Sculpture and a Chinese carving

I bought this carved panel in Hong Kong because it delighted me. The vitality of the birds and peonies, the humor of the carved insects, moths, cicadas, and the gay colors still are a joy to see.
The intricacy of the pierced carving and the efficiency of the design finally inspired me to try to copy a section in sugar pine. Here goes!

 The panel and the design inked onto the new block of sugar pine.

Sculpture and Modules

Architectural ornament is beautiful and meaningful.
It's also invisible.

Out of fashion, out of cultural awareness, its meanings forgotten, people don't see it at all.
So how do you get people to SEE it again?

I'm working on it: Take it off the building. Vandalize it with bright colors.
Ornament has always been used as modular units, repeated on buildings.
But modules are also a cornerstone of modernism, so intense repetition works.
             ......................................................................Just without the building.

What do you think?

 All photographs by David Bales 

Sculpture and To Grandmother's House

I signed my name on the big carving so that means it's done. Right?

If only that were true. I thought the hard part WAS the carving.
No. The current step is the hardest part. (Remember this, Patrick, and stop complaining!)

We've redesigned the housing yet again to be simpler to produce, use less metal and cost less.
Hoping this iteration will work as it needs to be installed by the end of November.

Wish me luck.....

Sculpture and Procrastination/Obsession

When and How does procrastination turn into its opposite: Obsession?
After slogging through so many tedious hours on this carving wanting to do ANYthing else,
now I don't want to do ANYthing else but carve.

The work is coming alive, it has a presence. That's the best payback for all those working hours.
It's magic.

I was able to stay late at the studio and see it for the first time at night.....

Sculpture and Siting

How you site sculpture determines how you experience it. 

SITE = SEEING. 

It's that important.

Here's the St Francis relief in its new location in front of the studio.

The fountain I've wanted for three years is finally up and running. 

It's so satisfying to hear the sounds of water.

This video isn't great, but it hints at the experience.

 Sitting on the stone bench under the shade of the plum tree, you feel the

 movement and sounds of water, notice the changing light and shadows.

You become aware of reflections, both visual and mental.

Three different kinds of wasps and all the honeybees in the neighborhood stop by to drink.

Sculpture and the Association of Northwest Landscape Designer's 2014 Garden Tour

Time for the Association of Northwest Landscape Designer's 2014 Garden Tour, Saturday June 28.
Six gardens are on the tour, each featuring art and sculpture. My art will be in the Moore Garden.

That arbor needs to do more than just support a clematis. Since the neighbors are so close, let's use it to frame a sculpture and create a view within this garden......

There is a deluxe garden shed that serves as a winter conservatory for tender plants.
The little lion now stands guard outside that door.

It's an effort to transport these heavy cast stone sculptures. I got smart and hired strong help to carry and install the sculpture. It's all worth it to see how art changes the way you experience a garden space.

Adam leveling the steel frame for St Francis.
 

Sculpture and Figures and Architecture

Is it hard to see the patterns of your own life?
Or are they so familiar that they don't register?

It's taken so long to realize that the TriMet sculpture is part of a series about women and home.

The first carving was Annunciation Cycles.
A pregnant woman emerges from a cedar fence railing in a block village.

Trying to copy that figure, another one emerged with a very different personality.

I'd found an old piece of lumber with a great central knot with a cross at its center.

That became the inspiration and the setting of this rather formal piece 

that deals with the Nativity story..

The first title was the Innkeeper's Wife, but I liked the idea that if she was the Innkeeper,

she would not hesitate to offer whatever shelter she had to another pregnant woman.

I used rough veneers to create an endless vine pattern on the base and a family tree on the back.

Not that big a jump to the current carving, is it?

Sculpture and Thomas Heatherwick

"This is wonderful technology, but what happens if I do this with that?
Oh and I want to make it really BIG!"

Art today is about crossing disciplines and changes of scale.

Thomas Heatherwick studied silver smithing in college. Using that technology, he wondered if he could make a chair that would  be totally symmetrical AND comfortable however you sat in it.

All photos from Thomas Heatherwick's website Heatherwick Studio

‘Spun’ installation in Southbank Centre Square

The art works as sculpture, a beautiful object, that you can also sit in and laugh.
(And work out your abs!)

