Sawdust in the hour glass

or

these boots are made for walking,

or

walk a mile in another persons shoes

The aftermath of studio labor.

Before heading to the studio, I had an optometry appointment followed by a hypnotherapy session that I booked the preceding week. I need healthy eyes to be an effective visual artist and my mind to overcome personal obstacles. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet, the Doctor is convinced something happened in a past life that in order for me to move forward must be removed, that being said, it could just be the subconscious hiding something beneath layers like an onion.  A suitable metaphor for the work we are doing int he studio right now. My fingers are crossed time is of the essence as we peel away layers of wood and this artwork slowly comes to fruition.

Brendan has an impressively confident and steady hand.

There are 90 complex and individually designed segments to fabricate based on a #D renered design outputted to blueprint from MAya.  Its hard enough to wrap ones head around, we won't really see it take shape until the final assembly.  Last night we got really, really dusty removing material. Masks on, studio filled like a foggy British morning. I love this shop and getting back to my roots and working with wood under an insane timeline.  If nothing else we learned how to work under pressure at ACAD in order to complete the task. Often staying up super late the night before.

We are an effective team, there are three stations set up, here Jim is grinding away.

Step by step we must maintain order in this undertaking for it to come together. The pieces are curved and a challenge to create. The further we get the less reference to the original block, and thus it gets harder and harder to stabilize and handle the pieces.  The reason we are in a crunch is that the lumber that was ordered was delivered very late which means the start time was shifted much later on the project. Luckily, this is not any of our first rodeo's.

Brendam Mcgillicuddy  making it look easy.

What I love about Brendan's attitude is that he is focused while maintaining a calm demeanour in the face of pressure, any normal mortal would crack under this deadline, instead he makes us tools when we don't have them…..

Made in the blink of an eye.

These are the mallets he quickly made from some scraps of the Ash.  Jim and I named them, as if they are our girlfriends right now, Jezabel and Madeline.  They are effective, reliable and trustworthy. they are also spending the most time with us right now. lol. Clearly the mind goes a bit when one is so focused and working diligently, it is good to have the right tool for the job. Alright, its after 8am and there is a long day ahead, back to work.

Speaking of employment…...

Speaking of employment……

Currently, I am helping out at Brendan McGillicuddy's studio helping him fabricate a large sculpture piece for the Alberta Biennial. We have just a few days left to get this massive undertaking complete. It's fun, I get to do some hands on stuff and utilize my many wood working and sculpture skills. The gruelling deadline and long days really remind me how much value my training has been and how much I love hands on studio work above all else. I am having a great time and can't wait to see the completed work assembled and ready to ship to the show that opens to the public this Friday.

 Here is the team as we carve away the individual pieces for the sculpture.

I began teaching my Alberta College of Art and Design Drawing 1 course this week-end. I have a really good feeling about this group, they were open and friendly right out of the gate. Often, on the first day off class makes student feel a bit awkward and uncertain but the confidence level was high an the drawing skills were already above my expectations. I usually look forward to waking up early Saturdays to spend my time int he classroom, this also keeps me responsible and out of trouble Friday night.

These offcuts create beautiful lines and remind me of why I like drawing so much.

I have also volunteered myself as the room monitor the free Extended Studies figure drawing drop ins that happen after my Drawing 1 class in my classroom. It is not instructed, this should give me a chance to do some figure studies during the session. ACAD has also offered me yet another course opportunity this summer, and this time I get to teach painting, finally, my dreams are coming to fruition, I have been wanting to teach painting for some time, it should prove to be a nice and messy class which makes it extremely appealing and very fulfilling.

The organization of this clamp rack really excites my inner virgo nature.

I added the LinkedIn app to my cell and finally updated some of the employment information there. I guess it is about time, I do not intend to let this get out of hand like face crack however.

Brain drain, you figure it out.

***My thanks and Gratitude go out to  my friend KT (Karilynn) for going over my current grant application that I am writing for the AFA. It sure helps having another pair of eyes on ones writing and the improvements made makes me feel like I've got a chance. I have never written a grant for visual art o painting. The ones I've gotten in the past have been for media arts/animation. Fingers crossed this new Jury likes what I have to offer.

ASA TREX does magic with Twosday drawings

I met with Les of the Artist Society of Alberta on Friday to discuss details of their upcoming exhibition 'Animate delight'. They did a mock up of some of my original drawings to be framed and wanted my 'OK to proceed. It was so cool to see these drawings which were gifted to my late friend Chris J. Melynchuck( Click his name for my blog entry about him), organized for presentation.  I am really impressed in how professional they go about things an am super amazed by what they came up with for the exhibition. Not only that they frame the work and build really effective travel cases for the exhibition. Below is a photo from my iphone of the mock up before the matte is cut and frame built. Needless to say, I am very happy with their work.

They turned what was once just a stack of papers use to make my animation 'Twosday' <--(you can see it on you tube by clicking here.

It really helped in enlightening me on some aspect of the art business, that I wasn't really that aware of. I am thankful for the opportunity.