Test post using Blogsy

So this is a test post using an app called Blogsy, it's in the AppStore and it looks promising so far. Like any new piece of technology there is a learning curve, however the upside is being able to use my iPad efficiently for blogging. The interface is clean, and the app as whole looks promising. It also has the option of setting up the publishing time and day, so a post could be worked on throughout the week and posted later.

A photo from my library

And another photo...

Test video...

So not too bad and not too painful either, the real test will be tomorrow at 9am when this post is supposed to publish. Is it worth the $5 price tag? Maybe. This will definitely need more testing to see if it's worth it, but the only thing I wish this could do now is directly import pictures and videos from your local library instead of having to upload them to an online version such as Picasa or Flickr. I think this will be a good stop gap until Blogger decides to make an official iPad app like Facebook did(which for some reason... that took forever). They (Blogger) have an app for the phone, but I haven't been able to find the same app for the iPad and I have looked.

Intimately breaking

Breaking glass is fun.  There is no denying it.  In fact it can be quite addicting, I did breaking experiments earlier in the week and recorded the process.  It was... exciting, dangerous, nerve wracking, and only with the barest hint of trauma.<---  This is what I'm after for the viewer, while trying to make them be very deliberate about what they are doing.  Can they shake off their societal programming and complete the piece?  I already want to try and make this piece again, away from an academic setting and see how more "normal" people deal with it.

So this helped to prove a few things... that I'm moving in the right direction for the overall wall thickness of the vessels.  The teardrop shape in the last video will be the hardest to break due to it's egg like structure.  An egg is really good at distributing any force that could potentially break it.  Aiming for the lip of the piece is an, almost, guaranteed break.  That it is addicting, after breaking about 6 pieces that morning I was looking around to see if I had any left to smash, so some type of limit will need to be in place.  That everything is heightened, from the fight or flight response, when your that close to flying glass.

It has been suggested to throw the objects into a corner or a box.  Meh.  To me by making it so you have to pick up the piece, place it inside, and then break it makes the entire situation more intimate.  There seems to be some kind of detachment going on throwing the piece away from yourself, your still safe, and far away from anything "bad" that might happen... that is something I don't want for this piece.

Now, a few things have come up...

Is there anyway to prolong the breaking?  No, not in this project, 10 seconds is an average time to line up the shot and take it... that is not saying it can't be done and I am looking into the opposite of this piece... larger, thicker vessels that would be very difficult to break at all.  Other ways of breaking are being entertained as well, but so far nothing seems to be as satisfying as straight up smashing.

Do I have to be so responsible?  Yes.  There is no way around this one, watch this video...

There is no way I can willingly let this be in a public setting and not take the safety precautions I think I need to take.  It's not going to happen... I don't want the institution (CCAD) to get into trouble for allowing one of their artists to make a dangerous piece and not take the steps necessary to make it as safe as possible.  I am used to pieces of glass popping off and hitting me in the arms, neck, face, legs, etc., and other glass blowers are used to it... the general public is not.

Well... maybe I can loosen up a bit.  Looking over the design of the breaking box, I think I can strip away a lot of the over the top safe guards and have something that is still works while making the situation as exciting(dangerous) as possible.  The possibility of waivers is something I'm seriously considering.  Right now, this project is in the same editing phase as my project from the first semester... stripping away everything else to get to the essence.

I have been considering what is the most important thing for this particular project.  Things that cannot change are picking the piece, taking it to it's destination, and breaking it... but even then, the most important thing is to break it.  The glass has to be handmade, not just off the clearance rack at Pier 1 or World Market.  Why?  The aspect of these objects being handmade helps to drive home this aspect of preciousness associated with them.  There is the notion that handmade glass is a precious material.  It's a collected medium, it's used for awards, it's something that is passed down in the family as an heirloom.  All of these are very precious attachments that only really came about from machines taking over the more mundane aspects of glass blowing (i.e. making bottles) allowing glass blowing studios to concentrate on other things.  So messing with that is important to me, and I think once this is in the gallery some people will have a very hard time doing what is asked of them.  Once the viewer becomes part of the display, and is put on display... some will revel in that and others will shy away from it.

The result of the breaking was no less beautiful than the vessels before the breaking began.  On a nice table with some good light, I think these remnants of vessels will look particularly good.  With how things are shaping up now, I'm thinking pedestals are a must.  To really cement these fragments as an art work, their presentation is very important.

Considering the activity, and that this is all that happened with open air breaking, it was a good day.

It's not just me

No, it's not just me who likes breaking things... 

A small showing

So here are a few pictures of glass installed in the lobby of the Crane Center.  I was asked, along with two other artists... Dion Utt and Lilandra Holmes, if we could show work for Startup Weekend that was being held in the top floor of Crane last weekend.

