Smalls

 

"High Five"

"Low Five"●                       "Hand Up" ●

"Leg Up"

"Heads Up" ●

This past summer, I, along with about 150 other artists in Sonoma County, participated in an annual Open Studios event.

 It was a first for me, and although it was a lot of fun, and I sold several pieces of my work, I have to say, it was a lot work getting ready for it and at the end of each of the 4 days we were open, I was exhausted. But I met some new friends, and saw some old ones, and all in all it was a good success.

In preparing for the event, I made several new art pieces, some have already been posted on this blog, you can see them here, here, here and here.  There are a few others that haven't been posted yet, as I am still trying to play catch-up.

The pieces shown here are small assemblages I made especially for the show.  I actually made a total of 10 smalls, but with everything going on before the event, I failed to photograph them, and a few were sold on the first day of open studios.

So this is all I can show you from this series.  Ceramic doll hands, legs and heads are mounted on to scrap pieces of wood covered in papers and tissues.  A few embellishments were added just or fun.

Aspires

"Aspires" ●

When I first pondered the idea for this piece, I thought about the great pyramids of Egypt.  I thought about how even today, they inspire us to think about the considerable human potential contained within all of us, just by being alive. I thought about the greatness of the human spirit, the immense collective human knowledge we possess, and I thought about the unending human will we exhibit.

This all began with 3 pieces of 4x4 scrap lumber left over from a construction project in the building where my studio is located.  My wood turner friend Kalia Kilban, was kind enough to 'shape' them into pyramids for me. (Kalia exhibits and sells her exquisite bowls at the Sebastopol Gallery, the same gallery where I show my work)

Below is the only image I have of the pyramids in their 'raw' state before I started working on them.

After several iterations I decided that minimal embellishments was the way to go.

A vintage 1926 dictionary provided the perfectly 'aged' text and images, each applied separately and in layers.

The embellishments, include a WW2 Waltham US Army Corps of Engineers military compass, a  brass door plate, a brass tea strainer, among a few other things - all vintage!

Each pyramid sits on it's own stand: wood, brass and iron.  All 3 pieces sit on a wooden frame, made from what was formally a base that held candles, fitted with vintage yard sticks.

Please let me know what you think - I would love to get your feed back on this piece!

"The potential for greatness lives within each of us."