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.