Now I did have a slight problem, I forget to get business cards and my resumé out with my work. Bad self promotion on my part.  However, I did remember a great thing from last year that seemed to be a perfect solution... QR codes.

The QR codes are linked to my blog to show process, and to my website for portfolios, resumé, and contact information.  Since Startup Weekend was primarily a tech development venue... teams would work on developing the ideas they had voted for on the previous day, after that they had a chance to pitch the ideas to investors... just about everyone there had a smart phone and a lap top.  This made the entire presentation super sleek, very clean, and paperless.

Thank you Charlotte!

My outside experience (Part 2)

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Glass production has begun

So when I started thinking about this project, I had this grandiose plan of using goblets to help blur that preconception of beauty.  Someone picking up a goblet, looking at it lovingly before reluctantly putting into the box to be broken.  Then I realized I suck at making goblets.  I make them way to big, crooked, and the proportions are all off.  In short, they are ugly goblets.  Maybe if I had a solid year of making nothing but goblets, I could use them as my breakable wares for this project.  But that is not going to happen, at least not for this run.

Once I figured out that goblets are not my forté, I relaxed a little bit and started to produce some work that is still technically challenging to me, but cleanly designed.  I am much happier where this is going now.  This will be the trick to this project... by using clean design coupled with a strong technical slant to make glass that can be broken easily.  Nothing would be more embarrassing than someone hammering a piece of glass that won't break when that's the whole point of the project in the first place.

This grouping is much closer to what I am after.  Body wraps, small handles, torch work bits, and blown feet all add up to a great foundation for making even more complex (gaudy?) work, and harken back to 1950s Dutch glass I that absolutely love.  As it stands now, these take approximately 15-25 minutes to make and require an assistant to bring bits.  Usually not a problem, but I am training my assistants as I work with them so production has been a little slow, but it has been getting faster as my assistants retain more knowledge through repetition of movements.

The size is better, and the proportions are getting better as well.  One thing that I have noticed is how much variety is possible within a golfball sized blob of glass.  Once I start adding optic molds for texture, the bling factor will go up exponentially, as there will be tons of little ridges to catch the light.  Now just imagine a couple of long tables with about ~300 pieces of glass between them, with some nice lighting they'll be spectacular.  That's the plan anyway.

My outside experience (Part 1)

Part of the requirement for the Masters program at Columbus College of Art & Design(CCAD) is an outside experience away from CCAD campus and faculty.  This can take any number of routes.  From something along the lines of discussions of the aestethics of your work, to something completely technical related that you feel you might be lacking.  My outside experience evolved into a bit of both of these situations. The outside experience(OE) started in June and eneded right before school started in August.  During this time I was helping dismantle an educational glass studio in Springfield, Ohio, at the Sprigfield Museum of Art.  Talking over the aestethics of kiln worked glass, and getting some advice for teaching undergrads with local artist Aimee Sonnes.  Installing a new glass furnace, and performing hot shop maintenance at Glass Axis a non-profit, public glass studio here in Columbus. During all of this I was also rehabilitating the cold shop at CCAD to make it safer and easier to use, and doing some upkeep in CCAD's hot shop as well. So my OE was very busy and very educational in several ways from seeing how non-profits survive, or don't.  The upkeep those non-profits require. Looking at ways to change my existing work using new techniques that have a different aestethic to it, and the artists to look at to get a baseline to start with. Pointers on teaching undergraduate level students better than I currently am, something I can always improve when it comes to teaching.

Over the summer I have written down entries in a journal to keep everything straight, and so I also wouldn't forget what had happened and will present everything in as close to chronological order as possible.  There was a lot that happened for Springfield in short amount of time, in all I only helped Aimee for a week before the studio/school was shut down.  Going over the notes I have, I decided to break this down into a few smaller posts instead of one huge wall o' text.

6/6/11-
After speaking with Aimee yesterday the focus, for now, of the OE will be teaching principles and to a lesser extent the aesthetics of my work.  As it stands now the glass studio attached to the Sprigfield Museum of Art is up in the air in terms of it staying or going.  Yet another facet of non-profits, indecision.  If the board hasn't reached a solution yet... then the studio, and it's employees, are in limbo.  This has not prevented Aimee and the other glass employees to think about an eventual shut down.  Some of them are getting ready to leave already, so if it does shut down then all they have to do is pick up any personal equipment and leave.  All this leads me to think that this situation has been brewing for awhile now and that some bad blood has been made between the institution and the people working for it.  On the other hand the museum is a business and has to keep it's best interests in mind.  Hopefully the longevity of the museum as a whole will be kept in mind while all this shakes out, and no hard feelings remain on either side as a final decision is made.

The Springfield Museum's hotly contested hot shop

As I will be meeting Aimee later today I made a list questions, a sort of mini-interview...
1. What is the situation of the glass studio now?
2. How much of the studio does the museum control? Just the space the studio resides in? Or is it a mix of the space and equipment.
3. How much of the equipmentnis being moved?
4. If the studio is lost, what will be your perceived impact on the area?

