No snappy title this time

So inspiration can come from the most unlikely of sources.

This particular insight has come from the recent death of my grandma, Marcella. She was a tough old bitch, lived to be 82, had survived many years of smoking and few open heart surgeries. As she was... fading is the only word I can think of... fading, I would go to the nursing home she was at and sit by her bedside. It was over an hour away, going slightly over the speed limit. One particularly bad weekend I was there, by her side, for about 35 hours in a 2 1/2 day period. I just wanted to be there when she woke up, so she knew she wasn't alone. That it was ok. Sometimes I fell asleep sitting there, and was more than a little amazed that I didn't fall over yanking her out of her bed because I was holding her hand. You have to understand that Marcella refused hospice, that she was feeling better and that's the cruel irony part. She wanted to live. A slight change in her medication made her feel wonderful... mentally alert & hungry (she hadn't really eaten anything for days and was barely taking enough fluids)... while her body was still breaking down. She even left her room to go play dominos with the girls down the hall the day she died, that's how good she felt.

It was sitting there, between bouts of nodding off, that the new LTE function of my phone was refusing to work. I was far enough removed from civilization that cell service was spotty. Ok. So I started doing what any tech-addicted person does when they don't have their fix, fidget. Probably just safer to read as addict. But the strange part was that the fidgeting manifested in taking pictures and video of the spot I was sitting in, the bedside of a dying family member. This resulted in several photographs and more than a few, short, videos of Marcella trying to survive. So questions of the morality of mortality, and the moment, were a constant.

Yes I realize there is a certain morbidity to the situation, especially since it was family. I also realize that not everyone chooses that, to be there when someone they love dies. To see the breath leave, the chest stop, and realize you need to get the nurse to check her vitals... it's a formality, you already know the answer, but you have to do it anyway. As I'm sitting there (and here as I type this), the idea of how to get this situation into the gallery keeps... presenting itself. It won't go away. In fact it's gotten stronger. But how do you share that without becoming, or being perceived, as a monster? Or is that MY joke, that there is no way to escape that label fully.

There wouldn't be much from her room in the piece, most of that was all divvied up or donated to the community. I did take the hoses and masks for her breathing treatments, and oxygen supply, the last things to touch her breath. The things that would have been destroyed anyway. I have taken enough pictures to recreate the corner where her bed was. Finding the holiday decorations might prove difficult since her room was still decorated for Valentines Day.

To be honest, I don't really know how much of this post is therapy for me... or even necessary for you. I felt it important to get out but not advertise completely as my blog isn't super well known. Like most conversations this post will be buried with the newest offering of potential engagement and will fade into the bowels of this blog. Yes, I did just see what I typed as well.

Chris

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.

Where I'm going with this

Throughout this semester, I have been a bit preoccupied with how my thesis for next year will shape up, this should give you an idea...   I have all the references in case is anyone is interested, just drop me a line.

Mini-thesis

Fine craft as an art object has always been a point of contention with the art world.  The fine craftsman's argument is that the refinement of process can, and should, be enough.  The aspects of labor, commitment, money spent (through studio rentals/education), and classlessness (all walks of life have attempted craft at some point or another) are evident in many, if not all, crafts.  Is it art though?  It could be argued as both yes, and no.  Yes, because if an object can elicit an emotional response then it could be considered art.  This can range from the more experimental sculpture of Eva Hesse to the finely crafted glass objects of Dante Marioni.  No, because the majority of crafts are not criticizing anything the way art, usually, does.  Glass art, as Bruce Metcalf alludes to, is more in a kiln (or kiln worked) and less in a hot shop (or studio glass).  The objects that can be made through being kiln worked are more detailed, more explicit through realistic or abstract iconography, larger scale, and more like art.  In studio glass, several famous glass object makers are making various objects that take 2-3, sometimes 4 hours to make.  These objects are very technique driven and only the title adds any aspect of art to the glass they lovingly, and often painstakingly, make.  By exploring art as an action driven endeavor, what can be said artistically in glass blowing begins to open up.  The layering of other specific actions over the preexisting actions of glass blowing can begin to help elevate production, and ultimately studio, glass blowing into the critical arena of art.

