My Blog

Rough Draft 

I recently viewed an independent art show by Scott E. Murray at the Fisch Haus.  The show was part of an event that’s held the last Friday of every month called Final Friday.  Various artists from around town get together every month to take part in a show, it’s more like a gallery crawl.   
Murray’s show was one of many that was his work and his work only. 

The title of his show was Uprooted.  This was made present to Gina and I right as we were walking through the door.  Gina Cumberland accompanied me in viewing the show with the hopes of broadening my understanding of the art and the different techniques and materials.  Once inside, the letters that spell out uprooted were carved into a huge Styrofoam block that was painted to look like a brick.  Gina was quick to point out that the show was meant to be viewed in a certain order so we naturally started at the brick or the piece of Styrofoam that looked like a brick.  At this point Gina looks at the title card with me, which states among other things that the piece was made out of Styrofoam.  She says here something like: Wouldn’t it be cool if we didn’t know what it is made out of?  To which I answered: well yeah.  Without the title I probably would have tried to nudge it which would have made it fall over so it’s a good thing it had the medium listed after all.  Once I listened to her about how the title and material can inform the work, I thought it would have been cool if I walked away from that piece guessing. 

Very shortly after arriving an overall theme became present.  Through the repetition of objects and colors I started to think that the artist came from a blue collar background.  The detail of the construction was interesting to me as well as the materials.  Trowels, the kind used for laying bricks, were all over the place.  In the lobby there was a heap of glistening mortar with one sticking straight out of it.  After the lobby there must have been twenty or so hanging on the wall as if they were for sale.  The bright blue of the handles caught my attention.  Gina pointed this out, that color is used to guide a person’s eye in certain directions.   Each trowel had a hamburger acid etched onto its face.  Next, there was a set of three paintings with three trowels, one on each of them.  Then on the floor a series in several rows were standing.  At this point I noticed a child, around four, wanting to play with them and a mother pulling her back.  Oh, I should back up and mention something other than the trowels.  Just before the corn rows there was band shell and a couple playing so softly that I couldn’t hear them.  The floor was painted grey like the shell to make it seem as if the couple were deep inside.  In the middle of the room there were two miniature houses the first was made out of brooms and the other was made out of small pieces of wood but unlike the first the material is not what drew my attention it was what was inside.  A whole bunch of green apples filled up this barren frame of a house.  On the floor right below was one apple.  Out of all the repeated forms we had seen to this point, none had stood out but this one did as if to say he was the bad apple.  On the sides were little tiny nails driven into the little tiny wood pieces.  Gina noticed these and thought
Murray was showing how hard someone was trying to keep something or someone inside the house.  Next, there was a series of pictures that had small scale windows in the middle that were protruding out with a picture of bricks surrounding them.  Some of the windows were open more than others.  The repetition was present again here.  The monotony was beginning to kill me.  The last piece Gina and I looked at was another miniature house, this time out of baseball bats and baseballs.  There was more to it than just those materials.  As was there was a ton of detail in almost every piece there, those were the two that stood out.  There was a light in the middle illuminating the balls inside.  This time there wasn’t a ball on the floor just the light within.  I would have like to have gone to the bathroom there to see if it was adorned with any of his work.   

To tell the truth I wasn’t real impressed.  I guess I didn’t get it.  The repetition I didn’t get.  I didn’t take the time to think about why he was using the same image or object over and over again until now.   I should have realized what he was trying to convey.  Gina had point it out but I hadn’t really thought about it.  To me
Murray was trying to say that his whole life he was raised to think a certain way.  Over and over the ideals of a brick layer, of a simple and modest life were driven home. 

            It seems as though everything went well.  I had never been to a final Friday event.  I had heard about it and actually planned on going before but something came up.  Overall everything looked well prepared.  My piece was working but not entirely the way I intended it to.  I wanted to turn on and off the lights differently.  I wanted to hook up the El or rope lighting through a transistor.  I thought it would be cool if I could hook them up independent of each other.  I tried this with a transistor from the lab but I think the one I picked up could not handle the current that I was trying to pull.  I wanted to switch the programs that looped with the capacitive sensor.  Initially I wanted to use either the beat or something from Steve to change the type of lights used.  The slower the beat the warmer the lights would be or something to that effect.  After putting some thought to it I decided to just use a switch to change the lights because of the time constraint.   