Follow up after meeting with Aimee...
I met with Aimee today, not at Sprinfield, but we had a chance to talk about several things. The conversation moved to more teaching principles. Like using Skype for lectures with "visiting" artists for undergrads. To me beginning to study kiln working and fusing.

The situation at the Springfield Museum is not good, for the Arts Interface School anyway. From what I've been told, Whittenburg University has bought the museum and the school, but didn't quite know that the museum was as bad off financially due to mis-management. As a result the foundation the supports the school has decided to stop/greatly restrict it's funds to the school. Whittenburg has also raised the rent for the museum at $2/sq. foot and the school at $10/sq. foot. The school can't keep up with the increased price and as such is going under. Now, it's a matter of cleanig up, packing up, and helping the school(and Aimee) as much as possible before next week which is the projected closing of the the Arts Interface School at the Spirngfield Museum of Art.  As far as what is in jeopardy for being lost it's the Arts Interface School... which encompasses much more than the hot shop.  It also includes a ceramics department, theater department, and limited exhibition space for those classes.  In short Springfield is losing a location to experience different art forms at a location that can exhibit more well known versions of what they might study at the Arts Interface School.

I can't help but think this is the darker side of non-profits we don't normal see or hear about.  While the altruistic nature of non-profits are a strong driving force for their survival, somethings can't be mitigated when they happen and all the good feelings in the world won't save an institution from going under.

6/7/11-
So I met Aimee today and we carpooled to Springfield, on the way there I a few questions on teaching.

1. How flexible are you with deadlines?
2. Do you always follow up on excuses for absences?
3. What are the top priorities for your classes? Technique vs concept? Is it something that's age related? Course related? Or both?

Aimee's advice for deadlines, don't be flexible.  Ever.  She always follows up on excused absences and believes being proactive with Student Services is the only way to go.  Now question 3 had a lot of variables in the answer.  A lot of it depends on where your students are in their academic career and what you want them to know.  She suggested to try and push technique and concept as much as possible, to let the students have as much time with concepts, materials, and ideas.  Set the tone for the class up front from day one, and to let the students have a fair amount of class time to work.  One thing she did mention was to try and get the students to engage each other as much as possible, but not too large of a group, 3-4 students are good for this.  She has found that the students are more likely to interact  when they only have to engage so many people as opposed to entire class.

As she was explaining all this I started thinking that teaching is like running a pack of wolves.  You, the teacher, want to be the alpha, but you want to make sure the entire pack eats and gets from point A to point B at the same time.  Sure, there might be some infighting but you should only step in when you need to, to remind everyone of the rules.

There seems to be an odd correlation between kids and wolves.

6/7/11- continued

Aimee and I got to Springfield and to say the atmosphere was a little somber would be an understatement.  Most of the day involved packing up and labeling glass color, and helping the theater department take down their curtains.  With this school going under Springfield is not only losing a public glass studio, but a ceramics studio, and a small theater as well.  Aimee has started looking for an alternate source of funding for the studio.  This hasn't gone too well because most of her time has been in packing up the studio, factor in the travel time and it doesn't leave a lot of time left at the end of the day.  One thing I might be able to do is find a buyer for the cullet (clear glass chunks), that way Aimee doesn't have to find a storage space for, or move, 1500 pounds of glass.

6/8/11-

Today has mostly been working over at the sculpture lab at CCAD, while trying to arrange a contact for between Aimee and a potential buyer.  I want this to go well, for both sides.

Throughout the day I have been able to secure a buyer for the Arts Interface glass, 1500 pounds of Spectrum 96 nuggets.  Now it's a matter of arranging meeting and pickup times as the school officially shuts down next Tuesday(6/14/11).  All the incoming checks have to in the account before then.

6/9/11-

The buy and pick up went through without a hitch.  One on hand I'm really glad to help make this happen, on the other hand I'm really sad to see a public education opportunity such as the one in Springfield go under.  In a way it can help feed other glass programs through the acquisition of equipment and/or materials, and help them survive.  I guess glass blowing is a very opportunistic industry.  We won't think twice about getting a good deal from a shop going under. Survival of the fittest?  Maybe.  Or maybe it's just plain survival.  

Especially now as the economy is slowly recovering and to make ends meet more "unnecessary" opportunities/abilities/products go under.  I know that's a more generalized statement, and it doesn't exactly fit these circumstances, but one thing I did notice is that no one picked up the flag after it fell.  What I mean by that is there was no wealthy entrepreneur that swooped in and made everything ok, and the studio had a happy ending like I have heard about before.  The realty being, this probably happens more than we would ever realize and we should be thankful for the institutions that allow us the opportunity to practice what we love to do as artists.  So is this a bad ending to Springfield?  No, melancholy for sure but not bad.