Category: Sculpture

Art News: New Photo Gallery, Etsy Store, and Upcoming Show Entries

8/10/2017

Summer is almost over, and the beginning of the academic part of my year looms in the near future. I was able to spend quite a bit of time on my art hobby this summer, beginning with stocking up for my May/June show at Tapp's and continuing to make stuff at a pretty rapid clip up until our family vacation. I won't be putting my workshop into mothballs, but archaeology will put the brakes on the art until the spring.

I've spent some time at the end of the summer taking photographs and creating a store on Etsy for the items that are for sale. I've also entered some pieces in upcoming shows and contributed one piece to a nonprofit auction. The "Art" section of my website is reorganized (and still under construction). Here's the rundown:

Photo Gallery

I've created a new photo gallery to make easier to see the range of individual pieces. Clicking on an image takes you to a page with more photos of the piece. Eventually, I plan to write a short narrative/description for each piece. I'd like to make 360 degree videos, also, but that probably won't happen anytime soon.

The photos with light backgrounds were taken while the pieces were at Tapp's. Those with gray fabric background were taken by me on my back deck. I discovered that the lighting back there is excellent on an overcast day or between about 3:00 and 4:00 when it's sunny. I'm pretty happy with the photos I've been taking, and I plan to offer some signed/numbered prints for sale once I find a good combination of size, price, and quality. Watch this space for details if you're interested.

Etsy Store

I've opened an Etsy store so that the pieces that I've got for sale have an online home equipped with a sales mechanism. I sold two pieces at Tapp's ("Cockfight" and "Heron #1") and have since sold two more ("The First Rooster" and "Wilson"). Whether or not my work will sell through Etsy I do not know.

The Etsy store's ten listings include both pieces that were for sale at Tapp's and a couple ("Roller Skate" and "Third of July") that I created since that show ended. I'll add new pieces as they become available.

As I mentioned above, I'm also planning on offering some prints for sale. Those will be available through the Etsy store.

[Update 8/12/2017: The first print -- a signed and numbered 8x10 of "The First Rooster" -- is now available at my Etsy shop. If they sell I'll do more. If not, I've got my Christmas card issues solved for years to come.]

Show Entries

I've entered three pieces in upcoming juried shows (a juried show means that a "jury" sifts through the entries and throws out those are unsuitable prior to judging). I entered a piece in the Rosewood Art & Music Festival that takes place in my local area at the end of September. I also entered two pieces in the South Carolina State Fair. Unlike last year, I'm now considered a "professional" for fair purposes, having made money from my work.

ZOOfari Auction

As I reported a few days ago, I'm contributing my hermit crab sculpture "Old Ben" to the ZOOfari auction. I have no idea, of course, what kind of money the piece will fetch. It is one of the smaller things I've made but does a good job of capturing the personality of a large hermit crab. Plus I've been told it's a great use of a 1 iron, which is reportedly a tricky club to use. I wouldn't know, as I don't play golf.

And now you are up-to-date. As always, you can follow work in progress on the Zero Point Mechanic page on Facebook.

"Old Ben" Is Going on the Auction Block

8/5/2017

I'm happy to announce that I'm contributing a piece of sculpture to be auctioned off as part of the ZOOfari event at Columbia's Riverbanks Zoo and Garden. The event is on September 22. Proceeds go to support the zoo's programs.

While I agreed to participate months ago, it has taken me a long time to decide what to contribute. I have finally made peace with letting go of "Old Ben," a hermit crab sculpture I made this summer.

"Old Ben" is made mostly from discarded things I picked up in my neighborhood, including a golf club, the blade from a garden lopper, nuts and bolts from lawnmowers, and part of a staple gun. The whelk shell is one I collected from the beach myself -- probably from Edisto.

It's difficult for me to let go of any of the things I've made, and this piece is no exception. I'm going to miss this guy. I hope he finds a good home.

