Fulton Xrossing

"Fulton Xrossing"●
I recently moved my studio to a new place.  And it IS wonderful.

This building formally operated as a poultry processing plant for about 50 or 60 years. Before that, there was a small winery on the property, surrounded by vineyards and orchards. Today it is a thriving artist's colony . . .  (wine, chicken and art, not a bad history . . . all in all )

After the slaughterhouse moved out, the building sat vacant for 4 or 5 years, until it was purchased by the new owner, Rami Batarseh late last year. His vision was to convert the old facility into a place for artists. Rami and his crew have done a lot of work on this old building, converting the whole place into artist studios and a gallery.  YEY!

The new name given to our artist colony is FULTON XROSSING because it sits next to the railroad tracks, where our new SMART Train will soon pass.

The studios are clean, well lit work spaces for artists and fine crafts people of diverse disciplines who go there everyday and work their magic

We have painters, sculptors, a piano technician, a glass blower, one who makes furniture out of found objects, a videographer, a cabinet maker, a handpan enthusiast, and several other artists . . . I have yet to meet.

I moved in last month.  Can you believe my luck?  I have a wonderful studio, with lots of light, and plenty of space. I love going to work - EVERYday!  and having all these creative people around me is a huge bonus.

Here are some images of moi in my new space.

 

Anyway, back to the reason for this post . . . a few weeks ago, Rami, commissioned me to "make a sign out of found objects". . . the only other instruction I received were approximate size dimensions.

As is my usual style, I struggled, I debated, I tried different things . . .  In the end the image below shows the finished sign.  It was hung in the main gallery entrance this past week.

The sign is made out of barrel staves (thank you to my friend Michael at La Crema Winery),
Roof tacks were found at my local Habitat for Humanity ReStore,
The rusty iron "X" is from my own bag of tricks.
Note the chain that supports this very heavy sign, it is made up of a collection of key rings.

Rami loved finished sign. I, too, am very happy with it.

What do you think?

A Fish Named Pes

"A Fish Named Pes"
In Spanish the word for a fish in the water is "Pez".

A fish that is out of the water, after being caught is called a "Pescado" (the word pescado literally means 'caught')

This jazzy-snazzy flounder took the name Pes, as a shortened reference to his current state, as a caught fish.

A wooden box that previously held olive oil, is now a caddy for 'Pes', vintage, hand cut wooden letters spell the word "PES". The ceramic fish was broken when it was given to me.  I glued it back together,and added drops of yellow nail polish create spots.
I stained the background, the letters and the fish the same paint-stain color. Then I mounted it all in the box that has been covered on the inside in beautiful aqua papers, and overlaid everything with sewing pattern tissue to tone down the colors.
A part of a fishing pole, that I found washed up on a beach in Aransas Pass, Texas last year embellishes the piece.
A brass drawer pull along the side, finishes the piece.

My apologies for the poor quality of the image, this piece was taken out of the studio and into the gallery before a proper photograph could be taken. . . .  but it is a fun piece.

Name Game

 

"Name Game"

A couple of months ago I was invited to be in a show with 3 other assemblage artists.  Each of us were asked to make up our names in an assemblage piece.  This was mine.  

This piece has a couple of pieces that move. The ball in the 'jacks and ball' in the upper left hand side moves freely attached by a nylon thread. Also note the small Mexican-made lady-bug on top of the letter 'I' in Trevino, and it's little head bobbles.

A wooden box lid is collaged using tissues, vintage sheet music, text and magazine images. My name is spelled out in children's alphabet blocks. A clown, a toy Golden Gate Bridge, a hand painted yellow bird, a fish and a green M&M character embellish the piece.

After the show was over, I decided to use this piece on the door to my Obtainium Art Studio.

ps: the photo below is from the show titled "Assemble - Collective Soul" of the 4 artists in the show: Mark Brudzinski, Rebeca Trevino (me), Anne Shaheen, and Stephenie Brudzinski