Aurora Dallas 2013 or Aurora Project or Aurora 2013 or Dallas Aurora

Whatever name you prefer to use, Aurora, The Light Of Convergence was a stellar art event with a turnout well above the expected 35,000 people.

Aurora is an art event held one night in the Dallas Arts District that features new media artwork in mediums such as light, digital projection, performance and sound. This year all the Arts District Institutions joined in to make it a 68 acre block party.

This was my second time to be an Aurora artist. I selected a 10 foot square cement plinth to project my project onto, which was titled UP.

UP is composed of 63 photographs taken while hiking the back woods of Yosemite National Park. UP is a simple concept: we spend too much time looking at our hands and feet, and not enough time looking UP. By mirroring the images of treetops and projecting them onto a horizontal surface, this simple shift and change of angle illustrates the otherworld quality of simply looking UP.

Keeping this project very simple is something I learned from my last Aurora encounter. People in crowds never stop for very long, perhaps 3 seconds. In that short amount of time you have to grab them with something that is striking AND recognizable. 

Swirling colors and complex geometric shapes or long slow narratives just get passed by.

With UP, the simplicity is its strength. A photo that is mirrored creates a rorschach test experience. It is what it is but it could be something else as well. The added effect of one image fading into the next so that there is a brief 4 seconds of overlapping taps into the basic human instinct to search out recognizable patterns and solve puzzles. 

The end result is that the crowd stopped. Some people watched the whole 3 minute loop, pointing out to each other what they saw hidden in the trees. 

Here are a few links to Aurora reviews and posts:

UP

Aurora Dallas

Dallas Morning News

Bill McCarthy video
WFAA photos 49 and 50 are my favorites.
FrontRow D Magazine 

And The Idea Fund Grant Goes To...

This was my second time to apply for an Idea Fund grant. The first was in 2009, as a joint effort with Beam, Plank and Flitch, constructing 6 public wood benches made from urban harvested trees. That one missed because I think the judges thought it was to pedestrian and not art centric enough. Although sense that time Dallas has become over run by urban harvesters.

In 2011, I applied with the Automated Cordycep Project:

The Automated Cordycep Project is about playing with a narrative; it’s about combining sculpture, nature, and science, with a gorilla approach to exposing the public to a sci-fi narrative of near future disaster…

And the prize… went to somebody else. Actually 10 somebody elses. I looked over the list, and can say that on first glance, they all look like solid proposals. Each having a large friendly public component, which I think is where my project might have been lacking. Mine had public interaction, but more on the level of terrorizing large crowds with remote controlled cars infected with a parasitic fungus.

So. I’ll add this to the list of impressive art organizations that I have applied to but have not been accepted by. It is said that if you don’t get rejection notices, you’re not trying hard enough, which I do think is true, although I really do prefer the non-rejection notices.

Walking AND Looking

Most every artist will tell you that for them making art is way more important to than selling it or even exhibiting it. That the creation of each painting, drawing or sculpture is for the moment the most important thing they are doing, and if questioned further, they will admit that when completed, that work of art will be eclipsed by the next painting, drawing or sculpture.

Like it or not, I have to admit that's my studio practice in a nut shell. I have once again spent the year focused on crafting three art projects. Three really great, pushing my boundaries, all consuming art projects. They now languish as the top layer of the art pile. I am now starting on my next really great, boundary pushing, all consuming painting, drawing, or sculpture.

I have been walking through the woods so focused on each footstep that I am completely missing the forest. That by not spending the time and energy to get the artwork exhibited I will never really see what this path has to shown me.

With this in mind, I am sending in a proposal to the Lawndale Art Center, Applying for a grant from The Idea Fund, and once again applying for the artists residency at Artpace.

A Damn Good Interview By Aja Martin

Half A Cord Stacked Up High

Anybody who has been following my blog knows I have done a lot of artwork and volunteer work with La Reunion TX. I find it a great way to get out of the studio and out of my studio frame of mind.

Aja Martin has taken on the task of interviewing artists involved with LRTX, and then posting it on the LRTX web site. Well, She just posted my interview last week. Aja did a great job of keeping me on topic, and did an amazing job at researching before the interview. It was a strange experience to have someone I have never met before tell me about my own artwork, and also add insightful comments about my history. It was like having a little taste of being a famous artist.

In the past I have often been disheartened by interviews or exhibition reviews that have resulted in not quite right information or even just plan misleading. Take a look at some of the press around the TEDxSMU SculptCAD Rapid Artists exhibit. Having trouble finding it? That is because the name of the show appears written 10+ different ways. Grrr.

Now you may be asking why a man with dyslexia would be coming down on someone else's misspelling. It's because in some of those articles they have misspelled the name 3 different ways in the same article. That's just not... well I could go on and on...