Sculpture Gallery Updated

6/11/2017

I didn't think it would happen, but it did: after my final push to finish new work for the Afterburner re-opening, I needed a break from the garage. I busted my butt for several sweaty, grimy weeks and got seven new things pushed out of my head. The Tapp's people helped me move them, and they did a wonderful job rearranging everything to integrate the new pieces. The place looked great on opening night, the weather cooperated, and there was a steady stream of people coming through. I enjoyed talking to everyone I met.

"Afterburner" reopening . . . once again I only remembered to take about four photos.

I didn't make any new sales that night. The show isn't over yet (it runs until the 23rd), but it looks like I'll need to find homes for some of the larger pieces (I love them, but my backyard can only support so many large animals). If you're interested, have a look at what's for sale. If you like one of the larger ones and have a good plan for what to do with it, I'll talk turkey on price (contact Tapp's) and may be willing to discuss donating after the show is over in cases where a piece could be displayed in public (or in a business, etc.). In any case, this experience has helped me learn how to look forward to what's next in addition to looking back. That makes it easier to let things go.

I haven't taken the time lately to write individual "how I made it" blog posts, but I did update the Gallery page with some photos of recently completed work.

And who knows what's next. I spent a few days shoehorning my old record player and 8-track into a sewing table. Then I reorganized my workshop. Then yesterday I started working on an owl made from an antique roller skate.

My newly-rearranged work space, now with record player (center back wall).

If you're interested in keeping up with what I'm working on, consider following the Zero Point Mechanic page on Facebook.

"Afterburner:" Extended and Augmented

5/26/2017

I'm happy to announce that my solo sculpture exhibit at Tapp's Arts Center has been extended through June 23, 2017. There will be a "re-opening" on June 1 at 6:00, hopefully without the severe weather that accompanied the first opening in May. Here is the event on Facebook if you're interested and in the area.

Since the semester ended (I'm on a 9-month contract with the University), I've had the luxury of taking a step back from the day-to-day grind of the academic world and spending more time in my garage. The results of that are that: (a) I'm in a better mood; and (b) I've finished several new pieces that will be added to the show. Some of the new stuff will be for sale and some will not. There are few pictures of some of the new pieces in my last blog post. Here are a few more:

"Diamond."

"The Last of the V8 Interceptors."

"Grace" being hoisted. I wanted to make sure I could use my crane to lift her 3' off the ground so we could get her into the bed of a pickup.

My short-term plan has been to "use down" my stock of material so that I have an excuse to finally visit the local scrap yard (there are several particular things I want that I'll probably never find on the curb). While all of my recent work has used up a lot of stuff, however, I keep accumulating. I'm at a point where what I'm making is significantly affected by what I'm hauling home on a day-to-day basis -- it's fun, but I'm afraid it isn't making much of a dent in the amount of stuff I have on hand. Grace and several other pieces still have to stay out of the weather until I decide what, if anything, I want to put on them to protect them, so it's getting pretty cozy in there. Someday, perhaps, I'll have a larger space and I'll fondly remember the time I spent sweating my ass off in a tiny garage trying to find a horizontal surface on which to set my beer on that wasn't covered in scrap metal or rat crap.

There are several days until I deliver the new pieces to Tapp's. I'm going to have some flexibility during that time. I may produce a few more things, or I may just sleep a lot. Maybe I'll manage to do both.

The News from Andyland: I'm On Staycation

5/18/2017

With the Spring 2017 semester in the books, I have developed an allergy to firing up my laptop. I apologize if you wrote me an email and I didn't answer.

Anyway, I've got all sorts of things worth writing about but very little desire to actually spend time writing about them. So I'll just post some highlight blurbs and photos.

38FA608: What's in the Basement?

I spent last week with several student volunteers (I named them Deep Team 11) excavating a unit in the "downstairs" portion of 38FA608 (the site of the Broad River Archaeological Field School). The goal of the excavation was to learn something about what lies beneath the deposits exposed in the deep profile. If you followed along with my weekly blog posts during field school, you know that we made two attempts to excavate units (Units 7 and 10) below the wall. The area near the wall is artificially low and the matrix is soft sand: water that collected during two heavy rains significantly damaged both units and I gave up trying to excavate there on a one-day-per-week schedule.

