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.

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.

La Reunion TX Second Annual Tree Carving and Open House

The tree is done and lots of people showed up for the La Reunion TX open house.

Here is my artist's statement for my tree:

 The tree was toped off leaving an 8 feet tail trunk. All the wood above that height was cut into 16" long logs. An 8 foot long cradle was constructed on top of the trunk, and the logs were placed on top of it in chronological order. 

Viewing the sculpture from the ground displays the weight and mass of an average sized a tree. The view from the patio focuses on the stacked wood. This allows the viewer the unique opportunity to see the progression of the tree's growth and the historic impact of the traumas that the tree has endured. 

which gives the viewer the opportunity to clearly examine the growth rings will give tour guides a unique visual aid to discuss how trees grow.

 to supports a stack of logs and branches. This lumber make up what was the rest of the tree. 

The tree is looking really close to the original drawing. I did in up using 2X4s for the cradle instead of tree branches because of the weight.  

Video of La Trees on Dallas News.com

The reporters form the Dallas Morning News came out to La Reunion TX and shot some great video of the trees. Fortunately I was not there so I do not have to suffer watching myself talk, but there are some good shots of my almost completed tree.

la Reunion Tree Carving: Day three

It was a good day out at the La Land. Almost everyone showed up to work on their trees. Lots of neighborhood kids sneaking about trying to figure out what we were up to. I wasted a bit of time trying the rental chain saw again. Big Double Thank Yous to David again for letting me use his chain saw while he was doing math.

La Reunion TX Tree Carving: Day Two

It my not look like it but this is the result of 4 hours of work. Of corse I did spend a lot of that time struggling to get the chain saw that I rented from Home Depot started. If David  had not shown up with his beautiful chain saw it would have been a total wast of a day for me. Thanks David!

La Reunion TX Tree Carving: I've got my tree

This pile of old rotting wood is the tree that I will be carving on for the La reunion Tx second annual open house on February 7th. 

La Reunion TX Second Annual Tree Carving and Open House

I was selected as one of 11 artists to participate in La Reunion TX's Second annual Tree Carving and Open House.  This years artists are:

OLIVER BRADLEY + DAVID BLOOD 

TARA TONINI + JOEY SEEMAN 

ERIK GLISSMAN + ERIN GLISSMAN + ERICA FELICELLA 

BRAD FORD SMITH 

RASOUL KHALIQ 

DAVID CARAPETYAN 

ALBERT SCHERBARTH

VET 

CINDY THOMAS 

KEVIN OBREGON 

The La Reunion Tx property is 35 acres of over grown woods. Part of reclaiming the land is having artists come out and inflict their creative urges on selected non-native or dying trees. The objective is to transform these trees into a sculpture that will remain in place, exposed to the elements, and part of the natural cycle of decay.

Above is the drawing for the basic idea of what I will do this year. I will cut a tree down to a tall stump. Then build a platform on which the wood from the tree will be stacked.

I did a tree in last years open house. Basically I turned a cedar tree into a flat botanical specimen similar to pressed flowers. 

 

Tree carving at La Reunion

Well not only was February 2nd Groundhog day it was also the first ever event to be held at the property of La Reunion TX.

 

The focus of the event was the artistic killing of 7 trees by 7 artists, including myself. We selected sick or non-native trees to turn into biodegradable art. In this way the property will return to its natural habitat while providing habitats for bug and animals. 

 

For my project I selected a small cedar (14’ tall), removed all the branches, cleaned up the trunk, and then doweled the branches back onto two sides of the trunk. The result was a two dimensional tree that looks similar to a pressed flower.