Up Against the Pecha Kucha Clock

Several people have asked if I could post my Pecha Kucha Dallas presentation on line. So here it is, 20 slides, 20 seconds each. Pull out your stop watch and see if you can beat the PKN clock...

Tonight I'm taking you on a rambling journey of Flashbacks, Visual Connections, and Unintentional Concoctions.

Welcome to my slightly dyslexic world of Art-O-Vision.

When these Hummels came into the conservation studio, I was trying to quite smoking for the fifth time. They were coated in 30 years worth of second hand tar and nicotine. 

Sometimes when you make a tough decision, the world backs you up.

This pre-Columbian artifact was broken in half. Inside are fingerprints so clear that the FBI could use them for identification. 

This isn't a cold ceremonial artifact, it's a direct link to a once living person.

This is my childhood home. 

They say you can never go home again. 

Well, a few years ago I moved back into this house. So I can tell you from personal experience that it's much more surreal the second time around.

Every time I dig in the yard, I dig up toy guns, G. I. Joes, army men, and the tools that I borrowed from my Dad. 

Yeah, I'm just now returning them to the tool shed. Sorry it took so long Dad.

When I dug up this small ceramic turtle, suddenly it was the summer of 1966. I was 4 years old, sitting in the gravel driveway with the turtle in my mouth, squashing ants with a stick.

This is one of my Dad's paintings. It was in "deep storage" for over 40 years. 

When I pulled it out, I could see it hanging in our living room. I was just a tot, and I remember thinking it looked like fried eggs in outer space.

This is some of my work. A small work on paper, a lacquer panel, and a page of doodles, the kind you make while your listening to someone talk.

These were all done before I rediscovered Fried Eggs in Outer Space.

These abstract drawings were done for a show at Gray Matters. At the time, I was a senior art conservator, spending my days restoring gilded frames, chair legs, and drawer pulls.

In this project I photographed lots of buds and seeds. The photos were used as building blocks to generate the abstract shapes on top. So, those shapes would not exist without the information contained with in the photos below...

A few months later, I came across this almost direct photographic translation of one of the abstract shapes.

I spent a week at the Untitled ArtSpace in Oklahoma City producing a series of block prints that were totally non-representational.

It was all about creating PURE abstract shapes...

Yeah, apparently while I was up there in Oklahoma, I was channeling the creative spirit of the ceiling fan down here in my bedroom.

So much for purity.

Art Basel Miami! Developing Art-O-Vision. 

5 days of nonstop art viewing. 

On the first day, Damn I saw a lot of art! By the end of the fifth day, you have gone beyond burnout. Everything looks like art. 

I highly recommend it.

Vermont Studio Center, where each month a new batch of 50 neurotic, self absorbed artists and writers are let loose on the small northern town of Johnson Vermont.

I drew, painted, sculpted, photographed, shot videos, blogged, and talked Art Art Art 24/7.

It was very unnatural...

...Unlike making art in my studio at home.

All the distractions are actually part of the creative process. They allow ideas time to gel and ferment. 

SculptCAD Rapid Artists. I was 1 of 14 artists that spent 3 months learning how to create sculptures on a computer... 

The top row are the actual sculptures I created using the program. They're plastic resin sprayed with black velvet, so they are soft to the touch.

But I really like how the photos below have squashed the sculptures back into a 2D space.

This being my newest work, I really don't know what the epiphanies are yet. But with my niece graduating high school and my nephew graduating college, I assume they are about liver spots.

Thank You

Well, there you go. To much info, to little time, but a lot of fun to do.

All of the Pecha Kucha Dallas events have been held at small venues, Sons of Hermann being the biggest so far. The 150 seats at the last PKN Dallas, held at the Dallas Center for Architecture was sold out in just under 2 days. The small size of the audience makes each event feel like you are sharing something special with a bunch of friends. Of corse the small sized also means that a bunch of your friends have and will miss out on the event.

Reflections from VSC posted on Art & Seek

This posting about my posting on Art & Seek is a bit late. I've had a lot to catch up on sense getting back to into town.

