concrete colour samples

deb and i have been installing the concrete drawings we did. i have some photos of the process but i cant show them yet. i will eventually. 

but as you can see from the photo above we are not done yet. the small holes are from the lifters that we used to lift and crane the large sections of the concrete drawing into place. now we have the tricky task of patching these holes and matching the colour.

since we are new to this process we have decided to do a series of colour tests. each bucket has a different mix of concrete path mix, and oxide. they all look grey until you add the water.

once you mix in the water the oxide takes over and colours the concrete mix. we have done various mixes for each of the 4 colours we are trying to match. above are the calipso green samples

 

these are the white colour samples

  

and the black colour samples

it was very satisfying seeing them all lined up and measuring out the oxides to exacting quantities. we need to let the samples dry for about 10 days and then we will take them to the install site and see which one is our best choice. then we can begin the final patching process.

concrete drawing update

the concrete drawings have been completed and ready and waiting for over a month now.

they are wrapped up in the warehouse awaiting the go ahead for the install.

 

this was supposed to be mid May but the project has been delayed - but it looks like we might begin the install next week.

 

in the meantime we have had some glass sheets laminated.

 

you can see the 3 layers of glass and the 2 layers of laminate in this cross-section.

 

although small these units are precious, costing almost $1000 each! just to make. then we carefully shaped each one to fit inside the bronze buckets. this laminated glass will become the "water" in the bronze buckets sitting on the "water" concrete drawings.

 

we have also had this tall sculptural "ladder" unit made. 

 

it has been powder coated, and will be installed with the concrete drawing and a bucket with glass water on top.

not long now.

knot

deb and i were again part of a group exhibition for the fringe festival. this is the fifth in a series of exhibitions where tony the organiser comes up with a theme/title and all the artists make work in response to that word. this word also relates to the port, which is where the exhibition is held, at the black diamond gallery. there are more images and info for this show here.

the show is called knot. and for this deb and i came up with a large loose timber knot.

we had some timber veneer lying around in the studio and we were able to fashion the layers into the knot and then stitch them in place.

 

best of all the box used to carry the knot also became the plinth!

here are some other works from the show, but for full details please see the link at the top of this post.

 

this tree has a knot tied in the stem of the tree, it is a great piece

this show has won an award best fringe exhibition last week and is now in the running for overall best fringe exhibition. not bad for a loosely curated and loosely organised group of artists that pull the whole thing together as it happens!

public art commission finally complete!

deb and i began this public art commission over a year and a half ago. in the original brief the project was due to be completed in december 2013. we finally completed it in december 2014.  we had the art components ready to go but the whole street was being re-landscaped and overhauled and that whole process took much longer than originally anticipated by the council. but we got there in the end and we think it looks pretty good. here is what we did.

there was a lot of salvaged slate that we collected and re-purposed to be included in the footpath. the area has a history as a port, and is still a bit rough in character, so we wanted the materials and imagery to fit with the surroundings

an anchor tattoo imagery seemed appropriate.

 

we also did a series of slate inclusions that had imagery and poetry.

 

this runs the length of the footpath in one section for about 15 meters.

 

it read 'we are all present links in the endless chain of cause and effect'

 

and then we did a few bold images of chain links

 

also related to the port history

 

and the poem

 

we were lucky to be given access to some old wharf timbers and for these we designed some bright bench seating.

 

a detail of the bench seat with the artists blurred in the background.

they fit the area really well being robust and having a history of a different use before hand still readable.

 

there was a long green curved arbour that would have originally had some kind of vine growing on it. the council wanted this to be refreshed, so we took some salvaged timber and painted some high-vis colours onto them and created a bright walkway refresh.

this was some what controversial with some residents as they wanted it to be rain proof, but the council did not want to deal with guttering etc, so we kept it simple.

 

the view looking up as you walk under it

 

we also really love the shadow play on the ground from the new structure above.

 

here is another bench seat in white, again with blurred artists in the background.

 

we did another collection of artworks in front of the local community center

 

we had kids from the childcare center do some drawings of the port, and we had these scaled to fit 300 mm x 300 mm pavers that were included in the footpath.

they were very good images to work with.

and finally the council had received feedback from the community during consultation that they wanted to see more colour.  since we already had the walkway planned at tone end of the street we thought it would be fun to include colour on the other end of the street at the roundabout.

so we painted some concentric rings of colour like a giant bulls eye at the roundabout to tie it all together and add some colour and fun to the street scape.

other than the timeline changing we had a great time on this project, working very hands on for every part of the artworks. the council has been good to work with and we are happy with the results. and it feels great to have a project that has taken so long to see completed finally done.

on to new things in the new year!

last job for the year

before we ended the year deb and i had one last job to complete. the large timbers we have been collecting that will eventually be part of a new park and play area near the beach. 

for this project we got to hire and use a chainsaw to carve in features into some of the logs

all in a days work at the studio.

the side lane of our studio looks like a timber yard, with the large bits of tree set up. we also decided to make a small structure with scaffolding and tarps, so we have a less windy/sunny area for painting.

 

some of the timber is old jarrah so we have to use respirators when we are sanding the timber back.

the last thing we needed to complete before the holidays was adding a few spots of paint to the play area timber and to cover the tops of the benches with the high gloss paint.

 

we have highlighted the chainsaw cut areas with some of the high gloss paint to make the forms more interesting and playful.

under the tarp everything seems blue, but actually we are painting the top of the benches 2 different colours of blue. they are going to be great next sitting next to the beach.

all the paint will have about a month to fully cure and be ready for installation at the end of january. a nice project to end the year with, simple, hands on and for a client that is really easy to work with.