Just over 3 days and counting...

So, it's all come down rather quickly to actually leaving for Pilchuck.  I will be gone for 18 days, so it's a 3 week session and will feel different than the 2 week session I TA'd for earlier this summer, or the 2 weeks of Poleturners before that.  Like any good class, I did receive an email from my teachers asking me to think of themes to explore while I was there.  I was also asked to experiment, and to expect failure.  Which I'm down for, you can't learn unless you stretch yourself and have some failure in the process.  Learning from your mistakes, it's been the best way for me so far in life, it's only natural that it should apply to my art/education.  

Anyway... here's what Aimee & Anjali want us to be thinking about before we get there...

(a). Keywords. Essentially, a rumination of concepts that you understand our world by, or that fascinate you in the universe. These could be borrowed from any “field” of human comprehension of matter.*  Consider how the keyword you have chosen could figure in the creation of an art object. Could it possibly lead you to an object that creates itself when subject to the forces of this keyword? .... Any information or preliminary research you bring with you in this regard will assist you immensely. And do not worry; you will not be bound or beholden to your “keyword” if you lose interest in them midway.  There will be plenty of other phenomena for you to discover.
(b). Key-images. Textures and composition (i.e. surface and structure) that you loath or are swooned by. We are interested in your intense reaction, or long-standing fascination of something, not the indifferent “nice” response. These will provide as a visual, tactile database for your experiments.

So some of the things that I have been thinking about since reading this have been...

Container (contained)

Catalogued/Classification

Specimen

Reliquary/Alters/Shrines/Sacred spaces

Encapsulation

Multiples

Order/Chaos

Interactivity

Light/Time

Process

As far as images go for influence... I haven't got that far yet.

Out of all of these... the process, light, and time seem to be the ones I'm drawn to the most. I mean all of these are things that interest me, however looking over my slides to take to Pilchuck I noticed that a lot of what I'm bringing are photographs of glass during or after it's been finished.  The objects themselves seem secondary to the situations they're creating.  In that regard, I'm more interested inn capturing those fly by moments that happen during the vessel making process, or the "action of making an artwork" (a la Serra; Pollock; or La Va), or studio upkeep.  For example...

From my thesis show.

These 2 hellish pictures from bailing out the furnace for the summer.

Bailing out the furnace again, but onto ice during winter break.  I would like to do this again this winter but set it up better.

Sometimes, it's all happenstance.  The sun coming through the window just right and I notice this after I hit my head on the lamp above the kitchen sink.

A more personal picture, never mind the gif I'm trying to finish up that deals with this.

So far all of these are residuals of action on glass of some form, wether I directly manipulated it a hot shop or I interacted with it to some extant as a readymade.  Technically the sink is coated in glass since it's a glaze on a ceramic sink.  Ya dig?  Even the opening photo at the top of the post is indicative of this.  I'm more interested in the refraction of light from the tool marks on the table than the actual bottles themselves.

I think using this as a starting point will free up a lot of mental anguish as I screw up my molds, fusings, and slumpings.  Looking for the art in the process and not in the object has been a major point for artists such as Pollock and Serra.  If I keep this in mind as I make mistakes, but take good notes about what worked and what didn't, I can bring this back to CCAD to flood the students with casting knowledge.  Being the interim head of the glass department this upcoming semester, I'm trying to have the kilns all up and running so we can accommodate as many students as possible.  Also taking this class can help me problem solve with them on their projects.  In the process they can make more glass "art" and not so much glass "craft".

PersonalIy, I think where I can go with this is a combination of castings and kiln-manipulated blown work and video.  I love glass blowing.  I will always find a way to do that until I can't hold a pipe anymore.  It's a meditative process for me.  However... it's not my "Art" with a capital A.  That seems to have fallen to more video work, more specifically... mundane actions that have been important to me, or became important, and that I'm trying to loop as seamlessly as possible.  I know everyone has these moments, but I don't want to forget them.  Ever.  So being able to loop them is like re-writing my notes... so I don't forget.

My good friend of 14 years, we had to put him down in February.

It was such a tender moment for both of us.  My dog, Smoke, really couldn't sleep due to an enlarged liver with complications.  Anytime he laid his head down flat on the floor, he had trouble breathing.  At that moment, his head was propped up and he was able to get 20 minutes of sleep.  I was just glad that I was able to get him some rest before his appointment.  I'm tearing as I write this... I still miss him.