Anyway, Here is the Art and Seek link to my follow up article on the Vermont Studio Center.

You can also see more photos of VSC at my flickr page.

End of the Third week at VSC

It's not quite the end of the third week, but things are going so fast around here that by the time I post this it will be dinner time. Eating being the most common way of telling time at VSC.

Above is a figure drawing that I did at one of the daily figure drawing sessions. I am not trying to render the figure in terms of proportions or scale, but in terms of mass pushing against mass. The pencil is used as a sculpting tool to dig out areas and push material together. You can see more of the drawings at my Flickr page.

Houston Public Art Proposal #1001

This is one of four video for an imaginary Houston Public Art Proposal. the other three plus other videos can be seen on my Youtube page

Rodin @ Vermont

This is a fresh on the wall photo of the Rodin project that I am working on while at VSC. It started with an old art book on Rodin. I removed the photos and then mapped out the sight lines found in each image. Using these sight lines as a guide I created new forms. To see more photos of this project please go to my Flickr page.

New posting on Art & Seek

The great people at KERA Art and Seek posted my article on the first 14 days at the Vermont Studio Center. Below is a draft, or you can click here to read it and see all the photos on Art and Seek.

Johnson, VT. -

You would think that without the distractions of job, family, and phone, making art all day would be a piece of cake. Well, it is sweet, but it is also a strangely surreal experience. Large blocks of time are consumed in focused bursts of creativity that leave you staggering back to your bed hoping to grab a few hours of sleep, but then you come across a some comrades sitting on the front porch, and you find yourself engaged in conversations about art, books, and movies, swapping silly stories, and laughing that kind of painful gut wrenching “Stop! Stop! I’m going to pee in your pants” kind of laugh that is so very rare and so very, very good… Then you find it is once again 3AM.

This is my second week at the Vermont Studio Center, and I am just now getting around to writing about my experiences so far. The days here are full, quick and exhausting. Trying to schedule them in the same fashion that I would while at home is not possible. That would be forcing a structured regime onto a world where the only real passing of time is measured by when to eat.

So, here is a little info on the Vermont Studio Center. It is an Artists Residency program located in the small town of Johnson Vermont. Each month 50 artist are set up with a private studio and a house that they share with a few other artists. All meals are provided in the Old Red Mill. There is always desert served after dinner. The artists here are either writers or visual artists. I am of the latter, but hanging out with a bunch of writers has been a novel and wonderful experience. The VSC web site explains the program in detail; so check it out because I’m going to focus on the more ethereal aspects of this experience.

On the first day of residency, one of the staff members shows you to one of the old wood-framed houses that will be your new home. Then it’s over to your studio, which contains a chair, two sawhorse tables and your boxes of art supplies that you shipped up from home. The studios are large, clean, and very white. Most of them have windows with wonderful views of either the river or the wooded hills. Then, with a “see you at dinner” you are left to your own devises.

In fact, being left to your own devices seems to be the unwritten motto of VSC. They provide you with food and shelter, plus a calendar of optional social events and lectures. From there you are free to go in whatever direction you wish. You can dig deep into your creative physi, or spend your days in the coffee shop down the street reading trashy tabloids. There are no expectations for what you do with your time or for the creation of some end product. You are free to let whim and whimsy run amuck. Of course, this freedom creates a scenario where things can get a bit surreal.

A quick survey of my artistic comrades reveals that the first thing we loose track of is the days of the week. Monday, Wednesday, Saturday, they all feel the same. At this time of year in Johnson, the sunrises at 4:30 AM, so by 5 it is so bright that your internal clock skips a beat and then stops. Soon, sleep only happens a few hours a night, or more likely while attending one of the numerous slide lectures or readings. Note to visiting lecturers: The snoozing audience seated before you is not bored, they are exhausted.

