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?

End of the Semester

So, it's the end of the semester and a time for celebration, regrouping, and reflecting on the past year.  This first year of grad school has been a roller coaster ride of ideas, the environment at CCAD has been crucial for fostering this, and this is a good thing.  The way it's set up is good if your inclined to use it that way, as Ric said earlier in the year... "I'll give you plenty of rope, the question is are you gonna run with it? or hang yourself?" 


Here are some pictures of my final piece in progress up to and including the finished install.  I'll post some other, more polished, pictures later after I've had some time to get a few different types of lights and photos of it throughout the day.

Overall, I'm pleased with how this turned out.  Using plastic as a substitute for glass really has some possibilities that are worth looking into for the future.  The only thing that bugs me is how yellow it is, that's the lighting.  I didn't want to at first, but I might just have to go plunk down $100 for two LED bulbs for a brighter, less warm light.

For those interested here's the breakdown of materials...

~2,000 yards of monofilament

~69,000 2mmX2mm crimp tubes

~10 sq. ft. of aluminum mesh

~24 ft. of steel rod

All the materials are approximated(~), as I did not keep 100% accurate records of what I  was using.

Plodding through the pain

I will be thankful when this project is over and I have a chance to sit up straight for longer than a day.  The combined bending and repetitive motions are starting to take their toll and even with the use of assistants (4 so far) I'm slowly devolving into a troll.

BUT, I am liking where this project is ending up.  All and all I'm pleased with it... am I totally happy with it? No. There are several issues to deal with before the final showing of it.  Namely other classes, my own undergrad class, and meeting with a lighting specialist (thank you Ric) to finalize how this is going to look in the space I have available to me.  Until then here are some progress photos as I race to the finish.

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.

Day and night

One of the best things about this project is how it changes with the surrounding light.  That being said, I like it much more at sunrise than any other time.

Lots of little edges

This is what I have been busy with for the past week.  At least doing 2 stacks of 10 panes per day (more if time allows), each stack of 10 takes an hour to bevel 3 sides.  I am taking a little time off from this part though, my wrists and fingers are locking up faster each day so a little rest for the hands is in order.  These are the reinforcement panels for my larger sheets of glass.  These measure 2 1/2 inches wide by 5 inches long, and I ordered a gross (144) of them.  Do I need 144 of them? No.  But, like any glassblower, I believe in having more than what I need in case something does go wrong... if I happen to drop one, or not having enough water when drilling the holes and the friction cracks it, or my dog's tail knocks a few off the table, you get the point.  Redundancy in materials, having your bases covered with the same solution just multiples of it.  It goes to the big panels as well.


*edit* Remember up above when I said I didn't need 144 of those small little pieces?  I was wrong.  Redoing some of the math I am actually short by about 70 pieces, when I was tabulating how many I would need I was only counting the reinforcements for ONE side of a 2' x 2' pane.  The good thing is I caught it now, not when I'm trying to everything glued up and hung later.  I will still have extras, which is good since I had 3 casualties today out of 50 pieces.

This is my crate of glass goodness, this came to the Sculpture Studio yesterday, and that made me very happy.  There are 36 panes total, I need 31, so there is room for error... just not a lot of room.  The edges of these 2 foot square panes of glass will be beveled enough to take the edge off, so a millimeter at most here.

I'm thinking about the material, and for a project this size material is very important, what you use is just as important as how you use it.  I'm also doing some research into more conceptual art and those books arrived today in fact.  In my head the project has undergone a transformation, at this point I don't know if I'll be drawing on the glass, and most likely won't.  I do plan on writing on it, text from myself, my Mother and Grandmother will adorn 3 of the sides of the box.  The remaining wall will be blank in reference to my Grandfather, who is gone.  The project is starting to feel like a family room, that room in the house that everyone would hang out and talk in, maybe watch some T.V. or a football game.  That room is usually filled with mementos of the family that lives there, little figurines, photographs, and books.  The thing is I'm getting that vision of it completed in my mind's eye.  I can see it and as I work on the glass it gets more clear everyday, I have most of the materials now and nothing is going to stop it... except exhaustion.