The physical act of glass blowing, and other fine crafts, could become Process Art.  Process Art can be viewed as the making of art through making a physical action, or act.  This act can inform the form itself, as the form may arise through laborious and often repetitive actions.  The author J.J. Kelly has stated that "Man's reach directly influences the form..."  in the terms of the arm's length in relation to the scale of sculpture.  The act can also sometimes inform the context, as in the action is being used as a way to mark time (Eva Hesse, Barry Le Va).  So what are some of the acts that can mark something as art and not as fine craft?  Yves Klein's  paintings made through the actions of nude women covering themselves in blue paint and pressing themselves onto a canvas (the Anthropometries) is an example.  Richard Serra throwing molten lead at the corner of where the wall and floor meet (Splashing, 1968) is another.  Jeanine Antonie, obsessively chewing away chocolate and lard for her work "Gnaw" shows the bodily harm and obsessive actions an artist can endure to complete a work.  These interactions are the art, the physical objects left behind are the remnants of the process used to make them.  The actions have informed the work, were repetitive and often laborious.  

Many studio glass blowers use similar actions, repetitive labor that informs the work is a central idiom.  Studio glass blowers also fit Mr. Kelly's criterion of "Man's reach directly influencing the form" directly as most glass objects often have a direct relation to a glass blower's physical stature, and that a glass blowing bench is set up in such a way to make the majority of tools within arm's reach.  Studio glass blowers have used the time making an object as an increment to mark larger chunks of time and set a time table for themselves while working in the studio.  To the make the most of the time they are often paying for, they need to be able to set a tempo of an X piece made in Y minutes.  The biggest divergence from Process Art, in studio glass, is the act of making is not the art itself (although it has been recorded on video as a type of performance, and for simply documentation) it's the final object that is the "art" and that object usually has a functionality or utility.  In most cases of studio glass there is an object, a product, something made from action but not art.

Glass as a material, and more properly studio glass, is process oriented but not necessarily Process Art.  The act of glass blowing is dictating the form and providing a context of functional object, but beyond that the realm of studio glass is lacking in true art. Some glass blowers have admitted to being fine craftsman and not artists, Dante Marioni is a famous example, while other glass blowers (usually not as well known) will fight tooth and nail to make sure you know that they are making art and not craft.  Which leads to the question of; can studio glass objects be considered art objects?  Unfortunately there seems to be no definitive answer to this question.  Again, this seems to come down to kiln worked glass versus studio glass, and someone who has been discussing the "is it art or is it craft" debate for years is Bruce Metcalf, a jeweler/small metalsmith who has been writing papers and giving talks about fine craft and art.  This is relevant because Mr. Metcalf has drawn a line in the sand in regard to studio glass.  In his lecture entitled "The Art Glass Conundrum" at the annual Glass Art Society conference in 2009, held at Corning N.Y.,  Mr. Metcalf argues that there is very little in the way of studio glass as art. Most of the slides he references as art, and he shows artists Judith Schaecter - slide 43, Libensky and Brychtova - slide 46, Daniel Clayman - slide 47, and Clifford Rainey - slide 48, are examples of art in glass and they are all kiln worked, or kiln worked and incorporate mixed media.  So if glass can exist as art, but not a studio glass sense, then where does that leave studio glass?

The question now shifts from can studio glass objects be considered art objects  to can studio glass blowing be used as a vehicle to make art at all?  Is it even possible to layer more actions upon the process of studio glass blowing to give meaning beyond formalist notions of decoration?  The history of art is littered with movements/major artists being tied to actions of some sort.  It is this action or even a reaction to a previous action that makes modern art what is, that singular experience being accessed by many in the gallery, museum, or some type of event outside a formal presentation.  Some examples include the Abstract Expressionists, Marcel Duchamp, Yves Klein, Robert Smithson, Richard Serra, Shigeko Kubota, Bruce Nauman, Carolee Schneemann, and Jenny Holzer. 

