DEVILS TOWER, WYOMING
BADLANDS, SOUTH DAKOTA
DREAM HOUSE in ZANESVILLE MUSEUM of ART
Dream House is showing for the second time at the Zanesville Museum of Art as part of their 73rd Annual Ohio Exhibition. Check it out now through September 8th, 2018.
It was a super fun experiment to install this piece in a new space in a new way. I worked with the wonderful staff at the Zanesville Museum to layout the piece in a way that complimented their specific space. In addition to the piece taking on a new format in a this new space, I got the chance to work back into the details of the piece and make some improvements and additions that I didn't have time for in the first installation. Most of these improvements where to what I call the "landscaping" on these pieces: the elements that add character to the landscape around the houses. I expanded the landforms around several houses, and customized many sets of staircases and fencing. A couple houses also received updates to their slatting and roofing. If you have a chance to check it out in Zanesville I hope it's worth your while.
You can check out images of it's first showing at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts in 2016 here.
CUSTOM GEMS
I took a break from some show prep to work on a set of custom gems for my friend Steph of Little Mug Shots.
I had the pleasure of meeting Steph about a year ago at a local social media class. I loved listening to her family's story and checking out her online shop. She has some amazing things going on!
When she contacted me to see if I would be interested in making some custom gems from photographs of her family, I couldn't have been more excited! She literally said, "I want you to do your thing." I knew she trusted me to make something cool and I knew I had the creative freedom to do what I thought would be best.
They came out super cute and I can't wait to take some more custom orders! Shoot me a line on my contact page if your interested in your own set of gems. And good luck to Steph on her new adventure! <3
SPHAERA
Spheara is what happens when you have a 9 ft x 9 ft sculpture that no one has space to show! She's a reorganization of Mandala into a compact 5 ft x ft. BOOM! New sculpture!
GEMS IN JARS
STUDIO LIFE
I struggle with wanting a "cool" workspace. I want that clean, instagramable, artfully styled space that belongs catalogued in a glossy architecture magazine. But that's not how I operate. My space will always be more functional than formal. My tools are real, not props, and I need them within reaching distance. I need space to fill and surfaces to clutter, and plenty of shelving to store half done projects.
But that doesn't mean I can't pretty it up once in a while. And man, I do love my afternoon sunshine. Sometimes it wrecks my workspace with it's exaggerated shadows and I get all sweaty sitting there. But it does make for some excellent vitamin D absorption and some awesome photos.
RINGS
I am so excited to bring back the house rings!! I made my first neighborhood ring two years ago as part of a 30 day art challenge. It was made out of some sculpey clay and a cheap three finger ring sourced from an embarrassing-shall-not-be-named-tween-store. I went back to the idea after a couple weeks and redesigned it as a laser cut ring. At the same time I also designed a simpler House Ring, which I think is a little less intimidating, and a little more wearable than the Neighborhood Ring.
I want you to be able to carry the idea of your home, or your neighborhood with you where ever you go. I also love referencing the designs for brass knuckles in the Neighborhood Ring, so that you could (almost) hit someone with a little bit of neighborhood pride. (Side note: Maybe I should be marketing these to the local neighborhood watch!) Flash forward to a few weeks ago, I had run out of my first batch of laser cut rings! When I reordered them, I took some time to reassess the design and made a few small changes. With this new batch, I updated the sizing of the rings a little bit, and choose to have them laser cut from a neutral color cherry wood. They've gotten their own project page, as well as listings in the shop! Check them out!
CRYSTAL CLUSTER PROCESS
I wanted to share a little bit of the process of creating my first crystal cluster, which is now featured in my shop. It's one of my favorite new pieces and I hope you love it as much as I do!
It started alllllllllll the way back with my Tessellation Series. Found vintage images showing people and their homes are scanned, digitally manipulated, printed out, and then physically sculpted. The Gems and Crystal Clusters use the same basic material as my larger Tessellation Sculptures but sculpted to create something much smaller and more complex. I love the idea that this found material that celebrates unknown homes and history can be used to create something precious and valuable.