The plastic versions are good, but damn, I want a spun metal original!

http://www.heatherwick.com/

http://www.heatherwick.com/

http://www.heatherwick.com/

http://www.heatherwick.com/

Sculpture and the Garden

Time to call the professionals for the concrete cutting.

The goal was to recycle all the concrete for other garden projects, 

for that I needed consistent sized blocks. 

 I told him "Think of the driveway as a quarry."

It was so nice to have someone else working, but it only took him 4 hours..

Soon it was back to me prying up the slabs and digging out gravel,

and re-installing the leaf block retaining wall.

You can see one reuse of the concrete in the photo below.

Because there's no fastener or connection between the decorative blocks, 

there is a backer block of concrete at each seam, set below grade up, snug against the paving. 

There's no way these blocks are moving easily.

Sculplture and The Garden

A big project requires major procrastination.

That fact dawned upon me halfway through re-landscaping the entire front of the studio.

But by then it was too late to turn back.

The rational was: 1.The planter was trapping rain water too close to the studio. 

                             2. Not enough soil and moisture to support healthy bamboo.

                             3. I wanted to focus more attention on the large relief panel.
(yes, cleaning up toys and projects would be a good start.)

Turns out the bamboo had break out plans of its own.

You can see this runner was prying up one of the 160 lb blocks.

Time to dismantle the entire thing and start over.

Move each block to storage area.

Thank goodness the driveway makes it easy to roll them away.

Clever to remember the bamboo guy. He came, dug it up and took away the bamboo. Whew.

Now just move all that dirt somewhere else.

Moving a dwarf spruce, and all the succulents created a temporary nursery/holding zone.

After all that work, a blank canvas, but plenty of ideas to make it better.

Sculpture and the Stairs.

The disabled is the one minority anyone can join any time.
Once in the club, the world becomes a series of obstacles to be avoided or solved.

Here's one clever sculptural solution that is like the incantation "Open Sesame."
The Sesame stair allows access without changing the aesthetic look of the architecture.

Sculpture and Norway's New Memorial

 "...art after Auschwitz is barbaric." 

It is the lack of critical thinking behind most memorials that turns good intentions into banal, sentimental kitsch. Bombastic sculpture trivializes and adds insult to injury.

Swedish artist Jonas Dahlberg was selected as the artist to create a memorial to the 87 people murdered by a right wing extremist in 2011. His proposal makes the loss of so many young lives hauntingly visible.

Photos © Jonas Dahlberg Studio

The names of those who died are cut into the opposite wall. Untouchable. The void is not a great distance but still a chasm between the living and the dead. The water is both itself and a powerful metaphor of the River Styx and the passing of time.

I think it would be just as powerful using concrete, without the fancy granite. The high polish and variations of color in the stone make reading any inscription more difficult.

Sculpture and Engineering

Most artists are so used to doing everything themselves that delegating a task never occurs to them.

Well, it finally occurred to me, and I am glad it did!

Here's my CAD engineering drawing, showing the metal structure that houses the wood carving.

I explained what information was needed and showed Tom Houha the full scale cardboard model.

He listened to me, took measurements and photos, and sent me the PDF a few days later.

What a relief!

It's my idea, my art, my model. I made them all, BUT doing this kind of technical illustration would have taken me forever and not looked as good.  It's a big relief to have a professional drawing with all the correct information to present to TriMet and my metal fabricator.

Sculpture and Architectural Ornament

There's so much possibility with the new technologies of scanning and computer milling,
and yet there's nothing like the beautiful hand carved ornament.

Why is this?

Because machine made work is perfect. Perfection quickly becomes visually boring.
Everything is identical, whereas objects made by hand have subtle variations that keep things alive.

 Detail below

These panels are so beautiful in how they play with light and shadows.

 

Architectural ornament from the Jefferson Market Courthouse in New York City.

Seen on a recent trip to New York City.

Sculpture and the Bronx Zoo

Are you tired of reflective glass buildings?

I love when architecture has something to say.

Jennifer Cook took these photos of architectural sculpture at the Bronx Zoo.

See previous post with her work in Pumpkin Sculpt USA.

An almost flying rhinoceros.