For studio glass there seems to be an exception to the common rule of studio glass objects, Josiah McElheny.  Mr. McElheny is an accomplished studio glass artist that has layered production glass blowing with the action of story telling.  He accomplishes this by recreating glass from oil paintings, the stories from the objects in the paintings are now being fleshed out, and by recreating period glass from the past, bringing the past into the present by attaching a story to the object he is creating.  By being aware of studio glass history and applying that knowledge to the larger context of art history, and literature, he has been successful in taking studio glass into the arena of art criticism by setting up his "historical fictions" and letting the viewer decide for themselves if the situation they see is real.  Recently, another artist that has started producing historically influenced studio glass is Lino Tagliapietra.  Mr. Tagliapietra's latest work, Adventure; 2011, is a cabinet of 98 smaller, glass vessels that are referencing the culture of the Mediterranean.  While not as charged with as much history, and story, as McElhney's work, the history is there none the less and being put on display.  These are examples of layering studio glass with other actions to create something viable for the art world view beyond large, technically proficient glass objects.  These glass objects can be viewed as having something to say beyond being a commodity while simultaneously celebrating it's utility.

Breaking glass has always had elements of excitement and danger associated with it, and the sound of it is unmistakable.  However, could the action of studio glass(Eros) be layered with the action of breaking glass(Thanatos) to create a viable art work beyond an inert, aesthetically pleasing, object?  Try to picture a plexiglas box with a hammer inside, there is an arm length glove set into the box.  This allows the viewer to insert their hand into the glove, reach into the box and pick up the hammer.  The viewer now has a choice to break the piece of studio glass, that has already been placed in the box, or not.  These interactions are the art, the physical objects left behind are the remnants of the process used to make it.  Will the viewer proceed to smash the object inside and complete the work?  Or will some sort of issue of nostalgia, or preciousness, prevent the viewer from breaking the object?  By placing this "machine" into the White Cube, will that have an effect on the psychology of the viewer?  Will people be able to knowingly break handmade glass objects (since that is an action most of us have participated in during adolescence and have outgrown since then; i.e. breaking windows on abandoned buildings with rocks) with everyone watching and waiting?  An art work such as this can touch on nostalgia, preciousness, fear, breaking the "rules"(both in society as a youth and in the gallery as an adult), commodity, aspects of the handmade, and action.  For it to be successful, the studio glass placed inside the box would have to be technically astute, of the highest quality, so that breaking it is something you might not want to do.

Within the art world, the process, or action, of glass blowing is not art and the majority of objects produced from it are not either.  It is a fine craft, one that takes  several years to have any sense of competency with the material, and that kind of dedication is something one can be proud of.  The qualities of light, transparency, form, and color have been seducing people for thousands of years, ever since the Egyptians wound glass on a core of sand to make small, 2-3 inch high vessels for royalty.  Modern technology has made glass an outlet and commodity for all, not just for the very rich.  It is a specific action that can begin to take on new meanings once it is layered with at least one other action.  By acting upon, or literally destroying, the utility of studio glass the possibility of a discourse, using studio glass as the vehicle, unlocks... breathes new life into it, so to speak.  This approach would then start to circumvent Bruce Metcalf's declaration of "...most (studio) glass is not convincing sculpture... and if it's not convincing sculpture, it's not convincing art" and allow more studio glass, beyond Josiah McElhney, to begin taking it's place within the gallery as art and not just an aesthetically pleasing object.  For this to work, one has to know art history and craft history to combine the two into an amalgam that can deal with the conceptual rigors of art while satisfying the longing for making fine craft.  After all, Josiah can't have all the fun now can he?

A statement of sorts

My advisor, Kelly Malec-Kosak, gave me an assignment to write out an artist statement either with the current project or something more in general.  The idea was to get all the information out of my head and to worry about editing down later.  This was a great exercise and helped to nail down, for me at least, where I think this project is going and what might be a possible thesis for next year.  It is just how it appears in my sketchbook, no editing has been done yet... so that's your warning.


