Day 90 - 365/2014

Day Ninety

I am very pleased to have the opportunity to act as assistant to Joanne Bandoni, the producer of The Northville Art House's All-Media Juried Art Exhibition West of Center.  I'd like to share the information about the show and the Call for Entries.


The Northville Art House is excited to announce that Robert Schefman has been chosen to be West of Center’s 2014 Juror.

 

A native of Detroit, renowned fine artist Robert Schefman is currently the Chair of the Foundations Department, and Associate Professor at the College for Creative Studies.  Robert holds a BFA from Michigan State University, and an MA in Sculpture and MFA from the University of Iowa.  His work, in both solo and group exhibitions, has been shown extensively in galleries and museums in New York and Michigan, (including the DIA) and throughout the United States in numerous private and public collections.  He is represented locally by the Robert Kidd Gallery in Birmingham, MI.  Robert's work can be viewed at his website.
 
West of Center is a nod to the Art House’s location as well as its mission to bring the community something unexpected, edgy, and compelling - an eclectic, contemporary art exhibit that showcases a wide range of accomplished pieces.  Last year’s West of Center featured bronze, glass, mosaic, graphite, wood, acrylic, mixed media, assemblage, photography and more.

Applications with jpegs on CD’s must be hand-delivered or shipped to the Northville Art House to arrive by April 12th, 5:00 pm, 2014.  The downloadable pdf Call for Entries is also available at this link.  

Cash Awards

• First Place -- $300
• Second Place -- $100
• Third Place -- $50
• Fourth Place -- $50

The 6th Annual West of Center All Media Show will open with a reception, First Friday, June 6, from 6-9 p.m.  Awards and Juror's talk will begin at 8 p.m. The exhibition will run through June 28.

Day 89 - 365/2014

Day Eighty-Nine

Today I have been trying to plan ahead a little...add things to the working calendar... projects for possible submissions, Art House exhibits I am working on, getting back to Art-o-mat (eventually), and hopefully some collaboration(s) with Terri.

I sketched a little bit about the wooden cigar boxes...I have a few ideas and they would most likely be for November.

I was thinking that before I get a whole lot farther with the hatchling guy I ought to figure out a way to get hanging wires incorporated into his structure.  I tried drilling holes into the flattest parts but I couldn't drill all the way through.  I think it was a combination of nerves, drill bit was just a tad short, and/or the drill was running into the wire hangers inside of the body.  At least I didn't make it snap apart.

Then I was looking around in Studio B, trying to choose something that might be complete-able by the end of next month.  I uncovered a couple of oh-yeah-those-guys I totally forgot about...this guy with the really long horns...

 

...and the little ceramic robot-y head guy...but he needs arms/hands.  Then I uncovered a set of hands and feet.

Those hands and feet were going to be for a soft sculptured body but I lost interest in it.  They might work for the robot-y guy.  But I would have to take the knobs off to be able to attach them to the plaster cloth securely.

And I couldn't remember what made his legs so heavy...oh yeah...airline-sized vodka bottles.

Okay, so now...how long should the arms be?

Luckily I only used the caps of the empty glue sticks for his arms because they came right out after wiggling them a little.  That allowed me to "bend" the hands upward a bit...give him some elbows (sort of).

I think I have decided against these feet for him.

But here is the real question -- can he fly? 

And here he is after working on him with the wet plaster cloth tonight.  I needed to build up his torso area (I can't remember what's under there right now) but it sounded (and felt) like it needed more layers.  I also thickened the plaster cloth on his legs and strengthened both of his index fingers...one of them had a hairline crack.

And here are the two guys I together...they are kind of cracking me up.

Day 88 - 365/2014

Day Eighty-Eight

No photos with this blog entry because today has been an errand day, as well as doing the paperwork/intake on a few more submissions for "West of Center".   I really love doing this sort of thing!

I am also battling some physical stuff today and I am pretty medicated...not really able to work on much at this point.  Tomorrow will be better...back to being more creatively productive.

Day 87 - 365/2014

Day Eighty-Seven

More progress on the hatchling guy.

