newst pieces

there are a few art competitions deadlines coming up, and this is a great motivator to get some artwork that has been in the works for a while.

this piece is made to fit on a backing board that i had a friend make for me. i have had it for a while but have finally decided to use it, and i am really liking it.

 

this is a collection of small squares that i have been working on that are part of a new series about exploring my local area.

 

and these are the photos from the photographers. i went to a new person to get my work shot. i like the results, a bit of drama in the lighting but i think it works. and i never would have thought about shooting black on black work, on a black background but it seems to work.

this is the final image of the favourite 4 smaller squares, again drama in the lighting and a black background.

 

i also got this piece re shot at the photographers, to see who it went with mirror, and again i like the result. although it does not look like mirror, it does give the same feel as how the piece looks at times when you live with it, as it changes all the time in the light and as you move around it.

so now is the waiting game to see if i am successful and shortlisted for any of the art prizes. and if not i have at least made some new work and some new discoveries in photography of the work.

recenlty in the studio

i have been in the studio trying to make a few new pieces before the end of the year.

I have been using mirror and using the sandblaster to removes areas of the mirror from the back.

 

i like the affect but i am not sure if it is too hard to see. 

maybe the images need to be simpler?

these are professional shots in the studio. its almost necessary for this work to be able to see it properly.

i think i need to keep working on this idea, its not quite there yet.

but there is something....

this image above worked quite well. one mirror is the positive of the image and the other is a reflection and the negative of the image. i find it really interesting. this is hanging in my house now - trying to see if it is working. but i think i will investigate the reflection, positive negative again in my work.

i have also been working on a 3 panel black fire polished piece

here is the studio image of it.

and some detail images

i have entered this one into an art competition. i find out in the new year if i was successful.

public artowrks installed in the foot path

last week we finally got to see some of our sandblasted slate imagery and the large boat image that we cut into the paver installed into the walkway in port adelaide.

the pavers were delivered numbered and in order on a pallet.

 

the site was leveled and prepped by the paver installers

and then they got to work laying out the large ship image into the paving on the footpath.

it didnt take very long for the whole thing to be laid out

 

i still need to go back and take some final images, it is almost impossible to see the artwork in these images

on the other side of the street the artworks had already been installed and people are already walking on them and enjoying them or hating them. thats the thing with public artworks people have no problem letting you know what they really think, even if it is bad.

 

here are the close ups of the artwork that runs along the foot path 

 

 

in case you cant read it it says "we are present link in the endless chain of cause and effect"

and then after you walk over that text there are some large chain links along the footpath.

 

they look really great installed, but it is funny, since they fit in so well they are really flat, and you cant see the amount of material and volume that each piece actually takes up.

 

this is a large piece of slate, with a picture of an anchor on it and some text from a song lyric 'i tattooed an anchor next to your name so i wouldn't float away'

again i need to go back and get some good images, but these were just the quick snaps i took the other day when we were on site. there are a few more bits to get installed on this job and a bit of line marking we still have to do but hopefully it will be done end of this month mid next month at the latest.

work for upcoming exhibition complete

the other day i finally completed sandblasting the second half of the tiles for the multi panel tile wall piece.

as usual when i make this kind of work i wonder if the image is clear to others. i know what the image is but can you see what it is?

after the tiles were done the last step was to glue on the backings to the tiles. the glue takes 2 weeks to fully cure. the show goes up in 3 weeks, so i got it completed just in time.

 

the last collection of work for the show are individual wall tiles, here are the stencils i made monday night.

tuesday i spent 6 hours a the sandblaster, finishing off these pieces.

 

i am not sure if all will make the final cut, but now that they are done, I have glues on the hanging system as well. i hit the professional photographers next week, and will post images form them and the exhibition set up and opening next month.

now time to shift my focus back to some public artwork projects.

exhibition planning and making

my blog has been a little bit quiet lately, and my excuse for that is that i have been a bit too busy in the studio. since i got back from my trip home to canada i have had the last 2 months to really get serious and think about a small solo exhibition that i have opening early september in melbourne.  i applied for some funding before i left on my trip and found out just after i returned that my application was successful. this was good news, the extra funds has helped make 2 months to make new work for the exhibition easier. 

i started as i usually do, making a to scale model of the gallery space. the gallery i am showing at has 3 spaces, and i am in the gallery 3 space, which is smaller and more intimate, but a perfectly good space for my work.

then i printed out some to scale artworks that i could install in the gallery to try out different layouts.

i also made some visitors to the gallery to get a sense of hanging height and wall space.

it's a bit of a tricky space, in that it has 2 doors that open into the space. the doors are really just moving sections of wall, and normally artwork can be hung on them, but seeing as my wall panels are glass it might not be such a good idea.

i tried a few layouts, and then decided on the direction for the work and the plan for the show.

there will be 6 of these large black sandblasted tiles that will hang across one wall and then around the corner onto the adjoining wall in a long row. 2 tiles being shown already existed but i have made 4 new ones for the show.

these 2 tiles were made during a residency in canberra, they are clown glass, with sandblasted outlines and then hand enameled. i really like them and want to make a small collection of work using these processes, and i thought i was going to for this show. but in the end i actually decided to make one large multi panel piece instead. i think i was worried that the feel of the hand painted technique would not sit well with the rest of the techniques i am using in the show. i know i will make work like this, just not for this show it seems.

this is the mulit panel piece as it is now. i am halfway done the sandblasting. i will finish it off tomorrow, and hopefully you can then make out what it is.

the last collection of pieces will be similar to this work. they are hand blown glass panels that will be sandblasted with a high contrast image. the new ones will only be one panel each.

this is the panels laid out in the studio with the negative of the images on each one. i need to make the stencils for them and then sandblast them. if all goes to plan will have all the work complete by the end of the day tuesday. leaving me a couple weeks to organise packing, freight and photography of the artworks for the show.

Heavy Deliveries

Deb and I went back to work early in January to get started on a few public artworks we have lined up for this year. 

for one of the projects we are using reclaimed timber beams from an old wharf to make bench seats.

it was one of the hotter days of summer at the beginning of a heat wave on the day we had organised for the truck and crane to move the timber.

lucky for us the truck driver was friendly, and helped us unload the 9 pieces of timber in the narrow lane way beside the studio. 

all up it took us about 3 hours to load and unload the timber

we have positioned them on concrete bricks so they already kind of look like benches!

because of their size we will have to work on them where they have been set, and then the crane will have to collect and deliver them to site for the install. the metal footings are just being manufactured for us so we will get working on the wood working part of the job soon.

the same day we had the timber delivered we also accepted a deliver of slate. this slate is from the salvage yard and will become some sandblasted paving set in the foot path in the same street as the benches will end up.

it took deb and i a little over a day to cut all the slate to size, and neatly stack it out the back of the studio. it was pretty good work to do in the hot weather, working with water in the cold shop.

next month we will use a mobile sandblaster to blast the images into the slate at our studio in the empty shipping container. hope it is a bit cooler on that day.