Deep Team 11 in action.

Our new unit (Unit 11) was a 2 x 1.5 m unit that articulated with the previously damaged unit. We had four straight days without rain and managed to get down about 80 cm below the existing surface. We hit an interesting sediment change beneath the lamellae, getting into a zone with more clay and very distinct grey/orange mottles that (I presume) were likely associated with seasonally-shifting wet/dry conditions. Right at that transition, we encountered a scatter of large rocks and several pieces of angular quartz in a relatively thin horizontal zone. On first look in the field, none of these items appeared to be unequivocally modified by humans, but I have yet to think of a better explanation for how they got there. We'll see once we get everything washed up. I'm considering pulling the trigger to date a piece of charcoal from the lowest sediment zone, which would at least help nail down the early end of the top 3 m of deposits in the levee.

Some of the rocks exposed in level 7 of Unit 11. Above and below this relatively constrained zone that contained large rocks and small pieces of angular quartz, the sediments were largely devoid of any material.

The north wall profile of Unit 11. The rocks/quartz zone was at the interface of the brown sand and the redder sediment beneath (at about the depth of the "38 FA 608" text on the photoboard).

R.I.P., Chris Cornell

I don't usually get too emotional about celebrities passing away, but this morning's announcement of the death of Chris Cornell was like getting punched in the gut. To me, he was a rare bird with an amazing combination of technical ability, vision, creativity, ferocity, and nuance. Badmotorfinger (1991) is on the short list of albums that really changed how I felt about music and art: it was on heavy rotation for many years of my life. My friend and former bandmate Nadine commented on Facebook this morning that Cornell was "one of my best teachers." I would echo that. He went for it, all the time. He pushed, he explored. Sometimes you "miss" when you're out on the edge, but that's what happens when you're out on the edge. And being out there is part of being an artist. He was only 52 and had tornadoes of good music left in him. I've been playing his music all morning with a lump in my throat.

Like Water, Sculptures Fill Empty Space

My wife has been out of town this week, so I've been holding down the home front on my own. I've used almost every scrap of time in the 4-5 between when I get the kids to school in the morning and when I have to switch gears to pick them back up again to work in my garage. I've been indulging myself, and I've been making a lot of stuff. I'd rather spend the time making things then writing about them, so here are a few pictures of what I've been working on.

"Grace" (right) is done, "Beauty" (left) remains a collection of parts.

Close-up of Grace's head. It ended up being closest to Titanoceratops, for what that's worth.

I made a koala.

"Bullet."

Yesterday I started on a vulture. I'm going to work on it today as soon as I get done with this blog post.

I'll Drink to That

Like much of the free world, I breathed a sigh of relief at the news that Robert Mueller had been appointed Special Counsel to head the Russia/Trump investigation. My understanding is that things will probably go dark for a while as he takes over and does his job. I had a choice of two bottles of wine to open last night. Guess which one I picked.

Brood VI . . . Tip of the Spear

Yesterday as I was working outside I heard my first cicada of the season. This is supposed to be an emergence year for Brood VI of the 17-year cicada. I don't really know what to expect other than it could be deafening. The regular annual cicadas were louder than crap our last two summers here. I'll keep you posted.

Century Plant About to Bloom

In other local wildlife news, there is a century plant a few blocks from my house that is about to bloom. The kids and I have been watching it for weeks as it sent its giant, asparagus-like shoot into the sky. I can report that there are lots of buds up there. I've never seen one of these things blooming in person before. I'll take a picture when the blessed event occurs. Hopefully no-one will run the thing over before then.

The "Afterburner" Opening Went Well (I Think)

5/5/2017

So . . . that was fun!

