Andy White Anthropology
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A Tale of Two Birds

6/5/2018

 
I think my decision to "just say no" to art commitments for a while is already paying off. Changing the question of "what do I need to do" to "what do I want to do" felt like removing the handcuffs yesterday when I got out to my garage, and I busted out a quick piece that I'm really happy with: "Music Box."
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Carolina wrens are among my favorite parts of living in Columbia. If you've never been around these birds, you probably don't truly appreciate how loud and bold a pocket-sized bird can be. They sing all day, starting before sunrise. Sometimes they sing all night. If you leave your lawn chair for five minutes you may find a nest in it by the time you get back. They often fly into my garage even while I'm working, completely unfazed by the noise, sparks, and smoke.

"Music Box" was scaled around the neck of a trashed mandolin that one of my local supporters, Susan James, gave me. The body is shaped around a piston from an automobile engine, and the head and shoulders are made from a doorknob. The wings are made from some of the mandolin body and a clock gear. I used the strings (in need of being changed years ago) from my own guitar.

I'm still thinking about what exactly this one "means," beyond the obvious connection between wrens and their songs. As I was working on this and thinking about it, I found myself listening to REM's "Everybody Hurts" over and over again. It's a song about hanging on, especially though long, lonely nights. I think what resonates for me is the unending, self-contained spirit of these tiny, fearless birds whose morning songs signal that the day is right around the corner.

​The second bird is "The Red," an owl made from an old red gas tank I bought from a junk store in eastern North Carolina during a trip this spring with my daughter. I bought the tank for $5 (I tried to get it for $2, but Windy could tell I wanted it) not knowing what it would be. "The Red" by Chevelle popped into my head on the way back from TAG and it the piece was there to be made.
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I had a few art lessons as a little kid. One of the things that one of the teachers said that stuck with me was "nothing is ever one color." The water is blue, but it's not all the same blue. The shadows are dark, but they're not the same dark. Seeing the variation is one thing; capturing it in art is something else altogether.

One of the things I wanted to do with "The Red" is take that simple little "red" gas tank and let loose the different shades and textures. Emotions, like objects that we can see and touch, are complex, variable, and never all one color.

I perched this one on an old 1930's lamp stand, cut so the owl is about at eye level.

I'm kind of fascinated by this one because of its connection to internal combustion. It's made from a gas tank. It has the glass fuel petcock inside. It has spark plugs. It's a post-steam creature that produces power by burning within. I kept thinking of that line from "Red Dawn" where the guy says that the anger inside keeps him warm. 

I captured the making of "The Red" on video. Enjoy!​
Diane link
6/5/2018 09:33:15 am

I love your artistry! I’m interested in buying the bird you are currently working on if it is for sale. Enjoy the day!

Andy White
6/6/2018 05:50:11 am

Thanks Diane! I'm not yet sure about selling it. I think I'm going to live with it a while first. It may end up as part of a "set."

pferk
6/5/2018 09:34:10 am

Love the owl,...love that Music Box.
Most interesting video.

Perhaps you can start a black market for your creations. Label: Atlantean High-Tec artifacts. Then watch the money roll in..

kep up the lovely work.

Andy White
6/6/2018 05:50:46 am

I just need to find some alloys that are unknown to modern science -- then I'm off and running!

Bob Jase
6/6/2018 05:13:07 am

I've had Carolina Wrens nesting just a few feet from my back door but I rarely see them, they are the bigfoot of birds.

Music Box is great but a lot of folks must get confused trying to figure out how to wind it.

Andy White
6/6/2018 05:51:14 am

Operator error is not my problem. I'm just the idea guy.

Uncle Ron
6/6/2018 05:12:07 pm

Andy, You continue to amaze and delight. The mandolin neck as a bird's tail is inspired!
Don't get over-wrought over what things "mean." Madonna once said, when an interviewer asked her what some abstruse song lyrics meant, "The lyrics mean what the song means." Just keep composing your song.

Andy White
6/8/2018 05:54:36 am

Thanks for the comment, Uncle Ron.

I don't see it at all as getting "over-wrought." There's much more to art (at least on the doing side) than just the aesthetics of the final product. I like to write a little about context and process just as much for my own notes as for anyone else that happens to be interested. These things don't just come out of nowhere.

Uncle Ron
6/10/2018 05:56:59 pm

You're right about them not coming out of nowhere! Your imagination, to see a pile scrap metal and understand how it can be transmogrified into something almost alive and breathing, is remarkable.
Overwrought was a poor choice of words. I meant that I'm not a big fan of deconstruction, with all the "causes" and "meanings" that often (speaking for myself, of course) tarnishes the wonder - awe, if you will - that art inspires. I can see the "much more to art . . . on the doing side," (i.e. the craft) and I appreciate that too. I get a chuckle seeing how you incorporate recognizable bits. But no one can truly feel your inspiration; and I don't need to. I am satisfied with the awe.
Anyway, I like your work.


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