Originally this piece was supposed to be more of a tunnel in structure.  A support system suspended from the ceiling using strands of monofilament to create the walls of the tunnel.  Glass vessels would be hung throughout the walls to have encapsulated fragments of time, small found objects, such as the watch one would get from retirement.  Since then the project has evolved.  I use evolved because now the shape is more organic, organic in the terms of deep sea crustaceans or krill.  The rectangular ceiling has now morphed into something more hydrodynamic and would look at home in the water.  The monofilament is still there, not as walls but now tendrils.  Hundreds of tendrils giving this organism the look of a monstrously constructed jellyfish or squid.

The new shapes now denotes a new purpose.  The tunnel is gone and in it's place is something alive.  Something that wants to protect it's young.  The irony is the animal shape that manifested is not something that sticks around to protect it's children.  That instinct is largely reserved to mammals.  This animal presented itself as a manifestation of me wanting to hold on to my daughter for as long as possible.  She's already 9, and the next 9 years will fly by for the both of us.  Being in school is a good decision for me, but not so good for the relationship with my child. This is a poignant revelation for me because my father did the same thing, only with work not school.  My parents divorced when I was young and I hated him for not being there.  I think I'm getting a taste of what he must of gone through and only now at 38 do I realize that he did what was best for him and me with what he had.

The clean steel and mesh is my support and shielding for my child.  The monofilament is the decisions I can help her make going from parent to, hopefully, friend and maybe advisor.  The short strands are from when she was little and the worst things were "put that down" or "don't eat that".  As time goes on those decisions, and their circumstances, will get larger and more complex.  "No baby, I don't think you should go out with Bobby  because he's an ass"  I think one glass piece nestled into the monofilament can represent this situation, at least for me.

There are several sources of inspiration for this project, the main being the For Use/Numen design collective out of Europe.  They have designed giant funnel webs as performance backdrops made out of stretchable packing tape.  The kind of tape used to hold cartons of boxes together on pallets.  This very common, industrial made, material being used in a very unique way.  With the right lighting it looks like glass.  The same glints, highlights, and translucency of glass.  Any questions I may have had of plastic as a glass substitute, or forgery, were answered.  Larry Bergner is another source.  His suspended, wire-screen walled installations were useful in figuring out how to pair screen with an armature.  A more philosophical influence would be Eva Hesse, although her work is an influence as well most notably "Accession III",'67.  Hesse's take on process is what struck me most.  As an aspect of "making time" and "perceiving time, so the form grows out of the process".  This resonates strongly with me, but I would go on to add loyalty, determination, and a dialogue with the work.  By dialogue I mean the process is a conversation the piece and I working on to complete each other.  


The more research I do into process oriented artists, the more it feels like I fit.  Having been in glass for over 10 years, production glassblowing is a viable living and that is all process.  I think a personal challenge now is to take that process and see what it has to say about mass production,consumption, uniqueness, and the making of objects precious just because they are hand made.  Using other glass sources like readily available window glass is another avenue to explore.  Clear plastics used with glass is another.  Can they, the glass and plastic, be similar enough to each other that you can't tell which is which until you picked it up?  What kind of statement does make in a disposable society?


Which leads to interactivity.  I want(would like) direct physical interaction with some of my work.  To let the viewer have an opportunity to actually dictate what the final piece will look like before teardown is... intoxicating? exciting?  Definitely intriguing.  There will be a level of optical and mental interaction.  There's no escaping that.  Tactile interaction is different.  Usually it is reserved for the kid's section  at the local science/art museum.  Why couldn't it be in the white cube?  Does the gallery always have to remain sterile and sealed?  Forever archival?