This piece started with a rough paper mock-up which is translated into a digital fold guide in Adobe Illustrator. Several more mock-ups are made with plain paper and the fold guide, each more refined, until I have a solid sense of how it will all come together. The printed photographs I use do not react well to over-handling, so it's best to do as much work as I can on plain paper before moving onto the printed photos so I can touch them as little as possible. Once everything is figured out, we get to the point in a project that I love, where all the decisions have been made, and all I have to do is sit down and make it happen!
This is first in the cluster series. And along with the Gems I've been making, I think I'll be making a couple more. I love working in multiples so you can expect a couple more pieces along these lines. They'll be added to the shop as they're completed. To see more images of this new crystal cluster, check out the Gem project page.
GEMS
Gems! So cool! Now available in my shop! These cool dudes started out as part of my Tessellation Series! I'm using the same vintage images to create these as I do my large scale Tessellation sculptures! These are smaller, and more precious, which is befitting for a gem! Anyway for more images check out their new project page!
THE GROWTH OF A MANDALA
INDIANAPOLIS TREASURES
I've got quite a collection of vintage images. I've been collecting for a couple years, searching through boxes and drawers in antique stores. When you get the opportunity to look through a pile of old photos, especially when you have no personal connection to the people in them, you start to realize that the photos people take generally fall into a couple categories:
- People and their dogs
- People and their kids
- People and their homes
I'm especially interested in the last category, because if you haven't noticed, I'm obsessed with houses. I love the idea that these people are totally unknown to me, that these photos somehow wind up in my care and I want to swirl them up and send them back out into the world again in a new form. Most recently that form has been in my Tessellation series. My Tessellations have changed a lot in the past couple years, and I'm sure they will keep evolving, and my photo collecting will continue.
This weekend I was in Indianapolis and started a new resolution: each new place I visit, I will make time for some photo hunting. These photos are very much connected to the place where they were found, and I love pointing out on a sculpture where each one was found, and how they all come together to create a new story.
MANDALA MOCK UP
Hello there giant artwork! It's nice to see you! I'm so eager to finish this piece you guys have no idea. I've submitted it to a couple venues already so it's really got to BE DONE ALREADY. Since it's not 100% finished, and also because it's so large (about 9 foot by 9 foot) I haven't been able to document it in it's full glory yet. So the first two images here are digital mock ups. Can you tell?!?!? Tell me they look awesome and my photoshop skills are awesome and that I am in general, awesome. Thanks!
UPDATE: This piece is being shown at the Gerald R Ford Presidential Museum this fall as part of ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, Michigan!
BUSINESS CARD UPGRADE
I picked out a new color for my business cards! Branding and graphic design are not my strong suit so I usually make decisions based solely on what I currently think is cool. Current cool vibes include neon colors and thick chipboard. And also using the leaves my cat chews off my houseplants as photo props.
Tessellations @ Helikon Gallery
I have several pieces in the Process: The Altered Photo exhibition at Helikon Gallery in Denver Colorado March 18 to April 22. Check it out if you're in the area!
Mandala Tessellation
I just finished this piece, which has a form a bit different than my previous Tessellation sculptures. While my other wall sculptures have a more amorphous form, this one consists of concentric patterns, something more akin to a Mandala than anything else. I am really in love with this new structure. It makes more sense for the intent of these wall sculptures and I'll tell you why; the vintage images I use to make these sculptures are those of people and their homes, and mandalas are traditionally seen as representations of the Universe and are symbolic of balance and wholeness, so they are a perfect from to create a small world out of these peoples unknown stories. I'm going to make several more and display them as a vintage storytelling solar system.
Tessellations in Atlanta
Split Spaces, 2016, 4ft x 6 ft
Worlds Collide, 2016, 4 ft x 6 ft
These two pieces were recently installed in an office in Altanta Ga! If you're Atlanta, you should totally sneak into this office to go check 'em out!
Tessellations @ Short North Tattoo
I'll be showing a bunch of new Tessellations at Short North Tattoo this July! The opening reception is on July 2nd from 7 - 10. Come check it out!
Harmony Of the Seas
I feel like I've been waiting such a long time to share this news, but it actually wasn't too long ago that I was commissioned to create a new Tessellation wall sculpture! It's for a Royal Caribbean Cruise ship! Crazy, right? I know! The ship is the Harmony of the Seas, which was just launched, and is the largest passenger ship in the world! And while the thought did cross my mind, no I did not ask to be paid in cruise tickets.