The first week of residency is all about adrenalin and remembering. You are in hyper drive to get started on a self-centered creative adventure, while at the same time desperately trying to remember the names of all 50 artists you have just meet. A few of my personal stumbling blocks have been finding I did not pack the right computer cords, but I did pack a two year supply of pink highlight markers. I also keep misplacing my dental floss, and the nearest store to get moisturizer is 20 miles away. (I need the moisturizer because I am working with plaster, which tends to dry my out hands… and I like having baby soft skin) As for remembering names, I suck at it, but I am really good at remembering art and creative ideas, so the names have been slowly falling into place.

Referring again to my quick survey, the second week begins with complete exhaustion. The adrenaline is gone. Only twelve people show up for breakfast on Monday morning. By 11:30 you might find a few people shuffling around listlessly in their studios. Dark circles under the eyes seems to be the trend of the day. Over the next few days, the amount of dirty coffee cups at breakfast is three times the amount of dirty plates and bowls. If asked how things are going in the studio, the enthusiasm of the reply is usually tempered by the amount of coffee just consumed.

The second week is also an emotional rollercoaster ride, where the creative struggles in the studio start to clash with personal expectations and perhaps a wee bit of delayed stress syndrome. Personally, I am flip flopping from what I feel is either a creative brake through or just arty dabbling and then back to visions of grandeur. I also have a stack of very sophisticated novels that I am completely ignoring, opting instead to downloading audio books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which are filling my head with images of Pellucidar, the World at the Earth’s Core.

Friday was the first Open Studio Night, which means everybody got the chance to visit everybody else’s studio. This created a frenzy of activity that kept the creative juices flowing for the last three days.

It is now Sunday night. I know that because the Red Mill only serves brunch and dinner on Sundays. There is an unspoken realization in the air that the residency is now officially half over. How that will affect the dynamics of the third week I can only muse upon.

Please note, this posting should to be taken with a grain of salt, as it is based solely on my personal and by now somewhat surreal observations. Each person’s experience at VSC is different. Some are actually getting up early to jog miles and miles through the lush green hills of Vermont, or spending hours in yoga posses that would cause me to spit blood. Some people are even eating right and going to bed on time.

On our way to VSC- Day 11

Day 11 found me waving goodbye to my sweetheart while she drove back to Boston to catch a plane back to Dallas. 

I had a suit case full of very dirty cloths, and two boxes of art supplies waiting for me at VSC. My month long artist residency starts at 1:00.

On our way to VSC- Day 10

Saturday was our last full day of our trip to VSC. We spent it driving the back roads up to the city of Burlington with a stop at a fruit wine tasting room, and one at the Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory. The ice cream was much better than the fruit wine.

Burlington was having a jazz festival, so as we walked along the board walk we could hear the music of drums and trumpets. Burlington is another nice Vermont town that I would like to see more of, but we had to get up the Johnson, to the Vermont Studio Center. 

After checking in to a BnB, We ate that night at the Winding Brook Bistro. It was very good, but I must admit that I was so nervous about starting my artist residency at the VSC that I can't recall what I ate. 

On our way to VSC- Day 9

Our goal for the day was to hike, hike hike. We knew that we wanted to do some of the Appalachian trial, but I also wanted to see some water falls, so we stopped off at Hamilton Falls, The deadliest falls in Vermont. After a three mile hike we came upon this wonderful, multi layered falls. The photo really does not show the scale and beauty of this place and how tempting it is to climb it's deceptively deadly banks.

We linked up with the Appalachian trail just out side of Woodstock. It was a lust walk through bolder strewn woods. We stayed in Woodstock which is a sky resort town, so it was a bit expencive and not have as charming as Brattleboro.

On our way to VSC- Day 8

Day 8 found us in the town of Brattleboro Vermont. We drove across New Hampshire on the interstate making only one stop at the Pisgah State Park where we were eaten to a slightly dizzy state by swarms of monster sized mosquitoes.

But in the town of Brattleboro we found The Latchis, an art neuve movie theater/hotel, and across the street was a local pizzeria that hand made pizza using organic produce and local cheese. Plus they had beer. The town had lots of galleries and an art supply store! A way groovy town. I am going to have to do more research on Brattleboro. 

