March 28, 2015

Along with my helper, Kiki, we spent Thursday afternoon disassembling pallets that we have found at various locations.  Now it’s time to let the transformation begin and to bring to life the drawing box.

March 18, 2015

Time is flying by! At the end of February, Kenneth presented his workshop on gesture drawing and it was well received.  We had a good turn-out and everyone seemed to enjoy the process, atmosphere, and instruction. Those of you that missed it also missed me modeling for the first time in … well … a while … I won’t say how long ago that was. (I do believe that there are photos of the workshop on the Outpost’s site.)

My first workshop will be this weekend, Saturday the 21st at 1:00 pm. I will be doing a basic introductory to Stack-laminating which is the process that I use to create my large vases. Come join us or just stop in to take a look at the process. The weather forecasts look VERY good, the market will be going “big guns”, and there are several good choices for lunch. I’ve attached a photo of a small maquette that I was playing with in search of inspiration …

Meanwhile, in between these two workshops it feels like a regular circus around here. Once the weather finally broke and we could dependably get out, then the pace quickened to a slow steady run.

March 11th, a friend picked me up and took me to his business where I was given a trailer to load and permission to take “almost anything”. Here are a couple of photos:

That night we had the pleasure of dinner at a Chuck Travers’ house, Jeff left before I remembered my camera, so he is not in this photo. What happened was that his patient (and probably lonely) pregnant wife called about getting some “Moose Tracks” (ice cream aficionados and husbands of pregnant wives all know what Moose Tracks is).

March 12th, Thursday, we went as a group on another “pick”. This one was a round the counties type spin, courtesy of a couple of the vendors at the Farmers Market that responded so favorably to our plea for “old crap.”  All of us forgot to take photos while we were looking at all the great stuff. But we do have a few that we posed for and maybe Ankica & Jeff will share theirs.

I did talk the crew (which included both of Jeff’s wonderful little preschool brats, just kidding, the kids were angels) into stopping at the MO. Dept. of Conservation’s fish hatchery in Chesapeake on the way back. I just wanted to spend a half hour looking at tanks with thousands of small fish, but I think our guide Allison wanted to make sure that we didn’t miss anything. I enjoyed it and I hope my fellow artists did as well, but I fear that they may not fully trust me now. However, Ankica did have a boat-load of literature and pamphlets when we left, so maybe I didn’t inconvenience them too much. It’s a cool facility.

Now it’s time to head back to the studio, I will try to remember to bring take some current photos … it does not look at all empty anymore.

March 8, 2015

The first two weeks of March I was able to step out of the Outpost Residency and travel To Lynchburg, Virginia to install my second solo exhibition of this year. I was not sure what to expect but when I got there, but I instantly fell in love with the city. I was amazed by the wonderful people I met and worked with during my stay, the growing contemporary art scene and the hilly nature of the city. Here are some images:

During my stay I was interviewed by “The Burg Magazine” and ended up featured in the cover story – here is the direct link.

I was present  for the opening of the exhibition on March 6th and gave a gallery talk, and hosted a charcoal drawing workshop on March 7th. The entire journey was photographed and summarized in a photo album created by Riverviews Artspace – here is the direct link.

February 26, 2015

Untitled (A Step Forward):

This work was inspired by a couple of different elements.  The first being somewhat an homage to one of the artists that influences my current practice, Sol Lewitt.  Another element, and the most prominent being its’ location along with the stage of the residency when it was conceived.  “A Step Forward”, is intended to be a visualization of the public kick off for the Outpost Residency and where the steps all lead to a common ground of coming together with the expectations of stability through the give and take of conversations (located adjacent to our morning meetings) and the transference of information between not only ourselves but the surrounding community.

The Workshop:

The first of a series of workshops started out on a good note discussing the concepts of the gesture and how it is used along with the application of it through practice.  We had a great group of people of all age groups and skill levels.  The atmosphere was relaxed with an enthusiastic energy to learn about some of the fundamental aspects of a studio practice that many artists consider very important to their craft.  I’d like to thank Jeff Broekhoven and J. Karl Lipscomb for taking it upon themselves to model for those attended the workshop.