Part of me thinks that this is a hold over from production glass blowing.  I made objects to use, to hold, there was a utility there.  A satisfaction knowing I made something that someone wanted to use physically. (I guess "true" art does the same thing to a certain extant, mentally.  However since everyone will, usually, have a unique experience with an artwork this is much harder to quantify.  A cup is a cup, there are only so many uses for it)  I think there is a way to bridge fine art and craft, at least it feels that way.  Multiples, singularities, and interactivity would all play strong roles in this type of work to harness process to inform the content and resultant forms.  On the multiples the form would be less important due to the sheer numbers I would want.  The singularities would attempt to tackle more formal aspects of glass sculpture with form, light, translucency, and/or transparency.  Interactivity can be tied directly to multiples or singularities but can be considered violent in either regard as broken glass will be the outcome.

Where was I again?

So I think this pretty much explains where I sit with my project currently.  It definitely doesn't feel like it should.  Maybe that has a lot to do with how it evolved from the beginning to now, but that seems counter intuitive as while the evolution happened it felt ok... good to do, the right thing.  Now?  I don't know.

Well, let's look at some pictures of progress shots skinning the armature...

So there is a progression from some screen to one side fully skinned.  In direct and indirect lighting and a close up of the eyelets and lacing.  When the first panel went on, I didn't like it.  It didn't feel organic enough, and that probably has to do with the materials chosen and the design I laid out for the armature.  It does have a feel to it (more on that in a bit) but the feel I wanted to capture in it... and to be honest, I don't know if this project will capture what I want out of it.

A curious thing has been happening though, several people have had their own relations to the form.  Through all sorts of associations... "it looks like a..."  Bat Boat, an ID project, an African mask, a shield, it's hydro and aerodynamic.  So it is evoking something in the people that view it, one part of me thinks this makes it successful.  The form is dictating the mental relation realized by the viewer.  The other part of me thinks this is a failure by not getting across what I wanted to, but it may not do that until it's finished.  As of today I had started to hang monofilament from the screen and it looks ok, there is not enough of it yet.  So it may be just riding it out some more and see where the process takes it.

Now the concept is entirely different.  I have been trying to take time to write about what I'm doing but so far this feels like an empty gesture to myself.  I thought the evolution made sense, it felt right, that it was designed right, that it was looking right.  There is a huge chunk missing for me and haven't been able to figure out what that is yet, but I might be getting into an idea of where my head is at.  

I have heard that there are basically two types of artists, the conceptual types and those who make cool things.  I might just be getting the wake up call that I fall into the later camp.  I have struggled with concepts in art for a long time and in the glass world the concept of conceptual glass art is REALLY new.  New enough in fact that I will getting a book from the 70's from a glass artist by the name of Harvey Littleton called Glassblowing : A Search for Form.  Even though this book is 40 years old the information of how glassblowing is perceived and what it can be could really help.  Having read just a small excerpt from this book I think it will be a seminal reading to absorb and digest as I get ready to start thinking about my thesis for next year.  Maybe by then I'll have a handle on wtf I'm doing.

A side project...

It was bound to happen at some point.  There was going to be something that sparked my interest that has nothing to do with my current project.  This has everything to do with having a great assistant during my Friday afternoon studio time.  What I'm referring to are these...

These are approximately 16 inches across the widest point and are the beginning of other art thoughts.

Or actually, more importantly, it's just this one below... now see if you can imagine another one like it, slightly longer and more pointed, with a faceted bubble nestled inside the two halves.  There would be a space in between the two halves from 3 to 5 inches to view the bubble on the inside.

I started to mess around with these shapes last semester, and by messing around I mean I got one off the pipe to look at and start cold working.  This could be the start of something really beautiful or a down right failure.  Time will tell, but I will work on this as a side project when I feel I have time to work on them.  Each one takes about an hour to make in the hot shop and the cold working I'm thinking of will take it beyond 10-15 hours per half.  Thats not including metal work for the stand or electronics for the lighting.

Melodic musings

So as this project takes shape, the more it has evolved, the more the reactionary component of this project has become important to me.  The more alive this project is becoming.  Literally.  The tunnel component has now served as a platform for this new organism.  The aspect of the tunnel will still be there, how dense the walls are something I am still working on.

