Art at KSU

 I just had to share this. KSU has a brand new performing arts theatre that will have it's grand opening later in October. In the lobby of the theatre is currently being installed, a commissioned work from Cleveland artist, Olga Ziemska.  I think I read that the funding came from an Ohio arts grant.  You just have to look at her blog - Olga Ziemska - and see the pictures - most from her studio - of this work in progress this summer.  Be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page because there are some "other" posts in the middle. This artist worked with dance & theatre students here at Kent State to pose for the outlines of the figures. She is using some gorgeous pictures of Northern Lights as her inspiration for movement and color. Each figure is cut from a sheet of clear acrylic. She evidently raided our KSU photo archive for the pictures our photographers have taken over the years of students, plays, dance performances, events around the campus, and anything else she found that was colorful and depicted life and art at the university. Ziemska is using five sizes of clear acrylic cabochons and adhering pieces of the photographs to the flat sides of each cab. Then the acrylic figures are filled with waves of the colorful cabachons to complete each piece. The figures will be laid out along a wall in the lobby of the theatre. It's hard to tell from the photos, but I suspect she is going to use some sort of suspension system and maybe, I hope, back lighting. It will be interesting to see how this artist completes this installation.  I can't believe that those figures would just be screwed to the yellow wall, but that's just me.   I may go over to the theatre on my lunch hour Monday to see the progress of the installation. Our dept. photographers are taking pictures of the process too. For some reason, this work is just speaking to me and  I can't wait to see it finished. Of course, all those luscious blues and greens and purples are right up my alley! Enjoy!

A little Journaling

Wow - it's been quite a while since I posted anything.  Busy, busy.  Plus any art I've had time to do has pretty much been for an art group project we have going this year that is sort of secret for now.  More on that in a few months....

I did take some time recently to work on the last two pages in a little art journal - altered book that I'd started two years ago and never quite finished.  I really enjoy the style of journaling that Teesha Moore teaches so thought I'd give that a try on these pages. It really is a relaxing way of working - no planning ahead of time.  Just brushing on some acrylic paint for the background and when that's dry, adding some strips cut from various magazine pages to make the border.  Add a little shading with some of the newish Pan Pastels and a focal figure - made up of several different pictures from magazines.  I added a saying I'm fond of and a lot of doodling with my milky pens to add the finishing touches.  I really like the result and think I'll try another page or two or three...what do you think?

Assemblage gift

 My first try at some assemblage.  I'd had this in mind as a gift for a special friend for some time - and had laid out the various pieces on my desk in the basement studio, but just never got around to completeing it.  My friend Gina's 30th birthday this month was the prod I needed to get it done.  And my fledgling experience recently with making cold connection rivets with copper wire helped me assemble it.  You need to know about some of the components - the antique brass stencil G, the metal stamped "IRON" and the 20 and 15 that are part of the ruler "arms" are a nod to Gina's blog IronG 2015.  Gina is a triathalete and is in training for the 2015 Ironman.  Whoa!  Pretty big goal - and I have no doubt that she will make it!  Back to the assemblage - see her crown?  It is supposed to be a cupcake.  Yeah - hard to believe that a hardcore athlete like Gina has a cupcake addiction, but she does!  But she is really good and after eating the cupcakes (unlike me) SHE goes out and runs it off!  The little legs are from a computer board scavenged for me by a friend at work and cut on my bandsaw.  I'm betting Craftsman never thought their saw would be used for some of the whacky things that I cut with it!  Anyway, it was lots of fun to make and Gina got a kick out of it so I'm a happy camper.  Hmmm....I have a bunch of those brass stencils......

What a nice way to start the New Year!

My friend Dawn (from Art Girl Designs) and I played with some metalsmithing on New Year's Day and we each finished one pendant.  What a fun time to be able to relax, visit, experiment and learn from one another as we worked on this new medium.  We'd both been collecting tools, sheets of metal and all the other bits and bobs needed.  We'd each invested in a good DVD to get us started and took our time watching and reviewing before getting started.  I'll let Dawn show you her beautiful pendant on her blog.

 

The sort of oval pendant in the photo here, that has the vintage picture, was my first piece.  I learned some things I wanted to try:  making rivets with a piece of copper wire, texturing the metal, and cutting a frame using the jeweler's saw.  The most valuable lesson though was the one hardest earned - if you want to add a chemical patina, that should probably be done before you start to rivet the layers together!  Duh!  It makes it tough to do once a photograph is in place, but I did manage to add a bit of liver of sulfer using a Q-tip.  

The second, more rectangular necklace is one I did a day later, on my own, but still using some of the same techniques.  On Dawn's advice I bought some hardware cloth - the one used was the 1/8" grid - and by pounding, was able to create a nice gridded texture on the copper.  I played with the metal letter stamps I've had for years and never used once (adhering nicely to my New Year's resolution to begin using stuff I already own!) to create the word "LIVE" on the little brass piece.  Then held the copper and brass layers together with copper wire rivets.  I decided I wanted to add some more brass, so drilled holes and inserted the tiny little brass hardware I had bought from Volcano Arts some time ago.  I can't wait to play some more!