Gail Severn Gallery Opening

This last weekend was the opening for my show at the Gail Severn Gallery out in Ketchum, Idaho. I thought I'd post a few images of the work there. I've been working more and more with antique photographs lately. Using them as a starting point and making many layers of additions and changes to them, then outputting the images onto enameled copper 'tiles'. This transfer method allows the rough quality of the fired enamel to show through the finished image. I'll attach the tiles to a fabricated copper background or a wood panel, then create a dimensional "frame" of copper  tubing with figures, vines, boats, awnings, etc on top of that.

Feels like it's right where I'm supposed to be - at least for now.

His Personal Circus

Copper, enamel, etched brass, acrylic, mixed media, 25x27x4"

She Aspires to a Life of the Imagination

Copper, etched brass, enamel, mixed media, 17x15x4"

One Day She Stopped Numbering & Counting & Let the Small Voice Love What It Loves

Copper, enamel, etched brass, acrylic, mixed media, 27x16x4"

When Fear Says Hello

Copper, enamel, etched brass, mixed media, 19x11x4"

Brewing

Copper, enamel, vacuum tube, mixed media, 10x6"

Kiln Fired Glass

Back in January I did some research on how to transfer black and white imagery onto glass, something that I've been intrigued by and wanting to experiment with for sometime. Turns out there's a pretty simple method using a film that is run through an old style lazer printer (not ink jet). It is a decal that then can be soaked off the paper backing and attached to (very) clean glass. After that it is kiln-fired. The iron in the lazer printer toner cartridges is the "active ingredient" fusing itself into the glass and coming out as a sepia photo image. Pretty amazing stuff.

Since then I've made some pieces that have the kiln-fired glass attached.

"One Day Clarity Appeared With the Greatest of Ease"

"She Is the Yin to His Yang"

It's a little hard to see in the photo of this one, but there is a dancer in front of the kiln-fired glass section.

"Holding It Inside as If It Belonged"

This piece has wall mounts on the back (which you can barely see in this photo) that push it out from the wall about 1.25 inches. And unless one clicks on the image to enlarge it, it's a bit of a challenge to see the shark image within the skirt area.

I don't own a kiln, so I want to give a big "thank you" to Brian Brenno here on this island who generously offered to fire these experiments for me. I dare say all the Photoshop work (I'm such a beginner still) that I did just to get these images out seems to be calling me in a new direction.

A Few More Pieces

"She Made Her Hard Choices & Moved Into the Light"

Etched brass, nickel silver, copper, mixed media

28x32"

The piece above is about making a challenging decision and then actually taking action on that decision. Even if, like in my case, you're simply operating at that point off of a gut feeling. It is also how a train load of things can start to falling into place once that leap of faith is taken. As the saying goes, "Leap and the net will appear." I always seem to have to stand at the edge of the crevasse for a very long time first.

The main figure is surrounded by a large etched (in nickel silver) talisman to bring good luck and guidance. The larger rectangle directly below is about the journey of traveling from one world (before the leap), into the next world (after the leap).

Below are a few more pieces inspired after taking my wire sculpture class at Pratt back in March. Both are wall mounted and come out from the wall about a foot.

"She Came to Know Guidance In All Its Forms"

Etched brass, copper, tintype, glass, mixed media

23x15x12"

"Sometimes the Very Thing That Rises From the Depths Comes to Blossom"

Etched copper, enamel, steel, mixed media

40x11x11"

This Is the Time of Her Life

"This Is the Time of Her Life"

Brass, copper, nickel silver, enamel, antique compass, mixed media

24x18"

Nothing like the present. The craziness, the challenges, but also all the power and potential of being right here, right now. That is what this piece is about.

The passage of time is represented by the cycles of the moon engraved into the main brass plate, and the antique compass represents the gut feelings and intuitive notions I have along the way. I sometimes dare to act upon those intuitive ideas. I usually love the outcome of taking that kind of action. It's always better for me than just letting it pass by. I think that risk is what helps keep it all so interesting and passion filled for me.

More New Work

I had a photo shoot this last week of the work done to date for my upcoming November show at Patricia Rovzar Gallery. So here are a few more of the pieces I've been working on.

"She is Unafraid of the Uphill Climb"

Copper, brass, enamel, mixed media

32 x 46"

Detail - "She is Unafraid of the Uphill Climb"

"Finding Her True North"

Copper, brass, nickel silver, tintype, mixed media

30 x 30 x 6"

"Altar to a Memory"

Brass, copper, cast resin, antique magnifying glass, mixed media

25 x 14 x 4"

This Thorny Path

"She Said This Thorny Path has Grace Written All Over It"
Copper, brass, enamel, nickel silver, tintype, mixed media
17 x 15 x 4"

I suspect we all bring everything that happens to us into our own lives. Certainly I like this concept in my own life when the good stuff comes to me. When the less attractive things make their way in (events, sickness, accidents, etc) it is much harder to look it right in the eye and welcome it as some challenge that I'm throwing my own way. Somedays I think, enough with the learning already. And yet, in hindsight it does open my eyes.

This piece is about that.

I found a tin type several months back of a little girl that I just loved. It was a bit blurred which I felt captured her spirit more than anything. And there was an innocence too.

It wasn't until I had it in my studio that I also noticed that her left hand was quite deformed. I couldn't help but have the uncomfortable thought that she perhaps brought this into her own life - for some reason. Who knows. Yet I also had an overwhelming thought that the whole lifetime path that she took with that hand offered up many (yes, unpleasant, but) eye opening moments. It is odd, but it made me feel this sort of kinship with her. It's that old, old positioning of sting and grace side by side. 

Steampunk

A number of months ago it was brought to my attention by a young amazing artist, Jethaniel Peterka (www.jethanielpeterka.com ), that some of my work had "steampunk qualities" about it. I, of course, had no idea what that meant and so I had to go google it. "Retrofuturist fabrication" is one description I found, along with: "the goal of (Steampunk) redesigns is to employ appropriate materials, such as polished brass, iron, wood, and leather, with design elements and craftsmanship consistent with the Victorian era."

"Unearthing His New Set of Dreams"
Brass, copper, nickel, steel, glass, enamel, vacuum tube, fuses
33x17x4"

So, yes, there are times when my work can fit into that description, at least partially. This recent piece, shown above, seems to move into that territory. About a year ago I found an old post office box door with a glass window in it at a second hand store. I finally got to use it in this piece.

The door opens to reveal a set of brass-ended old glass fuses that I put writings inside (on acetate), these represent the unlocked dreams within the figure. The blue backdrop is a picture of the Universe (I love that idea that we all have a Universe inside us). The poem etched on the door is about starting over by one of my favorite poets.

There's also a lens that I pulled from an old telescope in this piece. 

I surrounded it with an etched nickel plate to make it look official. The lens is suspended above an inset area that has a diagram of a heart in the background and another fuse. The lens magnifies the whole thing. This inset area sits within a brass plate 'upper body' segment that has an etched steam engine diagram on it. So there you go, that's about as steampunk as I get.