The main structure will be more flowing, something that I was thinking about anyway, the question now is how am I going to make it "alive" without making it "carnival"?  Using Arduino circuit boards and centrifugal motors, activated by proximity sensors, I can definitely make this come alive.  The technology component is something that I had wanted to get into for awhile now, and this was a perfect opportunity to get way out of my comfort zone and push myself to really learn something new.  If this is successful then it will inform work for my thesis next year as I already have few more ideas for more interactive projects similar to this.  But why make the thing move/shake at all?  When glass strikes glass, there can be some wonderful sounds.  There is also the whole flight or fight response from an animal when threatened.  Here are some vessels from Friday that I strung up today.  I know the video quality is poor but it wouldn't upload otherwise, damn file was too big, and the sound is the more important here.

This sound isn't exactly what I'm looking for, but it's a start.  I did also make some solid glass rods as well, and I was hoping to have a sharper noise from the shape, but those will have to be redesigned. 

The structure, so far, is lending itself to marine crustaceans... deep sea organisms that are transparent from lack of sunlight.  With how the monofilament looks with the light on it, with some polished steel and aluminum mesh it is pupating into this very organic specimen constructed out of clean materials.  The glass vessels feel like eggs, in the way crabs or spiders will carry their eggs until they hatch.

Now it's just ordering some more monofilament, a bucket ton of #2 & #3 crimping tubes and about a thousand or so 5/32" eyelets. 

Take 2

     For this semesters project, 6 questions were asked in the proposal and this is how I answered those questions.  Now, not everything is here as I had finished this with time to spare and time to think about where this new project is going.  Any additional thoughts will be in red to mark them as after this initial draft.

     The questions (or statements) to be answered, to give the answers some context, are as follows...

1) Describe the project you will work on this semester.
2) What will you deliver?(final form)
3) List the resources, labs, and any specific instructions you might need.
4) Include a budget.
5) Include a timetable.
6) Describe success or successful completion of the project.  Describe how your artwork, process, and artist process should be evaluated.

1) During the creation of last semesters project, I started to think of glass as a compositional element, not necessarily the end all solution.  One of the resources I've started to look at has been the blog How Is This Glass, which encapsulates some of the ideas I've been recently thinking about, before I had even found this blog, and can found at the following link...

http://howisthisglass.blogspot.com/

     This blog highlights artists that are using glass, or more importantly it's properties such as light, restraint, and as a skin or membrane.  Some of these qualities manifested themselves in the last project and exploiting these qualities is something that I want to continue to explore through the rest of the program.  Combining glass, blown or flat, with other materials is an exciting prospect being utilized by modern glass artists today.

The Log, collaborative effort with several designers and architectural firms

Wine Glass by Dulique on Flickr

Kiko Gianocca, Swan 2009, 18k gold and blown glass

The previous artists/collaborators are using the qualities that glass inherently has, optics... which directly effects the light passing through it, form, strength, and container.  Last semesters project was a lot of reduction of ideas, a distillation, to find a more cohesive piece.  Like the artists above I would like to keep exploring the qualities of glass, either in glass or glass-like materials such as plastic, as a vocabulary to inform future work.

   
     Next semesters project is a mixed media construction.  It will be a corridor approximately 3-3.5 ft wide by 8 ft tall by 6-9 ft in length.  The dimensions are not finalized yet, but will be by the start of next semester.  The main component will be monofilament line.  Lots of monofilament line.  The walls and interior ceiling of the corridor will be made out of different thicknesses of monofilament line, to make the structure appear hair-like or something like spider silk.  I think monofilament will give a glass like feel and surface while keeping it safe for people to walk through.  Small glass vessels will be hung throughout the walls and ceiling of this corridor, some filled with small keepsakes, some filled with fluid or perhaps resin, some empty, and some sandblasted (or maybe all sandblasted, maybe all will be empty).  I am also looking to make this tunnel shake when someone walks through it.  Sensors would be placed inside the tunnel and when tripped would shake the tunnel gently.  If I used some solid sculpted glass "ribs" then they would make noise as they hit each other.