On our way out of town we saw our first cover bridge. It had big timbers that were held together with big wood pegs.

On our way to VSC- Day 6 & 7

On Wednesday we headed out to the airport to pick up our rental car, then we drove back to the city to the Institute of Contemporary Art to see the Shepard Fairey show. It was a way better show than I thought it would be. In fact I found it inspiring that he could go from a street bomber to having a studio that employs several interns and still produce work that is fun and edgy. One sad note, the food at the ICA was expensive and not good.

Anyway, we spent so much time at the museum that we were late getting started on our first driving tour of the New England coast line. We were hoping to take highway 1A all the way up to Portsmouth New Hampshire but we only made it up to Ipswich. We stayed at a BnB that was listed in the New Hampshire state tour book, Kaedebb.  It was a historic building with a Japanese infusion. 

The small towns along 1A were all very quant, and the rocky beaches were wonderful. I would have been happy to spend the next few days exploring tide pools and eating steamers. I was also amazed to see so many really old cemeteries. It seems that the life an old sailer is very short.

On our way to VSC- Day 3

After two days of good food, family bonding, evening wine on the patio, and a few more trips down to Pooh Corner, Monday morning found us heading downtown to catch the Amtrak to Boston. 

The photo is of a large wall sculpture at the train station that poetically illustrates the history of the human spirit. 1893. I didn't get the artists name but I love this end bit with children carrying models of a train, a paddle wheel steam boat, and lastly, a small infant with no dipper carrying a zeppelin.

On our way to VSC- Day 2

After walking the two hairless dogs down to Pooh Corner to pooh, the four of us humans loaded up the car and headed out to George Nakashima's studio. He died a few years back but his family is still creating wonderful furniture using George's designs. 

The 9 acer compound is a mix of small purpose designed buildings. One for cutting and milling the ruff lumber, one for turning spindles, one for applying lacquer, an office, a show room, living quarters, and a kitchen/dinning area. All were designed by George and reflected his connection with natural materials and simple forms.

Below is a design for a walnut table they are creating for the White House.

On our way to VSC- Day 1

We decided that instead of flying directly to the Vermont Studio Center, we would take a couple of days and to a New England road trip. 

Day one: we landed in Philadelphia and headed to my brother and wonderful sister in law's house. The above photo is a close up of one of their two hairless dogs. 

Packing for the Vermont Studio Center

Packing. How do you decide what to take to a place you have never been? This reminds me so much of packing for my first summer camp. I was about 8 years old, and I was both excited and scared. What to take? What if I forget to pack that one thing that is totally necessary for this experience to work, like underwear?

Well, I've done lots of research, and I have also had the luxury of talking to some local artists that have been to VSC; Sally Warren and Billy Hassell. They both said it was a totally wonderful experience on all levels. 

Vermont Studio Center, Making the decision

When I applied to the Vermont Studio Center way back in June of 2008, the economy and my life style were a bit different.

When I was granted a partial grant to attend VSC, it kind of threw me for a loop. I knew I would go to VSC if I received a full grant to attend, and that I would apply to some other residency if I didn't get a grant. But it never occurred to me that I might receive only a partial grant, or that our family income this year would be cut by half.

So for the last few months I have been walking the fence. Should I go, or should I put off doing an artist residency for yet another year?

Well, the VSC deadline for the deposit is next week. I have been filling up pages with pros and cons, and having long talks with friends about the extended finical hardships that this month in the woods would create.

Then a patron of the arts, who will remain anonymous, made a generous donation to the Send BFS to VSC fund. So now the issue finances have been reduced to a less head pounding red beacon, and I can now focus on the art related merits of this a enterprise.

What do I want to accomplish with this opportunity? Well that answer is in the pages and pages of notes I have been generating for the last few months. Hopefully VSC will be just the place to flesh out some of those ideas.

Vermont Studio Center Residency Program

I just found out that the Vermont Studio Center has accepted my application for their Artist Residency Program. They gave me an Artist's Grant and a Work Exchange Award to help cover the cost. I'll be there in June 09 for 4 weeks.