesting, and you can watch it for free here.

Most of the time you'll only find crap, but every now and then something will come along that is PERFECT for the project you're working on. The diversity of things available is astounding, and its definitely worth a habitual gander.

Some interesting finds from my search today:

1500 plaster molds for ceramic casting

A cheap kiln for firing ceramics in your own basement

A whole pile of cut cedar lumber

A TIG welder for only $300

soooo many more tools...

Every now and then a contractor sells his extra tools and materials from a build, or a warehouse gets cleaned out and you can take all their storage units. Neat stuff.

If you check the housing ads, there's almost always some kind of spare room for rent to artists as a studio space. Sometimes a big warehouse gets bought, and you can purchase xft^2 for your own work space, which is an awesome deal. There's also ads placed for open call art shows, auctions, craft and festival booths, and art dealers.

As always, be careful who you talk to and what information you give. But if you're smart about it, Craigslist can be your most valued tool as an artist.

Helluva Weekend

Jam packed weekend to be had. And its only Saturday.

On Thursday, Maryland Public Television stopped by to shoot a segment on Tim McFadden in the glass shop. You will see me on TV in about 4 weeks. The camera crew said that the segments are usually posted online as well, so you'll all get to see the footage here once its up!

Tiny camera, giant Timmy.

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Later that night there were several art openings to go to.

 First up is the "Space Invaders" installation by the Towson sculpture grad students in the Towson Commons Gallery.

This is a ball pit installation by Vincent Valerio

This is a room of motion activated inflating fabric forms by Rob Guevara, and me smooshed between them.

After that opening, I headed over to Goucher's Rosenberg Gallery to see the new show curated by my thesis committee member Laura Amussen. It's a baller show, I highly recommend seeing it!!

After that, I headed downtown to Pig Town's up and coming Gallery 788 on Washington Blvd, near Camden Yards. I had a piece featured in their first annual Erotic Arts show which is a celebration of sexuality in visual arts. It was a HUGE hit!! The whole gallery was packed shoulder to shoulder, and people were pouring into the streets waiting to get in. $5 got you a Gallery 788 cup, and $1 got you refills all night long. There was music, there were people wearing nothing but paint, there was slam poetry and burlesque.

Here is Roma Mafia opening the night's performances, popping balloons as she goes.

Packed. Awesome.

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Friday began the three day Tri-State Sculpture Conference. There are lots of lectures from amazing artists, and demos on equipment and process. 

Learning how to TIG weld cast bronze

Learning how to stack laminate plywood from David Knopp

Learning how to create 2 part resin bonded sand molds for casting iron and aluminum. 

The conference continues all day today, then tomorrow moves to UMD for the annual iron pour. Check it out!!

Progress

I've been mad busy with all my studio work, which I've been trying to document as best I can.

Biggest news, I got my own bench space thanks to the object design department. Unfortunately, sculpture at Towson doesn't have the space for advanced undergraduate studios, so I have no consistent place to work. It was very nice of the jewelry ladies to offer me this space :)

I like the way they think in here. 

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Here's a carved wooden body with holes for glass to fit. I'm in love with forstner bits.

The wood's been sanded super smooth and oiled up.

And the glass forms (from wooden molds) were epoxyed in.

Wooden molds for glass, you say? Why, yes. It's a process I'm still developing- lots of experiments to be had. There's alot of fire.

This is what it looks like once the glass has been annealed and cooled- it fits right back into its mold. The glass and the wood both become parts of the finished piece.

Only the top portion was for molding, the rest of the sculpture still needs to be laminated and carved. It'll eventually stand on three pointed legs as a tripod, glass and all.

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Ceramics has me making a self portrait in stoneware,

which I decided to chop up.

Each portion of the face will be fired to cone 6, then mounted onto casters for gallery installation.

Somethin like this.

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In other news, I have a piece showing at Gallery 788 in Baltimore next Thursday, Oct 10th. 

Opening runs from 6-10 and the show is open till Oct 31st.

788 Washington Blvd, Baltimore MD, 21230