     This project is also an opportunity to work collaboratively with a another artist named Beth Haeseler.  She would be producing small flat glass panels to hang among the vessels in this project.  Beth and I have talked a bit about what she should do and we both agree that subtle imagery  would be preferred.  She and I had a chance to talk over break, she was in town visiting family but she lives in Portland, Maine, while we didn't nail anything down she seemed excited by the prospect of working together.  I will keep in contact with Beth and see if she can commit to a project like this, she is busy herself with her own classes to teach at a local university.  So time, and factoring another artist, are key points to this project.* At this time Beth is getting ready for her 3 classes plus work, I need to contact her over the weekend to see if she can still commit to this, and at the very least talk more about her part in this.*

2) The monofilament will be hung from canvas that is covering a welded steel frame. I am thinking the monofilament will be poked through the canvas and then melted, say with a lighter, to pressed and stuck to the canvas.  That frame will be hung from the ceiling. The interior ceiling height will be ~7 feet tall (this should be tall enough for someone of my height to walk through) while the exterior height will be ~8 feet.  I think that once this is lit well, the monofilament will have a glow to it from the light traveling in the plastic.  I think the project will test a lot of people's mettle as they start to walk through it and it starts to move.  That coupled with the sound from glass hitting other glass will provoke the fight or flight response.   The idea of making it seem not safe while keeping it as safe as possible is something I wanted to do with first project but I think it's better suited for this project. *This next part is why having people to talk to about your ideas can be very helpful.  Nate Gorgen, a fellow MFA, had suggested using mesh or screen instead.  It is a perfect solution.  With the canvas idea, the structural integrity of the canvas was a concern, having to put a hole in the canvas for the monofilament to go through wasn't the problem... the number of holes so close to each other was.  Problem solved with the screen... thank you Nate.*

3) This project will use the Sculpture, Glass, and MFA Studios in different aspects of the fabrication.  Sculpture for welding and cold working any glass, Glass for vessel fabrication and MFA for final construction as the final size is larger than what I have as studio space in the Sculpture lab at the moment.*I'm also using the MFA space for stretching the monofilament as straight as possible, basically unwinding the spools on to larger spools to make strands of straight monofilament that are at least 6 feet in length.*

4) Doing some initial searching on the internet I have found large spools of monofilament for about $13 @ 6000  yards/ spool.  There is a limit in place of how many I can order, I can order 4 spools, that would get me about 24,000 yards.  I would then need to supplement this thinner monofilament with some larger gauges, but I can find that here in town.  The steel for the frame is pretty much free, the canvas will be about $40(roughly, I haven't had to by canvas in a long time), I already have cable to hang the project, new fixtures will not be that expensive.  A book or two on basic electronics would help out as well, sensors could be cannibalized from security lights from Habitat for Humanity at a greatly reduced cost.  The motors are still being researched, maybe toys since I don't need a huge amount of power.  I'm thinking the total cost should be around $600(+,-).

Monofilament ___________$70, $12.95/spool @ 22,800 yards total, so far

Canvas________________$45

Gesso_________________$23

Steel__________________$0, the school's stock steel is fine

Total(so far)____________$138

This project should come in  WELL under what I had spent for the first semester project and I have still have $200 of seed money for any emergencies I haven't thought of.  I should have most of the monofilament before the semester begins, and hopefully the frame welded together as well, trying to get as much done as possible before the semester starts.

5) The timetable will be... laborious.  There will be a lot of the same for this project as there was for the last project.  A lot of work and trying to remain flexible as things pop up which they always do. This can be anything form suppliers dragging their feet to an emergency with one of my students.*As far as I can tell, most of the time for this will be in the monofilament prep, everything else is pretty straight forward.*

6) Success can be determined by being able to finish the project while being able to teach at the same time.  The last project was a great test of what I can do in a limited amount of time.  This project builds on that and then adds teaching to the end goal as well.  For my artwork, I am still trying to use glass as a compositional element rather than a vessel plunked down a pedestal.  For example, if glass were red paint then the last project would be very red, I want to try and use less red for this project.  The process builds upon what I already know, and I can't say at this time if it will really expand over the course of this project.  In terms of artistic progress, using glass as a compositional element was an idea that started last semester.  This is something that I want to continue to explore as the MFA program continues.  Slowing myself down and simplifying what I want the viewer to see was paramount for the last project, and I feel that this is something to keep and nurture as my career starts to take root.

