And I was making such good progress… Started a new sculpture a couple days ago and it was really coming together. After overcoming the initial resistance of beginning (which never goes away, no matter how many pieces I’ve completed) I was finding my way with no more than the usual fits and starts. Some things [...]
Earlier today I finished up a proposal for a sculpture park commission. This new piece turned out so well that I think the only thing which could make it better would be to make it bigger! I thought it would be a perfect fit for this call sitting on my desk so I took some [...]
Here’s a shot of what’s on the table today. A new ladder piece, I’ll probably title it Jacob’s Ladder II, though that’s not set in stone. This one is a bit tricky. It stands 10′ tall (it’s laying sideways, that’s the bottom on the right) and mostly likely will weigh in at around 225 lbs. [...]
Four new ghost sculptures are haunting the studio today. I just got these back from the sand blaster and that soft white, freshly-blasted surface is quite striking. Now the rusting process begins.
I put together a short .pdf book about my Reliquiae series of sculptures. Click on the image below to open it or I would suggest right-click-saving due to the size (around 5mb).
Very little is as satisfying to me as work done well. When things come together, when a myriad of small decisions and acts coalesce into a greater whole, when effort has been focused into a single defining task – that is exhilarating to me. I have been known to literally sound my barbaric yawp in [...]
Progress is being made on the new work. Actually, I’m nearing the end so it is time to make one crucial cut before I can begin to wind it up. In order to complete the joints properly, I need to actually finish the surfaces which will be mated together. For the proper “feel” that I [...]
If you’d like to follow the creation and fabrication process for one of my sculptures, in this case Nexus, here is a .pdf publication I created. Click on the image below to open it or I would suggest right-click-saving due to the size (around 11mb).
Rust is a degradation of material, entropy intruding in a silent but devastating manner. Oxidation is an inevitability, something that can be held off for a time but cannot be kept forever at bay because it is an essential part of the cycle of life and death. For me, rust is a practical solution that [...]
Listening to an interview with Joel Salatin recently, he wrapped it up with some words of advice: Your grandma used to always say, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.” But that isn’t correct. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing poorly… at first. Anything worth doing has to be started somewhere, and when [...]
I do not believe it is possible to predict where Beauty will reveal itself. More importantly, I do not believe it is possible to control the revelation. We think it can be created, but that is merely a helpful fiction that allows us to continue in our work. We become skilled, spend years refining our [...]
Seeing the image of Dryad IV reminded me of this favorite shot from last winter. Finished sculptures are first sandblasted (to take off the mill scale and create a nice, even surface) and then the slow process of rusting them to their final patina begins. This was during the wintertime, which is why they’re inside. [...]
I was back in the studio today after our annual holiday vacation visiting family. Good to be back to work – it’s amazing how much I enjoy just being in the shop. I managed to finish a sculpture just before leaving, so today was a combination of getting things back in order as well as [...]
If you haven’t seen this video before, check it out. You can see what approximately 14 hours of work looks like compressed into 2 minutes. I’m finishing up the last section of Portal here as well as completing the final assembly. I was very proud of how this piece turned out.
I spent a good part of this morning grinding. The key to not (immediately) ruining your shoulders/elbows/wrists when doing this for an extended period of time, is to keep your arms in as tight to your body as possible. Don’t hang the grinder out in space like some chaotic dead weight. Keep your elbows in. [...]
