little happy apple

objets d'art

here's a peek at the latest wave to leave the studio

make me an angel

this week it was refreshing to finally get  some oxygen and head out into the shop for some fresh air and managed to lay out about a dozen sculptures.  some days are just like that, the metal moves you and it is effortless.   some days you fight it.  that's when you need to do something else, i am learning...

i must have made a dozen angels, each with its own sense of spirit.  some are mounted on stones, some on metal, some on quartz.  some hang on the wall, others sit on a mantle or at your doorstep.  some clearly have very feminine lines and others are rough and primitive.  i really enjoyed myself out there.   my partner in crime made a bunch of beautiful pieces too...and tomorrow they are off to a show...

everyone needs angels.

rudy...a message to you, rudy

before my entire family got dreadfully ill and everyone was miserable for a total of like 14 days... (yes that was borderline insanity people...you know if people really loved you they would make a list of things like THAT to tell you at your baby shower...but, alas, no one can prepare you for the wild ride of parenthood) anyhoo- my eldest disappeared into the shop with daddy-o, blue lights and sparks and smoke and a few hours later when they emerged covered with soot..no it wasn't santa...
RUDOLPH! i mean, how cute ~ the kids want to paint his nose red!

now that reindeer is chillin' on the front porch~ bring it

really big shew

we do a big art show thanksgiving weekend up in mcconnells, sc, near historic brattonsville. there is a very hip little circuit of handmades that people travel from all around to come to. last year, we sold quite a bit of sculpture at this show, which is refreshing. it is nice to know that folks like to buy art and beautifully crafted items like baskets and quilts and jewelry and fiber art... sure it costs more, but it has soul.

what a concept. things that have meaning.

still a show or two before the christmas...so there's time.

one, two, three...weeeeee!

here is the three dimensional sketch our daughter made today of her recent pencil drawing for this kinetic sculpture. the baby in the middle will swing between the parents arms. brilliant.

i love it.

cross to bear

our annual holiday art show thanksgiving weekend is fast approaching and since we sold a heap of crosses and hearts and angels last year we are spending evenings and weekends getting ready. here's a peek at the cool rustic crosses we are fashioning from antique farm equipment...more mixed media than last year. lots more to come. they look great anywhere especially gardens, porches or the side of a barn.

yummy.

taking shape

last night as i was preparing supper, my eldest wanted my attention (for a change)...she was extremely excited about a new sketch she had done for her next sculpture. her last piece, entitled, "mama holding her baby" was a brilliant example of minimalism at its core...simple shapes- elegance in form. it was also her first piece to be in a gallery show...
this drawing was clearly the next in her series, now a portrait of both parents on either side of the child, holding each hand, swinging the child in the air, feet off the ground, like when two adults hold each hand and count, "one, two, three, weeeeeee!" what a magnificent concept- AND she wants it to move. "how about we put chains on either side?" so, all bets are off. we are going to begin to lay it out today as the neverending chores and cooking and cleaning and unpacking and preparing for school and and and and infinity... can wait. watching her face as she chooses the metal ever so carefully, the certainty in her expression as the lines become fluid and begin to make sense, the emergence of another moment created by her hands. owning that feeling that sculpture yields- this is what it's about.

retrospective: Nut

back in 1998, before the whole digi cam wave, i used my good ol' minolta (still do) to document my work...but i was never so great at actually putting them in books. instead they sit in boxes by date, and some, like this, are left around to resurface time and again. this one always makes me smile: it was the first large scale collaboration that my partner and i did together and i was about four or five months pregnant with our first child. the piece is made from an old boiler from the lafayette terrace in long beach. i guess he was pals with the super and even back then he couldn't pass up a good pile of steel. (this is why i love the man...one of the many many reasons.) somewhere around here is a full photo doc that i will make into a slideshow to share the process; someday. but for now you will just have to use your imagination. nut is the egyptian sky goddess, mother of all gods and goddess of protection; she swallows the sun in the evening and gives birth to it in the morning...which is how she is depicted in this piece, a traditional image of nut. we built it off site and then drove it down to virginia to install it. that is a story for another day.

she is about 15' x 15' painted steel, welded in curves, anchored 20' into the ground with pipes and concrete, reinforced with rebar... a magnificent arch that graces the land it is on. at the time, it was to be a healing center for women... a beautiful piece. i miss it. sometimes, in a strange way, sculptures are somewhat like children; they come from within you, you give them everything you've got, in turn, they teach you things about yourself and about life and, of course, it is oh so hard to let them go...

horse with no name

is there a single person on the planet who did not like that band? whenever i listen to one of those best of the seventies stations i always hear a cool america tune. they were all good. this sculpture was worthy of the namesake. we live in a rural community- people out here have horses (and cows and sheep and goats and and and)... this piece was another facet of our ode to the hardworkin' country folk series. a woman bought this piece (yippeeeee) at an art show in saluda. apparently there is a big equestrian community and shop there in the Landrum Tryon Saluda area called FENCE... i have yet to go there. mostly because i like it here in my little bubble- maybe i should get out more. but, why?

we made a few horses like this; all unique in their own right; all beautiful. using the old wood from the plows and lots of tattered leather strapping, iron pieces that were hand wrought for the horses by smiths. really nice work. i wonder what is next.

addictions

when i learned to weld at sva, it was pretty cool. this girl teresa made some sweet metal paintings that were colored with heat, they hung in large sheets from chains like gongs in a triptych formation and i liked those- simple and minimal... but still, it was not enough to get me in the welding shop. i preferred hanging out in the forge at the time taking notes from my inspiring (not to mention witty) mentors: art schade and sully- and so i didn't weld much at all. i couldn't drag myself away from the sight of the molten metal, the dirtiness of the pit and the excitement of the pour. the fumes, well, art has a price....but who needs drugs and alcohol when you have liquid bronze and aluminum?

however, being out here in the country in front of a heap of rusty metal, namely, a handsome pile of recycled antique farm equipment and the like...can really change a girl. this piece is entitled, "venus: the farmer's daughter" and i love her in all her matisse like elegance. her voluptuous-ness comes compliments of an old model-a bumper (and when my cam is up and running again, i will do a 360 so you can see her from all sides). she is one swirly girly. what i also like about this piece is that is has a nice bit of movement to it- it sways a bit; like a curvy girl should. we decided that we wanted to do a series- a tribute, to honor of the people who worked this land, and this equipment before we found it in the scrap yard. (if one believes that all matter retains energy; and people are intense vessels of energy, then matter might then also retain those same vibes. this may be a little out there for some, but it's my truth. isn't it wonderful how we are all so different??? marlo thomas is still right on.)

there are few things like the birth of an artwork; therein lies a sanctity- of turning 'nothing' into something... of being fully present and centered in your sacred space, feeling compelled toward certain materials, contemplating composition, making the lines flow, watching it fill up with spirit.

it's rather addicting. and still my drug of choice.