My how things have changed

When I first started this project, there were very clear ideas of what I was actually trying to do.  I was attempting to make a head of some sort, mine or perhaps someone else's.  There was going to be drawing, mark making, on the glass to help delineate the features of the head.  There was going to be some type of table with assorted bell jars with different scraps of memory to reference a brain.  There were going to be a lot of things, and a lot of things have changed.

When I make objects, and in glass it's very hard to NOT make objects, I have a very strong desire to work the hell out of it.  Call it OCD, call it the crazies, call it whatever you want, I work and work and work to the point of over working things.  Sometimes I just don't know when to stop.  Sometimes, I just scoff at the idea of less is more.  Sometimes I think my desire to combine disciplines is a smokescreen for not being able to settle on one thing.  I am trying to not do that with this piece, at least I am trying to not that with this piece anymore.  Logistically, I think it would be impossible to pull off my original proposal in a semester.  My classmates can agree I have worked a lot, and I mean a $#@*!^& lot, with little to show in the way of a final project, and time is running out.

There is a reason that clichés are around, more often than not they are true.  One heard in the art world often is "Less is more", one heard in the glass world quite often is "Keep it simple stupid".  One that is particularly hitting me at the moment is "Jack of all trades, master of none".  Simple design was something that I would witness a lot in Japan.  Hand made items there had a strong, yet simple, design sense and an openness that a lot of hand made items of western design lack or is covered up by excess (Chihuly anyone?).  My reference point for this is primarily the glass world, before I get angry emails from people about how I'm calling them slouches... I'm not.

This idea of simplicity, and to a slightly lesser extent openness to interpretation, are the guiding forces behind this piece now until completion.  The glass walls of the box have not changed at all from their construction, the only detail changed here was removing the drawing.  I have started to refer to the project as the box and not the head, most of that has to do with a reference to a head, or still space, perhaps a room, which is all up to the viewer.  I believe by stripping the excess away the viewer can attach whatever they feel applies to this construct of mine.

The front of the box is a different story, it has gone through a few reconfigurations of glass panels and windows.  My final thoughts on this will to be add more windows to the front to completely close off the structure, and to also stagger the windows as well... so it's not just 2 rows of windows, there will be no more point of entry on the front anymore.  The original intent behind the windows were "The windows to the soul", but my windows opened up to brain... not a soul.  Sounded neat when I first conceptualized it, not so much now.

The interior has gone through several reincarnations of what will be inside.  The first idea was the table with bell jars, lots of bell jars, or just cluttered with family items like any coffee table in any house in America.  Then on to stripping that down further to a table with 3 clear bell jars on top, and 3 opaque bell jars hung underneath the table. (I still really like this idea and will probably make this it's own piece in the future) A mirroring of good and bad thoughts.  Finally on to a chair, made out of the door I originally wanted to make into the table in the first place.  This chair, made out of a portal, is now the center of this little glass world of mine.

A physical, spiritual, lonely, exhibitionist, etc, etc, chair now occupies an isolated, enclosing, safe, fragile, bright, etc, etc, space.  What will it be to the viewer?  I don't know, but I do look forward to finding out what others will think of it, and what their stories are, when it's done.


A few side notes...

I was planning on doing this post at some point but a few things prompted me to do this now.  Nicky's conceptual post, which is a great read and you can find here.  The other is Woody's reply to the previous blog entry.  He's curious, as I think all of my classmates are, about what the hell is going on in my head... and I have to thank him for bringing it up.  He's my classmate, it's his job to do that.