Artist Statement

My major art project right now is a drawing of a minotaur.  I even wrote a poem to go along with it. Before I post anything about it, though, I want to do a post about my Artist Statement.

I've put a lot of work into the Artist Statement so far, but there is still more to do.  As it turns out, the Fireside Manifesto thing was a helpful exercise in getting my thoughts together.  I still had to do a few preliminary writing sessions to find a theme that I liked, though. 

I went to Starbucks a few weeks ago and wrote out the first real draft.  After revising it myself I sent it to my good friend Jenevieve, who did a great job of giving me suggestions.  I want to have a another good draft done this week to send to anyone who will look at it. 

The goal is to be artful, but not overblown; conceptual, but logical and deliberate. I also tried to be original by bringing Literature into the discussion. I'm hoping that the statement will be interesting for the evaluators to read, after looking at so many essays from undergraduate art majors. I'm still deliberating on whether to post the whole statement on this blog or not.

I just started reading a book called "Art and Fear" by David Bayles and Ted Orland.  Its about what goes into the artistic process.  Its really interesting, and I think that I may have to finish it before finishing the Artist Statement.  It was recommended to me from a few sources. From what I have read so far, I would recommend it myself.

*Edit: added author's names.

Apple Turkeys, 2012

Its apple turkey time again!  The first one is mine-- I thought I would try to make a turkey without using any candy this year.  Pushing the boundaries.  The second one is Noah's-- it is a tank-turkey.  The gummy-bear is driving it, and he is shooting something out of one of the cannons. The third one is a crab-turkey by Jeremy.  its got gummy-bear eyes-stalks, and it is holding a worms in its claws. 

Photo Post-Production

 One of my big projects right now is to choose the photos that I want for my portfolio, and clean them up a bit.  I'll probably just be posting new photos of old pieces for a little while.

Some of the photos took very little extra work-- just some re-sizing and cropping.  The photos of this sculpture, however, needed some touching up in particular. This guy is 45' x 56' x 63' and 80lbs, and it was difficult to take pictures of it in the confined space of my room.

The four pics above show the process of taking out the overlapping and folded cloth.  I am far from an expert on this though.  If anyone has opinions on how I could do a better job (color balance, more contrast, more clone-stamping, etc), please let me know.  I really want these photos to be as good as they can be.

New Teapot, Finished

It took many weeks, but I have finally finished the new teapot.  I'm pretty happy with how it came out.  I used a thin layer of a glaze called Randy's Red, which gave a nice blueish-black color on the surfaces, and a rust red in the crevices.  Unfortunately, I forgot a basic aspect of teapot-making, which is that pots get twisted as they are thrown on a wheel, and they untwist when they dry.  The result of this is that the spout is not perfectly parallel to the ground, even though it was when I made it.  It's not something that you see unless you are looking for it, though.

Photos courtesy of Lance. 

Headless Horsewoman

I drew this label for my friend Chris.  He made some spiced pumpkin ale liqueur by modifying a recipe that he found online, and we thought that it needed a label.  The liqueur is made using a pumpkin ale that has a picture of the headless horseman on the label, which is where I got the idea for this.

I thought I would include a clean version of the picture without the words as well.

Wax Male Figure

I think that this little guy is kind of interesting because I have revisited him three times now since I began this blog.  The first time was back in November of 2010, and the second was in February 2011. The pose of the second incarnation is based on Rodin's Age of Bronze.  Interestingly, Rodin's birthday was yesterday, and the anniversary of his death will be this Saturday. 

I'm not sure if it is visible from these pictures, but I feel that each incarnation is significantly better than the last.  The final version has the words "Know Thyself" carved into his chest.

The photo on the far right was taken by my friend Lance, who photographed 11 of my best pieces last weekend with the help of his girlfriend Vivian.  They did an excellent job.  I will be posting some of these pictures in the coming weeks. 

Complete Halloween Costume

Full finished costume shot included as requested.  I'm hoping that I can add on to this in the next few years and make something really cool.