This is the rest of the old Devil's Fingers vine that used to be antlers on the Atomic Fireball Happy Hour guy.  The tape is joining two sections.

Tonight I wrapped the end of the tail section with more Scott paper rags and tape...then I put on lots and lots of plaster cloth.  I also added a small paper-only section to tip of the tail to finish it off and make one last curve.

And when I was nearly done I received the suggestion to add one more free form paper-only section to really curl the tip of the tail.

And this is how it turned out.

I think I figured out (earlier today) that I will display him with a section of his lower body flat against the wall with a couple of secure wires...those still need to be added.  This is how he looks flat against the wall.

And then one more shot with him more stable on the chair.

I am pretty happy with this guy's progress so far.  I hope the last sections will be as solid as I am expecting them to be.

Day 86 - 365/2014

Day Eighty-Six

I had two really great meals and visits with two wonderful friends today.  Reaaally, really nice.

My hands/arms are pretty messed up still and threatening to go numb (but not quite all the way) so I am not working on anything again today.  Hopefully, tomorrow.

Day 85 - 365/2014

Day Eighty-Five

Man --  l-o-n-g  day!   Dentist appointment this afternoon (just cleaning) and then I accompanied my sister to a job interview but I waited in the car for her.  Oh my gawd...4:45 - 8:45.  No kidding.  I went in and used the restroom at the 7:15 point and some of the people she was up against were in the bathroom and complaining about how long it was taking, yada yada yada...I went back out to my car.

Then I started seeing a few of the people who were in the room Sue was in (when I peeked in on the way to the restroom) and they were leaving so I figured either it was that her last name starts with a "W" and they were going alphabetically OR she was going to be the last one standing.

TA-DAAAAAAAAAA!!!

Sue got the job!!!!

I am very happy and excited for her...I'm not going to say anything else about the job because she has to do orientation first and the drug test has to come back (they did it there, tonight) (as if she is going to fail the drug test) and I don't want to jinx anything.

But pretty much -- yes, she has the job!!!

(I am really done for tonight...that was a lot of sitting in the car.)

Day 84 - 365/2014

Day Eighty-Four

Yay, a small (long overdue) triumph...and wet plaster cloth!

This morning my sister Sue and I finally took all of the Second Thursday supplies/materials purge items to The Scrap Box in Ann Arbor.  Between the hideous winter and coordinating our available days it has taken us way too long to do something that only took about an hour or so.  Ann Arbor isn't that far...it just feels far because it is mostly highway driving...the kind of deer-at-the-side-of-the-road or long-car-trip kind of highway driving vs city highway driving...big open spaces vs lots of exits and traffic.

guest bathroom -- before

guest bathroom -- after -- that is ONE box of framing/matting stuff that I am keeping...I just didn't move it yet.

the longer view -- before

the longer view -- after

Whew -- what a relief!

And before it got dark tonight I wanted to work on the plaster cloth hatchling guy a little bit.  I wanted to use the available light from the skylight in Studio B.  I worked on him from 6-7 (which may not seem like a long time, but me working standing up doing wet plaster cloth work for one hour is pretty much equal to me cutting images while sitting in my recliner for two hours).

before

during -- I wrapped those Scott paper rags around him to give him some instant bulk.

after -- I am pretty happy with how he is coming along.

I have areas to work on that are flat and the curves need to be a little curvier...but overall, this was a good session.

I like this guy again.  There is much to figure out for his tail and how I will eventually display him but I don't need to think about that just yet.  It is still pretty early, but my back and legs are telling me I'm done for the night...I had hoped to work on that new canvas/collage some more tonight...but, nope.

Day 83 - 365/2014

Day Eighty-Three

A little clearing/sorting/putting away...and a little bit of papering.

Hey -- I cleared off the front of my desk!

Studio B - before

Studio B - after -- still a way to go, but at least I can walk around in there again...and the really big box (in front of the rabbit guy) will be gone tomorrow.

I pulled the nails from the back of the newly acquired oil painting to release it from its frame and removed the hanging wire and screw eyes...and slathered on the matte medium.

This is the very wet first layer of papers...much more to come, no doubt!