My show at Tapp's Arts Center opened last night during a heavy rain. Being as this is my first show and this was my first time being downtown on First Thursday, I have no points of comparison in terms of the number of people who walked through the door. I'm told it was a low turnout in general but a good turnout for a rainy night.

I talked to a lot of interesting people (several of whom I had "met" online but never spoken with in person) and two of the sculptures sold (the heron and the cockfight are spoken for; the triceratops head, tyrannosaurus, rabbit, pachycephalosaurus, and stegosaurus are still available). I stayed up a few hours too late and had one glass of wine too many, but your first art show only happens once, so I give myself a pass.

I'm kicking myself a bit because I took very few photos during the show. It would be nice to have some images of people looking at stuff, and a picture or two with me in it. If you took any good pictures and you'd like to share them, please send me an email at [email protected].

Two "preview" pieces came out on Wednesday if you're interested. This one by August Krickel ran in the Free Times. This one by Brad Dountz appeared in Jasper Project blog.

Here are a few photos showing how Tapp's set things up. I thought it worked very nicely, and I appreciate all the hard work that Caitlin Bright, Shigeharu Kobayashi, and others put into the effort. Thank you!

The view as you come into the exhibit from outside. This photo was taken while Caitlin and Shiggy were finishing getting things set up on Thursday afternoon.

I found this artist's rendition of the design for the show. I completely identify with this kind of planning.

Caitlin and Shiggy hard at work.

Shiggy placing labels.

Cait Maloney (http://caitmaloney.com/) enjoys a close encounter with the tyrannosaur.

"Afterburner:" May the Fourth (Be With You?)

5/2/2017

The opening of my show "Afterburner" is this coming Thursday evening at Tapp's Arts Center. The opening is timed to coincide with First Thursday, a monthly confluence of stuff that happens on Main Street in Columbia. I've never had an art show, and I've never been to First Thursday, so I really have no idea what to expect. I think there will be wine involved, for which I will be grateful.

The Tapp's crew and I moved the big sculptures from my back yard early last week in two pickup truck loads. I took the smaller stuff myself later on. It's strange to have an empty yard and and empty house.

The Tyrannosaurus arrives at Tapp's. I braced it for the trip using lumber from a deteriorating playset.

It's not a load of junk -- it's art!

Getting the roosters ready to move.

The Tyrannosaurs wouldn't fit through the door of the storage area. Pay no attention to the dinosaur under the sheet.

I'll be spending part of my morning at Tapp's putting things back together and helping to get things in place.

I think moving all of these things away from home for a bit has been good for me. I'm putting price tags on about half of the pieces, with the other half not for sale. It will be hard for me to let go of any of them, but I know that there is always something new coming. During an interview with Jasper Magazine yesterday, I was asked which piece was my favorite. I realized that it's the one I'm currently working on. As long as that stays true I'll be fine.

Announcing "Afterburner," May 2017 at Tapp's Arts Center

4/13/2017

If you've ever wanted to see the stuff I make but were afraid to ask, I invite you to come and have a look at Tapp's Art Center in Columbia, South Carolina. Pretty much everything I've done recently will be on display, including all the large sculptures that currently occupy my backyard. As long as we can do it without anyone getting hurt, we're going to haul them out of the garden and onto a pickup truck for a trip downtown. That should be fun.

I've spent a significant chunk of my discretionary time over the last month trying to get things ready to go. I fixed the rabbit's head, built a wooden base for the T-rex, finished the heron, and applied Penetrol to a couple of the outdoor pieces that I hope to sell. I still need to spiff up my giant dragonfly and my first triceratops and sign many of the pieces. All the small stuff is mostly ready to go.

I'm currently working on another large piece that I originally hoped I could complete in time for the show, but I don't think it's going to happen. I don't want to rush it.

Here is the description I wrote for the show:

"My work embraces the idea that our lives are entangled with things: we use them, abuse them, lose them, and throw them away. To my eye, that rough exposure to the world can add an unfakeable, unmistakable beauty to an object that is otherwise shiny and boring. Rust, scratches, and faded paint become markers for memories, reminders of what happened during a life lived. Through our interactions with them, some of our things become meaningful.