            It took a lot of time constructing the frame and it took even more time putting everything together.  I had to hunt for opens after everything was soldered up.  A couple of days before Friday Tom helped me with my programming and told me about a cool trick that really helped with wiring the thing up.  He told me to use magnet wire and I was glad when he mentioned it because I had been thinking of a way to get everything to fit for a couple of days.  He said that the varnish on the wire would melt away if I added a lot of heat when soldering.   After I got all the lights working I glued the mirrors on the frame for the lights and then I put the mirrors and lights in the outer frame.  It was tight and I had to cram everything in.  After I hooked the logo chip up I noticed that all the lights weren’t working.  To replace them I then tried to separate the mirrors but had little luck.  I didn’t use that much glue but epoxy works pretty well on glass.  This was a bummer as well that I scratched the mirrors.  I had no idea that they would scratch so easily.   

            Final assembly took place the night before and after figuring out all the lights weren’t working, well I lost steam.  I tried to not let it phase me instead I decided to come up with an alternative.  I changed my program to not turn on those sets of lights.  After doing so I needed to come up with a power source and make it fit.  The rope lighting I thought would work off double A’s but after trying this I found out otherwise.  I then had to make four C cell batteries fit.  They simply would not fit as there was not enough room.  The wood frame had to be chiseled out.  Not having a chisel I naturally used a dremel tool.   I bought battery holders for double A batteries but they were too large to fit so I decided to use triple A for the logo chip.  Along with the four C batteries I put in series four double A batteries.  This gave me the twelve volts along with plenty of current to power the rope lighting.  I then hooked up a single pole double throw switch to the rope lighting.  I also hooked up a switch to LED’s that ran through the logo chip.  This toggled the different loops in my program.  I had to fasten the main frame to the mirrors but was not sure how I was going to do that as I never really thought about it beforehand.  I decided to use four small pieces of sheetrock with pennies glued to them as wedges and then from the outside of the frame I screwed a screw directly into the penny in order to tighten the sheetrock into the mirrors.  This worked well to center the mirrors with the outer frame opening but did not keep the mirror tight against the frame so I used a couple more screws to better hold the mirror in place. 

            After the show I realized I should have hung my shadow box a little lower because not everyone is as tall as I am.  If my design was finished correctly it would have looked the same from the back as it did from the front.  Somehow I would have liked to have mounted it in such a way this could have been seen. 

           On Tuesday night we tried to install Keith’s lights but after getting the carousel and strobe hooked up we decided to call it quits because Keith had not decided exactly how he wanted to hook up the sensors.  Keith N.  let Steve borrow his speakers and hooked them up that night.  We decided that we would get partitions from the old Shiftspace to baffle the sound and also help with Keith’s sensors.  Then on Thursday we decided against it for the second time.  We ended up working on it for about two hours that night.  I really enjoyed working with Keith and Steve and thought our individual inputs came together nicely.

            All in all I thought Final Friday was a great experience.  I thought it was a great opportunity to be a part of such an interesting event.  I enjoyed all of the other students’ projects and had a great time walking around to the other art exhibits.  The pieces at the Fisch Haus were very different and there were a ton of people there which made it hard to hear the live band.  The artwork at the frame shop really interested me because I like the music of Split Lip Rayfield and other bands like Scroat Belly.  I wanted to but a t-shirt but I forgot my cash at home.  The Commerce Gallery was different and seemed to have an overriding theme of sex, drugs and money…very interesting!  I had a great time with this experience and was impressed with the number of people that came by to see our project.  Seeing all those people enjoying our efforts made me feel really good after working hard on this project.

The LED’s are in the frame but I still need to hook them up.  I don’t have any wire and it’s getting late, so wiring them up will have to wait.  This weekend I tested out the lights I ordered.  They seem to be a different color than I imagined but it seems they will work fine.  I’m doing football color schemes.  I like
Nebraska football and the Chiefs so Red and white will be one color scheme.  I like
Kansas basketball so natural red and blue will be another.  Then I am also doing purple and white because one of the LED packages turned out to be purple.  I’m not really a KSU fan but oh well.  I have rope lighting that I still have to install.  The rope, or EL wire, might be a little tricky getting it straight.   The programming was something I really wanted to get to this weekend and although I really didn’t do much, I started some algorithms.  Eight double A’s and four triple A’s will cramp things up a bit inside my frame.  Another challenge will be fitting the logo-board in the frame.  