I'm in the process of trying to make this as seamless as I can in video.  I'm also realizing that I might have to upgrade my video software, iMovie (I know, I know...), to FinalCut Pro for more control.  I just have a hard time swallowing $300 for a download, but I'm getting closer to getting it.  I think getting more RAM for my computer, and bumping it it 16G, will be the biggest help. 

I have some video of leaving for Pilchuck earlier this summer with some great 6 minute vids of the plane taxiing and taking off out of, and then landing in fog.  I want to combine those vids for an endless loop of taking off and landing.  I suppose I "could" farm the video editing out, but I want to have a direct hand in the final version.  Call it a hold over from being a craftsman, but that whole idea of me making the final piece is important.  I just can't see any other way of doing it to be honest.

So after two paragraphs of rambling, I guess my work is heading to a more ephemeral stance with the beauty in the mundane.  I guess that's a good a start as any for an artist statement.

Right, so mostly yearly posts then...

Well, this is a little embarrassing then isn't it.  It seems that I REALLY need to update more here.  Of course it's the choice of social media that I'm kinda of writing about today.  See if you do read this... and there are probably at least 2 kind folks that do... then you will notice a strong absence. That's because a lot of the time I'm posting quips up on Twitter, Vine, and/or Instagram.  You can look for HarmanGlass if you feel inclined, to follow along there.

Why?

Well, mostly because it's easier, faster, spontaneous, and (can be) a more visceral experience.  Now I know that this type of communication is not a replacement for the these types of good old fashioned conversations we have here.  To be honest, it never will be.  It is like shouting at your friends as opposed to talking to them... "Look, over there!"  There is a residual of the thought process that goes on here as a whole as well.  My life has gotten to this point of small, easily digestible chunks of time, that are spread out across different apps.  Which are in turn linked to several devices so connectivity is a constant.  Now this isn't a debate, or even a discussion, about the virtues/sins of such connectivity.  This is mostly an observation of how it's impacted my life lately and some of the ways it's changing my studio practice.

So.  With the thesis work, it was about this high degree of craftsmanship being put up for judgement by the viewer.  The video that spawned from it was mostly archival and I wasn't necessarily thinking that I was turning into some type of performance artist.  I was just tired of having this debate of Art VS. Craft, and why it always seemed that one was held at lower regard than the other.  I was angry, and frustrated.  The "debate" is the same, it seems to never change.

Anyway.

After the show I noticed that I was taking more pictures with my phone.  At the time it was a iPhone4 with a decent camera and an ease of use that most cameras lack.  For a then 38 year old, ease of use is important, and this is precisely why I'm put off by most modern cameras... they're too damn fancy with a lot of buttons I don't need.  Like CS6, a lot of buttons I don't need.  So a very portable camera, both stills and video, that's easy to use and syncs to my devices over wifi for instant editing if need be.  Good lord, I have become Apple's target audience.

But...

I did notice a trend of these videos that kept clogging up my Photostream.  Now after a relatively short time.  I have just over 80 of these very short films.  So now what do I do with them?  Do I edit them together?  Keep them as the snippets of life they are?  Oh, oh!  Edit them to loop as seamless as I can manage?  Yes!  So I have this stable of images that I will be working on to expand what I do as an artist.  Images like worms crawling along the freshly rained on sidewalk to escape the water saturated soil, mating spiders, crows cawing in the Czech Republic, swirling paint water, the last time my dog rested his head on my leg to sleep before we had to put him down, these things of life that capture our interests, our sorrows, our vulnerability... which by being vulnerable makes us human.  To take the risk, to go for the bigger pay off even though the failure comes with higher stakes.  Will this work?  I have no idea to be honest, but it has become this pressing need to try.  So that's one thing.

Another thing.

I have continued to work on my glass.  That won't ever stop as I simply enjoy the process of it too much, however I haven't felt inspired to make any "art" with it.  At the very least trying to make art with glass lately has been down right bothersome.  So, Im going to make some pieces to have some fun.  I try to instill this ideal into my students.  "Have fun."  "If your not having fun then why are you doing it?"  Seems I need to relax a bit and take my own advice.  So I shall.  Will these works be great?  Probably not, but they will at least let me breath enough to maybe allow me to wander off to something that will be great.  You know, living the dream... instead of just dreaming it.

The other thing I've been thinking about was killing the website and moving that content here.  To be honest, I do like this type of format better... this conversational tone, even if no one answers any questions or interacts in anyway.  It's also easier for me to upkeep everything I am into and be able to write on the road as well because, well, I DO use Blogger and haven't had any problems with posting across platforms.  Again, ease of use without all the bells and whistles.