Back to today and the happy results of the LRTX interview. Thanks LRTX for doing a GREAT job of getting it right, and to Aja for all the work she put into the interview. Her other interviews for LRTX are great too. Read them all.

A Museum in the Dark

Segal and Me

Once a month the Nasher Sculpture Center stays open until midnight. They have all kinds of things happening after dark like movie screenings, live concerts, guided tours...

Burton Chairs in Moonlight

...But what I like best is that it gives me the opportunity to see some of my favorite sculptures literally in a new light.

Night Time Boolean 

Of course I just play at taking photos. The subdued lighting in the sculpture garden results in mostly blurry grainy images, but I like the way that shifts my perspective.

Water Works

There is also the James Turrel "Skyspace" which I didn't photograph. If you have never gazed up through that square hole at the night sky, you have miss out on a psychedelic experience.

De Vinci in the Morning

The De Vinci After Dark party at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History was a big success. The museum was expecting to have a total head count for the event of about 400 people. They sold that many online by that morning. So the unofficial head count was around 600 people. (I'll have to confirm that).

In these times when museums and historical societies are suffering serious cash flow problems, it's great to be part of an event that turns out way better than expected.

As part of the, Show and Tell, I guess you would call it, I had a table in one of the activity rooms where I worked on a sculpture based on one of De Vinci's drawings of street people. As you can see from the photo above I didn't get very far, people really asked lots of questions, and then asked questions about the questions they just asked. I not only talked up De Vinci and the FWMSH, but also community collage art programs, Trinity Ceramic Supplies, the finer points of working in clay, and art conservation just to name a few. I'm a little bit horse this morning, but it was a blast.

They'll be doing it again at the end of September.

An Evening with Da Vinci

My sculpture supplies are packed in the car, and I am just about to head over to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History. The museum is hosting a Da Vinci After Dark party as part of their exhibit Leonardo da Vinci: Man, Inventor, Genius. There will be 2 bands, wine tastings, a cash bar, a couple of inventors and me working on a sculpture basted on some of Da Vinci's drawings.

This will be my first time to see the new building sense its completion earlier this year. I have heard lots of good things about it.

Make Space: Installation/Open House at La Reunion TX 2010

Brad Ford Smith

It was a beautiful blue sky, puffy cloud day, perfect for the Make Space: installation event at La Reunion TX. I got up there early to do a few finishing bits to my sculpture and clean up around the site. Then I spent the rest of the day talking to people, petting dogs, and enjoying the sun shine.

Below are photos of some of the sculptures made by the other artists for this years event. If the names are high lighted they link to the artist's web site.

Anne Albagli

David Blood and Oliver Bradley

Scott Horn

Nicole Horn

Kevin Obregon

Unfortunately I did not get a photo of Sandra Groomer's installation, but there should be some posted at the La Reunion TX site soon.

Privet Sculpture Project Construction Day 3

All the arches are in place, 12 in all, spanning 40 feet. Sadly, the photographs really don't capture it very well at all.

I'll be out there early on Saturday, Open House 2-4 to add a few elements around the main arch.

These are the flying buttresses that were added for stability. The privet when freshly cut is very bendable. Only a few branches broke during construction. As the wood dries is becomes harder and more apt to brake and split. Over all the structure is very stable. I am expecting the wood to weather very well over it's year long existence. The bailing wire might be an issue with rust, so I'll beef that up on Saturday.

Privet Sculpture Project Construction Day 2

Despite the cold and rain, things are progressing. 4 1/2 of the 7 arches are in place. They need to be tweaked and fattened up a bit. I am also adding some side arches at the gate opening for stability.

The bundles are tied together with bailing wire, which was donated to the project by Susan Giller, an artist that is known to create strange bunny people with wire.

Privet does not have stickers in the normal definition of the word. What it has are numerous pointy bits along the branches that are the stubs of old dead twigs. These twigs can be very sharp.

At the End of the First Day of Construction on the Privet Sculpture Project

At the end of the first day of construction I learned that not all privet can be used the same. If the branch has any elbows it won't bend smoothly. The long shoots that grow straight up in one season are ideal for the ridged bundled arches that the PSP requires.

First Stake in the Ground for the Privet Sculpture Project

The structure will be staked to the ground using thick privet branches. It will be interesting to see what condition they are in after a year in the dirt. The dirt at this location is on about 10" deep then you hit lime stone, which is the reason this area is called Chalk Hill. The photo also shows some of the long privet branches that have been harvested to create the arched structure.

Location for the Privet Sculpture Project

The opening for Make Space: Installation at La Reunion TX is this Saturday, Feb. 27th. With all the rain and snow it has been hard for any of the artists to get out there, but I do have my sculpture sited now, and I have started the framing out of the structure. Above is the concept drawing superimposed at the site.