 

Friday we set out to build partitions but after talking to the owner of the building and trying to get materials, our group decided against it.  The walls would have been very time consuming so it is all the better.  Tomorrow Keith and I are going to the ‘gallery’ to start hanging some of what he is working on.  I still need to come up with a table for our area.  Maybe one will present itself tomorrow.  I am still shooting for Tuesday to have everything done but I have a feeling I may be tinkering with the programming all week.  All and all things are lining up and I’m looking forward to it.

So my LEDs got here really quick from
China and my mirrors are here as well.  They called me from Central Glass and Mirror for my template so they could cut the stuff and I thought that they could cut it in a matter of hours but it will take them until Monday.  I was a little peeved to say the least.  I was thinking of powering the lights using the capicitive proximity sensor that Tom showed in class.   Tomorrow we are going to find a way to partition off our corner with a wall and sheets.  This weekend I’m going to expiriment with the sensor and hook up the LEDs.  I am pretty much done with the frame except putting the back on.  I still have some sanding to do and I will probably have to use the wood shop again.  At first I didn’t want to stain the wood, I wanted it painted black.  Now, I think I am going to stain it deep ebony.  I’ve tried this on the back a bit and it looks good.  I’m afraid that this oval will not be big enough a space for the table and will probably hang it on a wall and use a large table for the sound equipment.   I wonder if the 2×4s in the space are free game.  We need them for our walls.  Steve said that maybe we could used materials from the space at 3rd and Mead.  I guess I will email the mailing list.

I have ordered LED’s from
China which should be here this week.  Along with more EL wire and a sensor and transformer from thatscoolwire.com.  I also purchased glass from Central Window and Glass.  It should arrive within the next five days but will need it to be cut.  Also I have been thinking that if the bronze reflective glass doesn’t work out I will try mirror window tint used for cars.  I have purchased wood to make the shadowbox frame and started working on that Saturday.   I cut out two ovals from MDF and glued them together after they were cut.  There were a lot of rough edges so I needed to find a different saw or better sander and low and behold Ezel filled me in on the fact that there is a wood shop on campus at Henrion.  I drove to campus to use the scroll saw but it was broken so Nick suggested I use the drum sander.  He helped me change out the sand paper and showed me how to work the vacuum.  I did a little sanding by hand after that and called it a day.  Today I worked on the outer frame.  First I had to go to Home Depot to buy plywood for the frame and blades for the jigsaw.  I glued together more layers with some monster glue and did some more sanding.  Now I am waiting for the other parts I ordered to get in so I can start working on the lights.  Originally I googled oval shadow boxes to try to buy one but they were gnarly expensive.  I called a lady for a quote on a shadow box but it took her two days to respond and was way too expensive.  It had to be custom built and would take two weeks to get here so I decided to build my own.  I’m using the plywood because I want the viewer to be able to see the layers glued together and I like the look.  I chose the EL wire because it is a high intensity continuous light that sort of reminds me of neon lighting only smaller in diameter. I chose the LED’s because I want to be able to turn them on and off with the logochip.  Tom gave me a website for chip LED’s but after looking at them I chose 3mm LED’s instead because I didn’t have a printed circuit board to solder the SMD components onto.   

Here is a better pic but the resolution is still low.

After the critique I tried a different setup but wasn’t able to get the relays to switch on and stay on.  Only one was working properly.  The different setup was easier to view and the electromagnets pulled down the ferrofluid to make it align with the field lines in the alcohol and water solution.  Once this happened the fluid looked like some sort of sea crustacean.

The mini-project was tough to get started.  It seemed that the first two meetings we were just brainstorming for ideas.  Before we knew it half of the time we had was gone.  Once we had a general idea and a week left we still had to experiment and that also took a lot of time.  I feel that for the final project no time should be wasted getting to a clear idea and every group member should each ‘bring’ ideas to the meetings.  During the second or third meeting someone should have a paper and pencil hammering out the design.  I think the idea is half of the battle but should take very little time to come up with. It’s a battle because it will change.  Hopefully it will take a turn for the better and the group won’t have to compromise.

