Brian Cronin

Brian Cronin is an illustrator who utilizes the silkscreen look in his work. Although only some of his work is fabricated with a silkscreen the ones that were not look like they are still prints. In each piece he instills a narrative, but not an explicit one. He lets the viewers fill in their one with a suggestion from him. I struggle with this simplicity in my work. I want to say more, guiding the viewer along the way I want them to go.

nakaSHAMU? waht no---nakaSHIMA

George Nakashima, a 'traditional' wood worker strives to emphasize the beauty that each slab of wood was meant to be. He holds a reference for nature and the power of its growth. To him, the trees seemingly intertwine together and hold the world together. He has created many structual feats within his work ( like building a two legged chair- who can do that?!)
He does not want the finished piece to be a representation of himself but of the material and what it, alone, can portray: simplicity along with complexity, beauty, peace, etc.
Altars of peace has been and will be a long-going project, the goal being each country having a table of peace where the human race can worship, come together, become one through the value of peace. Each table will be made from large slabs of black walnut dovetailed joined together. The first was installed in New York at a cathedral.

man on a wire

man on a wire is an incredible documentary about this french tightrope walker whose dream is to walk between the twin towers. it is very inspiring to listen and see how hungry phillipe is for dream to come true, no matter how impossible it is. he fails once, has many men quit on him, almost gets caught right before the rig.

the negative space between the two buildings is a whole other world for him

william kentridge

This week i was introduced to William Kentridge, illustrator/animator. Looking at his sketches and shorts had helped me in my own work. He works very loose which gives his figures movement even though they are still. in his short, the History of the Main Complaint, he seems to work with soft charcoal were after he draws one still he wipes it away on the same page he draws the next. Using this method leaves a ghost image of the past. the above image is a still from that animation and the viewer is reminded of the past action of the doctor by faint lines. he lets previous actions become the roots of the next. In Automatic Writing the words become figures and figures become words, both faint and recognizable but not necessarily readable.

PAPER clay

Lately... i have been thinking about utilizing paper clay for my sculptures. the media has been mentioned to me qutie a bit for the past year or two...

so i started to look into what others have done

Angela Mellor is one of my favorites. Even though she uses paper clay for her utilitarian work, she inspires me with her delicate, whispy expressions upon each piece. She bases her work off of the environment: water, earth, light, etc. The textures on her pieces have been from her exploration in nature.

All of her work is slipcast with bone china to create a thin translucent form to harmonize and emphazise the surface.

can decay bring understanding of life?

Lisa Merida-Paytes' childhood, of observing her father's taxidermy and slaughterhouse business, left an impact on her that still lingers to this day.

Her work now addresses the sacred life she saw in those animals. It explores the strength and structure of the skeleton as well the strength and structure of the living creature. A synthesis of various materials ( paper clay, aluminum, wire), together, create a powerful yet fragile sculpture.

The collision of such opposites creates tension, wonder, and an identification with the piece.

The surface harmonizes with the clay's figuration to re-enforce the combination of death and life simultaneously existing together.

static action

Robert Longo packs his drawings full of life. I get caught up in the movement of each of his figures, almost to the point where I feel I am flailing and thrashing my tie. I had the pleasure to one in person, the larger than life figure before me, I felt like I was staring(when I shouldn't be) at someone next to me in the gallery; but I couldn't look away. My head told me it was just a drawing and not a person but my eyes told me other. This tromp d'oeil effect mystifies each of his figures along with their strong line of motion.

bailing season

an annual activity my family looked forward to was bailing season. it was always a bit of excitment right before fair week. i remember one year in particular: the boys always worked in the stifling barn while i unloaded the bails onto the elevator which took them up to the barn. they were expert stackers, heaving one sometimes two bails upwards 7feet. but the part i loved about how they stacked was that they placed tunnels for us to crawl through as they built. this entailed moving the previous year's unused bails to fit with their tunnels. my concentration of keeping my unloading rythym was broken by the boys laughing at the window as they watched this black flat object they had thrown out spin downwards. i watched curiously until it landed when i realized that it was a dead, old cat that had been petrified between bails. My little cousin had set up a lemonade stand for us next to the base of the barn. her mother is farm vet, so my cousin took one look at it and said, "my mother can fix that!"

growing up my family would always have saturday night dinners at my oma's (grandma in german) and would watch the star trek series on tv. it was on one of these evenings while waiting for breadsticks to come out of the oven i remember my mother handing me a piece of paper and pencil with the directions to ask oma to draw a picture for me. oma laughed at my request but happily did so. i remember being left in such awe as i watched her sketch out donald duck's face. i had no clue that people could draw like that and so fast. i had her sign it. i was cleaning out my belongings in room after foundations year as i moved out of my parents house into my own i found that sketch from so long ago. i remember how i felt i as i watched her draw it and thought it was funny to see where my path had taken me since that night. i still have that drawing but don't know where it is at he moment.

this afternoon kara walked by my studio and said the piece i was working on reminded her of robert and shana parkeharrison's work. after she showed me some of their photos i felt very flattered that my work reminded her of theirs in even the slightest way. she said they pretty much take all the photos in their back yard. i love how they distort reality and play with our envirionment.







emile galle is an artist who has been classified with the 'symbolists' a small group of artists in the early 1900's. he didn't work strictly with glass, but those are my favortie works of his; not only for the finished product but his process. he has a design for each piece as begins but keeps it loose knowing the glass has character of its own. he saw the creation of a piece as a co-op between the glass and him. going with the flow of the moment and personality of the glass he would emphasize what others might consider flaws to be muted or destroyed. the dragonfly's body, in the piece below, was more than likely cause by a happening in the glass while working hot. emile would also title each work very poetically and usually would have it written in script at the bottom of each piece.

structure

I have always been fascinated by how things were built, the lines that the creases and joints make. The way things fit and how they function can come together beautifully. Growing up we would make cider from our apple trees. The machine that we used and still use is very simple but there is something that pulls me aesthetically; maybe it is just nostalgia...

Another mechanical aspect that has become mixed in my life has been my car. We fumbled through our restoration process with books, movies and other Volkswagen fanatics. We laughed and were amazed at how the cars mechanics have been compacted to make it more efficient, like how the pressure for the windshield fluid comes from the spare tire.

Working in the woodshop has also played a part. Foundation year I made my largest piece, a chair. Besides having a chair that is interesting to look at and comfortable it was to be without or with minimal extraneous decoration.

Tip Toland

Last year I did my research project on Tip. She places breath within her figures through the surface design and gesture of each piece. I think what makes her figures so life-like is her combination between glaze and cold finish, adding depth to the skin.

j.r

J.R uses his art to impact environments and cultures and to help hurt women heal. The thing that inspires me the most by his work is that it serves people positively- it has a function that goes beyond traditional standards of function. It can't actually be physically used like a vase, a bowl, or a cup but it is used to help a refugee deal with her past and move on. He did a series were he interviewed many african women about their lives, which were full of hardship; at the end he would take a photo of them making a funny face. This seems weird that it could help heal someone, but this photo showed her town, her family, and herself that there is still life inside her despite all what has happened. I love how art can work that way. Artists can find a way to express more within a single frame, sculpture, painting, etc. than any combination of words could

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Mark Jenkins is a man i admire. street sculpture made from clear packing tape turned into a static performance.