There has been some interesting issues around using privet as a building material, I'll blog about that later. Right now I need to get into my muddy boots and rain coat, pack up the truck and head out to La Reunion TX.

The Beam Plank & Flitch proposal for the Henderson Art Project

This is one of three Urban Timber Sculptures that Beam Plank And Flitch submitted to the Henderson Art Project. We focused on a minimalist approach that strikes a balance between the natural form and texture of the tree trunks and a graphic subtractive sculpture.

Privet, Basic Structure and Seed Distribution

The structure and seed zones of privet

Privet growing in the wild sends out branches from a central root ball. It has corresponding small branches that sprout along the main branch. As the main branch grows longer it bends, making an arch. The small branches on the top of the arch grow towards the sun light while the branches on the underside dry up and snap off, leaving rows of small stubs. These stubs are reinforced over the seasons to form a thorn like defense. This pattern of the branch arching, growing and branching out repeats every season resulting in the main branch becoming a series of arches that can extend over 10 feet in length (as observed at La Reunion TX).

With each season, new branches sprout from the root ball and grow straight up, using the older branches as support. Once they have cleared the leafy privet canapé, the small side branches begin. The seeds and new leaves will only form on new growth. The long clusters of hard round seeds tend to be located on the farthest tips of the branches where they can be seen by animals and whipped about in the wind.

Cutting a branch usually results in a growth spurt around the stump and along the branch. Cutting a branch at the base of the plant tends to multiple the amount of new branches sprouting up from the root ball.

New sprouting seeds

Cutting all the branches down to the base allows sun light to reach the unsprouted seeds, this combined with a little rain water will activate all the seeds.

Spreading the Seed

Frass, Droppings, Spore, Poop... What ever you call it, this is a big stinking pile of privet seeds.

One privet bush can produce thousands of seeds every year. These hard round black seeds have a multitude of ways of finding fertile ground. First is the structural nature of the bush itself. It grows in long arching branches that sprout from a central root ball. These branches drop seeds away from the root ball onto new open ground. The branches are also very wiry so in high winds they can act like whips to fling seeds further a field. Due to the small round shape of the seeds, they are easily washed into storm drains and creeks, this being probably the most common form of seeding in urban areas. Birds and some animals can eat the seeds, which are resistant to the acids in the digestive system, so they are excreted later in perfect condition to sprout in new locations.

Please note that privet seeds are slightly poisonous to humans, but they will kill a horse if eatten them.

The Privet Sculpture Project: Cutting Research

This is the edge of a native grass field that has never been plowed. It is slowly being overrun but a tidal wave of privet.

Anne Albagli and I went out to La Reunion Tx today. It was again damp, muddy and slick, but after whacking away at privet for an hour, the cold damp didn't feel so bad.

I brought along a cornucopia of saws, hedge clippers, and hatchets to test out. Branch trimmers work the best for anything smaller than an inch in diameter. Bigger than that you need a pull saw. Those come in lots of shapes and teeth counts. Lots of teeth seem to work the best. The privet is to wiggly for a standard push saw or an axe to efficiently cut lots of privet. I did notice areas where people had used a chainsaw. Agin the wiggliness of the branches resulted in heavily splinter stumps.

Make Space: Installation meet up at La Reunion TX

Old road almost swallowed up by privet

A good portion of the artists for this years Make Space: Installation met up at La Reunion Tx to scout out locations and inspirations for their installation projects. It was thick with slippery mud but other wise a very nice day.

Sarah Jane introduced me to Shreyas Krishnan, who describes himself as an ecologist with an interest in how invasive plants effect the natural evolution of amphibians and retiles. Of course I was very happy to hear about the invasive plant interest. I am hoping to include some of his knowledge in the documentation on the Privet Sculpture Project.

Two of the other artists, Anne Albagli and Nicle Cullum Horn are using privet in some form in their installations, so I'll be posting about some of their experiences here, too.

More Local Privet Problems

Seems like as soon as I submitted my Privet Sculpture proposal to La Reunion privet started coming out of my ears.

Lots of people like Shreyas Krishnan and organizations like the Texas Master Naturalists are very passionate about privet. Shreyas sent in this link to an article in the Dallas Morning News about the problems of removing privet from the Great Trinity Forest, (video by Scott Miller) Texas Invasives.org is actually creating a map that tracks the spread of privet across Texas.

On site with Make Space: Installation

Drove out to meet up with Sarah Jane Semrad and some of the other artists that are part of the La Reunion TX Make Space: Installation. The La Re Volunteers have been working had this past year to clear out new trails and spaces. I wish I had known, I could have collected a lot of privet.

Anyway here is the list of artist in this years show:

Anne Albagli, Oliver Bradley/David Blood, Sandra Groomer, Nicole Cullum Horn, Scott Horn, Kevin Obergon, Brad Ford Smith.