Taking that debris – whether it’s something personal or something anonymous that I plucked from the curb – and using it to create something new allows me to transform the slippery connection between the past and present into a tangible thing that I can handle and hold. For me, tuning all of these worn out pieces into an object with new life adds energy to the past in the same way that an afterburner on a jet engine increases thrust by injecting fuel into the hot exhaust gasses. Cutting, shaping, and welding all of this stuff together is inefficient, but I know of no better way for me to make the past part of the present.”

This is the first time I've done anything like this. It's a strange feeling.

Here is the event on Facebook. If you're in the area, I hope you can stop by and support the arts in Columbia.

Heron #1

3/19/2017

I used most of my garage time this weekend to work on a bunch of different stuff to prepare for my upcoming (May) show. I fixed my rabbit's head, finally cut and attached plates on a stegosaurus that has been on the back burner for months, and cleaned, wire-wheeled, and clear-coated the rabbit and the triceratops head. I also managed to finish my heron.

This one seemed to go quickly and I'm fairly happy with the way it turned out. There are a few things I will do differently if I make another heron (I'm planning on selling this one). Here is the finished product without the final base and less the slight patina it will get by sitting outside for a while:

Heron #1.

This one started as a pile of pieces that seemed like they'd quickly go together to make the basic shape. As often happens, though, I ended up using relatively little of the stuff in my heron pile.

he big white triangles are shelf brackets. I originally thought they'd make good foundations for the wings. I ended up using one to help form the interior of the back. I used the tips of both to make the beak.

In this photo, the body is make from the motor from a juicer and a bell, neither of which I ended up using. I did use most of the neck and head pieces

To keep the weight down, I used the hood from a desk lamp (green), the shelf from a shower caddy, and some lightweight, circular pieces from a ceiling light to start building the body. I used the handles of butter knives (leftover from making the quarrelling roosters) to make the flight feathers. I formed the neck shape with a pair of metal brackets. The foundation of the head is some kind of spring-loaded clamp.

This photo shows the body after I added a couple of layers of metal (the lower one is made from old garden edging from my yard and the top one is sheet metal from a filing cabinet) to represent the wing features. The tail feathers are made from filing cabinet parts. I used a grill from an AC unit to make the stringy feathers that extend from the top of the back.

I made the neck almost entirely out of sheet metal, using little irregular pieces that I cut from a something that I'm sure must have originally been from Ikea.

This view shows the bird almost done. I used various odds and ends to give volume to the upper legs. The black semi-circles where the neck meets the body are from the base of a desk lamp. The black patch on the top of the head is from a lawnmower. I found the key plate that forms the center of the back in someone's garbage pile just a few days ago.

The finished head.

I added more sheet metal to give mid part of the neck the distinctive curvature of a heron neck. I used a mixture of bicycle spokes and the spring from a lawnmower starter to make the nuptial feathers on the neck.

One of the feet.

Top view.

"Rooster #1" Wins a Prize

3/18/2017

Last night I has happy to learn that my rooster sculpture was awarded an honorable mention at the local Trenholm Artists Guild show in Columbia.

I had never been to one of these shows before, so I didn't know what to expect. I was prepared to deliver at least a portion of the speech from Boogie Nights if I was handed a microphone. That didn't happen, so . . . no speech, no karate moves. Maybe next time.

Here is what the judge (Dwight Rose, out of Spartanburg, South Carolina) had to say about the rooster:

My rooster was the only sculpture in a field of canvas and photographs. It was gratifying to have my work recognized among so many nice pieces. It was a good feeling, also, to get a lot of of positive reaction from one of the scrap metal art groups I participate in on Facebook. In my estimation, most of the people who do this kind of thing are, like me, "folk" artists with no formal artistic training or background. If you look at Making something new out of a bunch of old nothing is fairly pure creativity. I like it, and I'm happy to be a part of it.

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