Toro Bravo

The piece we chose was called Pique by Pablo Picasso.  It is a color linocut on paper.  I wasn’t sure what the technique entailed so here is the wikipedia definition: 

Linocut is a printmaking technique, a variant of woodcut in which a sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used for the relief surface. A design is cut into the linoleum surface with a sharp knife, with the raised (uncarved) areas representing a reversal (mirror image) of the parts to show printed. The cut areas can then be pulled from the backing. The linoleum sheet is inked with a roller (called a brayer), and then impressed onto paper or fabric. The actual printing can be done by hand or with a press.

At first glance, it seems as though a bull is charging the horse with another bull intervening, stopping the horse by pulling on the reins.  This may not be the case though, as maybe the bull looks away to just miss one another.   Looking further the bull riding the horse seems to have a lance.  This “super” bull, to me, embodies a person with supreme power over the horse and charging bull.

I was drawn to this piece because I like Picasso and his ambiguous style.  Piqueis based on bullfighting, one of Picasso’s favorite subjects.  La pique translates into the lance, which is used in bullfighting.  Pablo Picasso was born in Malaga, Spain and later moved to France where his artistic depictions continued.  In the late 20^th century he founded cubism.  With the cubist style of art, the subject is portrayed by geometric forms with no realistic detail.  As you can see in Pique, Picasso put his cubist style to work.  The flat, two-dimensional style presented a new reality where there were no rules regarding color, form and space.   The colors were neutral, earthy tones which added to its natural feel, but it seemed as there was no order in the placement of the colors.  The fragmented objects illustrated in Pique show how cubists have no regard for traditional techniques.  The animals in Piqueare portrayed by intersecting geometric shapes where one can see several sides at once.  One can see the fragmented portrayal of a horse and bull with the interpretation being left to the imagination.  They seem distorted, almost childlike.  When studying the linocut, I had a feeling of relaxation, but after learning the meaning of la pique my feelings changed as I now think Picasso was portraying the cultural importance of bullfighting.  Pique and the other numerous works by Picasso made him the most influential artist of the 20^thcentury.    

For further interest, check out the picture below of the bullfighting ring in Malaga, Picasso’s birthplace.

Jeff Bennett helped my understanding of certain techniques and broadened my horizon by pointing out different features of the artwork I never would have noticed.  In addition to showing me the permanent collection he showed me several of the students’ projects as well.  He showed me a piece that dealt with circles and triangles and how if they are put together differently they take on a whole new form and meaning.  We also checked out some works in progress which showed how the artists got their ideas and how they translated them onto the canvas.

After our tour of the museum, Jeff and I went to caféTuTu and enjoyed a bowl of phớ.

Nick Meyer-Hesler and I met up and discussed some ideas for class.  He wanted to do something with his sculptures to make them more animalistic in behavior.  Maybe they would simulate a porcupine or something that would puff up like a blow fish.  He showed me some latex material that he was working with and he thought it would be cool if someone came close it would become bigger and maybe finish nails would stick out.  We were thinking that maybe we could use servos to make the latex move or use compressed air to make it puff up.  We both liked the idea of using the capacitive proximity sensor.

Some of my ideas which were on the groups mailing list also:

I have a couple of ideas for the project one of which I am taking from
something I have seen before.  I saw something hanging in a restaurant
behind the host/ hostess stand once.  I walked into the place and at first
glimpse I saw these lights which were lighting a hole in the wall.  Maybe it
looked like duct work or a tunnel with rows of lights recessed in it.  Once
I got close enough to realize it was just a picture frame with some depth
and two mirrors.  Hanging on the wall was a regular mirror and then
protruded a couple of inches in front was a two way mirror.  In the middle
there was a strand of Christmas lights around the inside edges of the frame.

I would like to build something like this but with some different lights.  I
liked those chip LEDs that were passed around class the other day.  I have
often thought of using fiber optics and a light source.  I have found rope
lighting that looked like translucent fiber optics but was powered off a 9V
battery.  Nick and I were talking yesterday and he mentioned something that
would be fun to do with LEDs.  I’m sure everyone has seen those clocks that
have LEDs that wave back and forth to display the time in mid air.  I think
that was what he was thinking of.  We were thinking incorporating something
like that would be cool.

We were also talking of using a scent in a project.  Whether it be a
pleasant or an unpleasant one we weren’t sure.  The other idea I had was to
make a tile mosaic that changes when someone came close or maybe change
differently to a woman or mans voice.