Two by Two by Two

A wonderful article in today's Boston Globe about two shows at Fountain Street Fine Art. One that I am in with Kay Hartung and opens next week, MORPHOLOGY.  And one with my two dear friends Lisa Barthelson and Denise Driscoll that is showing now, MATERIALIZE. You can read the article here. Thanks Nancy West!

b - i - o - l - o - g - y

VAULT, detail - 15x8.5x11 in. - Encaustic, cradled panel, rusted hinge and felted wool

Or better still - MORPHOLOGY - a two person show with Kay Hartung at Fountain Street Fine Art in Framingham from May 23 -June 23 2013. Looking forward to experience the chemistry that happens between my organic sculptures and Kay's cellular renditions. Installing next week. Opens May 23.

VAULT is a new work about the tension between our insides and outsides. Blood, guts and bile with an armor of wax.

Over the next month I'll be adding sneak previews of two shows. Please stay tuned!

Morphology
with Kay Hartung
Fountain Street Fine Arts
Framingham MA
May 23 - June 23, 2013
Reception June 8 5-7 pm
Artist Talk June 14 7:30 pm

The Nobility of Things
Solo show, Fruitlands Museum Art Gallery
Harvard MA
June 29 - August 18, 2013
Reception June 29 1-3 pm

Tick Tock

 

I've been reading tons about material culture  and the innumerable ways we as humans relate to the objects around us. While on vacation, and attempting to lose track of time, I read a caption about clocks as an invention by man to make time more concrete. 

Industrialization needed a clock to produce a world of measurable sequences and synchronized action and capitalism depends on regimenting human time and human bodies to succeed.

As mentioned in the caption, all around us timekeeping is ignored. Not only do birds and dogs work by their own rhythms, but figures of the past did also. Knights showed up for duty at sunrise. Siesta happened when the sun was high. Indigenous peoples worked by the lunar cycle. Only contemporary humans seem to concerned with the 'chimes of the hour'.

This caption showed up in my mailbox by chance - a product of a website my daughter subscribed me to called Stumbleupon where you're presented with serendipitous links to all sorts of information.

Lisbon's Flea Market

Lisbon's flea market is called locally the Feira da Ladra, often thought to mean "Thieves Market" (in Portuguese "ladra" is a woman thief) but it actually derives from "ladro," a bug found in antiques. A market of this type is thought to have been in place in Lisbon since the 12th Century and the name Feira da Ladra was first mentioned in the 17th Century. 

Imagine my delight when I found this! A real resource for some material culture field study. One interesting observation was the delicate care each individual took in arranging and displaying their wares. 

As you can see from the photos the commerce is not valuable - very ordinary and in humble terms - a lot of junk. But the objects weren't treated as such. They had implied value for the vendor who was counting on a consumer who agreed. I was moved by this and compelled to photograph as many as I could given the weather conditions.

I'm struck by the subversive placement of unlikely categories of objects. These juxtapositions bring more meaning to the objects than if they were displayed by themselves. The glass, beige sandals and plastic figures play off each other above.

  
Deodorant in context with gold tone watches. An iron with outdated CDs and polyester baseball caps. A red handled pliers and rusty coil sitting in marked contrast to the soft sweaters and white sunglasses.

These things are so omnipresent in our world, here and there (Portugal), that we stop seeing them and they become background. At the flea market I saw them for what they are and wonder. Where did they came from? How were they were found? What were they were used for? Who desires them and why? Where are they going?

2013 Artist-in-Residence Fruitlands Museum

I'm honored to officially announce that I will be the 2013 Artist-in-Residence at Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, MA. Opening day for the Fruitlands campus is April 15 and we've been busy planning HIVE meetings, public collaborative installations, museum exhibitions and more.

This has already been a rewarding experience and I look forward to the next months spending time with the museum membership and making art on the spectacular grounds. There's incredible depth to what the museum has to offer so please make sure to visit - let me know and I'll look out for you.

We have a schedule for HIVE gatherings for the next few months below. It is installed in the Wayside Building with IMPRINT and that's where we'll be working together.

HIVE schedule:
April 16 and 18  -  1-3pm
May 16   -   2-4pm
June 5   -   1:30-3:30pm
June 13   -   4-6pm
July 11 and 25   -   3-5pm

In addition to the collaborative projects, outdoor installations and workshops, I will be exhibiting at the Art Museum. My show, The Nobility of Things, will be in the main gallery from June 29-August 18 with a reception on June 29 from 1-3pm.

This is only the beginning and we'll be adding more events as we get into the season... so check in often!

Photo: Sun setting last week after I finished installing Imprint. What a treat.

A Math Problem

Over breakfast today while pondering how to get the large ball down the stairs before it was too heavy to manage - Wayne and I were trying to speculate how heavy it will ultimately be.

So here's the problem:

Today the ball is 20.5 inches in diameter and weighs 40.8 pounds. Assuming consistent density of material, how much will it weigh when the diameter measures 32 inches?

Please email me your solutions. 

A winner will be drawn from all the correct answers for a special surprise.

And it keeps on growing...

 

 20 inches diameter 

37.8 pounds or 605 ounces or 17,161 grams

roughly 172 skeins

Adjusted my goal to 32 inches diameter instead of 34 because that is the width of the doors to the exhibit hall at the Fruitlands Art Museum where this baby will be installed this June-August.

Need to move it to the studio while we can still lift it. At the studio I have access to dollies and a freight elevator for when it becomes too big to manage otherwise.

Click here and here to read what this is about.