I have a long day of car loading/car driving/car unloading/car driving/walking around/sitting in the restaurant/driving home ahead of me tomorrow...this is all that my back and legs could put up with for tonight.

Day 82 - 365/2014

Day Eighty-Two

Or maybe Biteyou's background/horizon will be a regular lawn or hill or something with a Little Prince-inspired planet behind him in the sky.  Clearly, not like this...but I wanted to see how it might look.

I've been mostly fooling around today, avoiding doing the million things I really ought to be working on...a few did get some attention.  (I hurt a lot today.)

Day 81 - 365/2014

Day Eighty-One

Today my sister Sue and I went to a really great estate sale in Northville Township run by my friend Teresa and her company Estate Sales in Michigan.  I had a very successful trip -- I was able to get many of the items that I wanted the most that I saw in the photos that are posted on Teresa's Facebook page.  Wow.  The sale is also on tomorrow -- if you are in the area, stop by -- great stuff!  Oh, and it is cash-only...so go prepared...we had to run to the bank and back really fast.

This painting is HUGE -- it wouldn't fit across the back seat of my car...we had to steer it in through the hatchback and wedge it in between the two front seats.

And I thought that the Biteyou canvas was big...heh!

And I snagged six wonderful wooden cigar boxes that are in great shape and all the same.  I already have a project earmarked for these!  (Thank you to Teresa's sister for bringing them up from the sale's basement for me -- I just could not go down and back up one more flight of stairs at that point.)

And yep -- I finally took the plunge -- I figured if I was going to get myself a sewing machine I would want an older model with no bells and whistles...and bonus -- this one has the table.  Man -- it only weighs about 900 lbs -- thank you SO much to Steve for carrying it down the stairs at the sale and getting it into my car.  Thank you SO much to Sue for helping me get it out of the car -- and -- for helping me pick up all of the pins and needles and buttons and spools that fell out of the tabley part...LOL. 

I am pretty excited about today's acquisitions -- the sewing machine has its original manual, but I am going to need a lot of coaching.  Hopefully it won't need much tuning up.  Now I get to buy colorful thread!!! 

Day 80 - 365/2014

Day Eighty

So I've been thinking about Biteyou today and what sort of things I might do with his collage/canvas.

I know I started out wanting to paint a big picture but Biteyou (in his painted state) is a very large part of that canvas.  I am a lot more comfortable with collage and constructing/assembling things with paper and sometimes maybe stretching it to sewing...so how about if I combine a little of this and a little of that...hmmm.

I've had the idea in my head that Biteyou is outside at night and the inclusions in that black paper have been seeming to me like stars or night sky things.  And when I think of that scenario, I kind of think of putting a sort of planet-type background behind him...and the images that come to mind first are the wonderful illustrations from Antoine de Saint-Exupery's "The Little Prince".  Perhaps I can work out something that is heavily influenced/inspired by those.

I'm still just in the very beginning stages of fooling around with ideas...nothing is glued down yet (or even totally figured out yet).  I don't know yet how detailed I want things to be, etc.

Okay -- I brought Biteyou out and grabbed a handful of various paper scraps in green tones.

The only reason I tried to sketch anything out was purely for an example for the blog...I know what I'm seeing, but it is hard to explain.

Closer view of buildings on a planet background.

My major influence/inspiration for this idea.

The first few trial shapes.

Another building in a different size...man...this could really take off and get pretty detailed with all sorts of assemblies in paper and/or fabric...or both...

My head is spinning with ideas!

Day 79 - 365/2014

Day Seventy-Nine

Today I have been looking through a new book that arrived a few days ago.

new embroidery book

ALSO today I received confirmation that I have a juror for the show I am producing  at the Northville Art House in September...which is inspiring me to start working on the wording of the show's description for the Call for Entry form.  I am so excited I can hardly stand it!

file for paperwork for Menagerie

AND -- all that stuff that has been in storage in my guest bathroom...the supplies and materials that my Second Thursday friends and I weeded out of our personal stashes...I am finally packing it all up and my sister and I will drive it to the recycle/re-use-it center.  Finally.  Wow.

storage room/guest bathroom