around the studio

things seem to be moving slowly lately. lots of different things on the go, but progress seems to be happening slowly. here are a couple things i am working on.

deb and i had a brainstorming session making foam templates for a potential new product. a good start but more to do.

 

this is a mirror that i have sandblasted an image through some of the mirror. i like it but it is tricky to get a good view, not sure what to do next. a few ideas, but more time and resources are necessary.

this is a bronze compass that we had cast up for a commission

 

it was to be installed last week, but the site is not ready yet,

 

so it will sit in storage for a few weeks until the client is ready.

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.

jobs on

since my exhibition opened last month things seem to be operating at a more enjoyable and manageable pace. lets hope that this pace can be enjoyed for a while.

in the studio i have been working on a collaborative piece with a local furniture maker andrew bartlett. i am making some glass panels that will be featured on a cabinet that andrew is making.

the panels are being made from the cylinders of glass that i previously blogged about. now that the bottom and side panel has been cut away i put the cylinder in the kiln and heated it up slowly so that gravity would pull the sides down.

at the right temperature and with the right timing this flattening happens naturally and easily.

this is the controller for the kiln reading out the temperature display in celcius. these cylinders went up to about 670 degrees to get them totally flat.

 

this is what they looked like the next day out of the kiln. 

 

i now have 2 large sheets of glass with a very thing top layer of black glass, backed by a slightly thicker layer of white glass on top of a very thick (about 1cm) layer of clear glass. ready for me to cut and grind the sides to an even and smooth finish. then they will be ready for me to sandblast an image into them. 

the exhibition this is going to be in opens in late november so i have some time to get this finished off.

the other part of my practice that has been keeping me busy is the public artworks.

 

the other weekend deb and i spent a long day sunday cutting an image into some pavers that will be used in a footpath in port adelaide.

this is the artwork deb and i came up with that we wanted to use for the paving.

i took the paver from the pallet and copied the section of the artwork to the paver

this then went to deb who was geared up to use an angle grinder fitted with a diamond blade to follow the lines and cut in the pattern

it was a beautiful day out, and nice to spend it outside in the noise of the angle grinder

as each tile was completed we laid it out in the driveway of the studio

it was hard to photograph but overall the image worked out quite well. there will be a few adjustments to make, after the tiles get paved into site. hopefully this happens next month some time.

deb and i have also just begun the design development phase of another public artwork.

 

we haven;t done anything like this before, so it is interesting to see how we figure things out. the oval and buckets is the layout for the artwork that will be realised in bronze, terrazzo and cast glass

there are 3 installations in the overall artwork, this will be another layout, bucket on crate on terrazzo

 

and a third one with terrazzo area with bronze beam. 

 

the bean will have a bucket sitting on a platform at the top of it. right now we are just trying to figure out proportions, and aesthetics of the objects that will be cast in bronze.

this one is going to take a while to complete.

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.

colour tests

since getting back from overseas, i have had to start back in the studio pretty quickly. in the next 6 months i have a small solo exhibition in melbourne, i am part of a 4 person show in the barossa, i am part of a studio show for SALA, i have been shortlisted for an art prize, and i need to complete the large mirror project and finalise the last details of the public artwork project with the slate pavers and large bench seats. lucky i like lists and being organised. if i take one thing at a time, it will all get done. 

one of the first things I did was get some colour tests done for my sandblast and fire polished wall pieces. this is them sandblast with the stencils.

then i gave them a good clean

and let them dry. you can just make out the test pattern on the glass

 

from here they went in the kiln and were fired to 660 degrees

 

these are the results

 

some worked better than others, 

 

the test pattern was the same on each tile

 

some are just hard to photograph

 

but i think there is some potential in a few of them

i also did the same test panel in black, so i can compare it to the others. black is definitely the strongest results.

and white is definitely the most subtle result.

 

now i have lots of options for the work in my solo exhibition and the group show.

more info on what i am actually going to make for each project as it happens.

mirror public artwork

Deb and I have been working on a rather large scale project for the last 6 months. this is a new science and maths building that one of the local universities are building. it is well underway and due to open next year.

deb and i were invited to look at the building and come up with some ideas for public artwork within the building. one of the main concepts of the building is connecting the various levels through these voids within the building. we decided to take this concept already built into the building and expand on it, or try and highlight it. 

our idea is simple, we want to use mirrors positioned in the building to create a site line through the building so that when you walk towards to the building you can see through the building and outside to the sky on the to floor.

 

we have been working with a scale model of the building  but just the other week deb and i got to go on site with some large 1200 x 2400 perspex mirrors and try and test out our idea.

we had 2 scissor lifts and 4 mirrors, and about 10 guys from the construction site lending a hand. 

 

we got to wear our custom CHEB safety gear

 

this is the scissor lift on the ground floor with a mirror positioned so that it looks up through the building to the other scissor lift and mirror on the other side (35 meters away)

this is the location of the first mirror, and it is hard to see but it is possible to see the guy in the scissor lift in the mirror in this photo, and in real i life i could see all the way to mirror 4.

 

this is the main entrance, that give you a sense of scale of the building.

the good news is that it worked, on our model and in the real building. there are still some issues to sort out, like the size of the image we are reflecting down, and what size of mirrors we can use in the building. We also need to consider the reflection of the mirrors and sunlight, we don't want to cause any dramas. 

the next step is finalising sizes and then starting on designing hanging brackets and engineering for the units.