More Wadaheckerdiez with Lisa Renner

More pictures from Lisa's class at ArtUnraveled. The picture above shows Lisa setting up for the class. One reason for taking her class is that she furnishes an incredible amount of supplies so you don't have to pack/ship/carry so much in. An additional benefit is that as she's talking about a technique everyone is trying it out on the same base material so there is more chance for successful implementation.

You might think that maybe everyone's work will look alike.
Not a chance! Here are some samples from my classmates:

And finally, here are the three samples Lisa brought of her own work:

Wadaheckerdiez with Lisa Renner

Oh yeah, I make dolls. Since I'm confident in both my masculine and feminine side (sort of) I don't need to insist they are Dudes.  Susan and I just came back from a week in Phoenix at ArtUnraveled -- more pictures to come in the future -- where I took Lisa Renner's Wadaheckerdiez class.

For now, you'll have to be satisfied with this picture of Ricky and his two best friends. Carol did the figure on the left, Janis did the one on the right. The bases will get little wagon wheels added on so that they are like a pull-toy. The video below is from the class, I'm sitting at the table with Janis, patiently (or not so) waiting for a chance to get at the drills. Carol is coming back into the class when she was startled by Susan stealing a chance to get a quick video.  People sometimes think the classes I take are just lectures or boring routines so I thought you might like to see sort of what we do.

Lisa Renner is a great instructor and the main reason I took the class. For the record, I'd take anything she taught. But I guess you can tell that because here I am in a doll class, although it did have some "guy" stuff to it, like using butane torches on shellac which can be a nice explosive touch, if you are so inclined. Or sloppy.

Sometimes it doesn't make any difference what the subject matter is, it is just art and, if you are creative enough, what you do will transfer over to any medium you choose. In my case, this figure will be a jumping-off point for some ceramic pieces this fall.

Adorn Me! and Risë, The EGE, Janis, and EJ

Did I have a good time? You bet. One of the cool things was getting to meet Risë Freeman-Zachery and her husband, The EGE, wearing some great jeans. As I told Susan, this pictures doesn't do him justice and she probably would consider him definitely a G. Go here to see what Risë really looks like and for more details on The EGE.

Risë is an artist, a writer for Somerset Magazines, an author of several books (her newest one is Living the Creative Life), has a website, a blog, a Fan Page, does podcasts, is on? in? does? Twitter, and still finds time to hang out with ordinary people like me at AdornMe!. She probably even knows, unlike me, how to text.

Below is a sample of what happens in a class at AdornMe! (or ArtUnraveled). You can see my "spiffy" toolcase on the table, Janis is wondering what I'm doing and EJ is just barely visible past Janis. We have set up our own assembly line to make jump rings and they both need me to get back in my place and back to work.

Cool or Not Cool

At times I have doubts. So I read over what Sol LeWitt wrote in a letter to Eva Hesse:

"Don't worry about cool, make your own uncool . . .

He had a lot more to say to her about listening to your own inner critic. Do a Google search (here) to see the full text, uncensored, on many websites/blogs.

Disintegration Finale, Part One

Seth started it with his Disintegration Collaboration and we all put our bundles and whatever out into the environment. My diploma, which gave me the right to add a 4th set of initials after my name (don't get excited, they don't include PhD), remained pretty resistant to the elements which included only about 3 days of rain over 6 months. I had actually hoped it would burst into flames in our summer heat.

Once Susan took it out of the sculpture (bottom photo) it had been sitting in for 6 months and started picking at it, we discovered why it wouldn't disintegrate. The diploma was printed on a heavy paper which was fused to a plastic film and then fused onto a backing sheet. It seemed like just one thick piece of paper but the plastic film in the middle kept it from any serious damage. She ripped and peeled and got it all apart and the backing sheet is being cut into strips to make "hair" for one of my outdoor ShovelHead people (will be shown in Part Two).

The front was transformed into the piece you see, with detail photos. I had nothing to do with it other than to say "Needs more... something" as she worked on it. The miscellaneous painted pieces collaged on are papers we worked on together in the past. The whole piece is stitched, wired, and glued onto black canvas. I like it. (As opposed to hating the job that required the damned thing.)


Grateful thanks to Seth from The Altered Page for an interesting Collaboration.

Original attempt at disintegration, Feb 12 - July 26, 2009.

Glass Man To Clay Man

This guy stands just about 6" high with a body of fused glass. I bought him a few years ago at some street art fair because I wanted to help out the artist who didn't seem to be making very many sales. The piece sat in the back of one of my shelves and has pretty much been ignored.

But when I was doing some clean-up last week I brought him out, dusted him off and looked harder at him. I now realize I like the way the artist put the ladder and the screws down for feet and the way he added chunky pieces to be like knee and ankle joints. In fact I'm liking the piece more every day.

Although I don't do glass stuff I'm trying to work out in my head a way to do a series of clay pieces like this. But much bigger. I'm not too good on little stuff. Rebar wire will work fine for the structure, it could be threaded through the clay body for the arms if I just make little holes in the piece in the right place. I'm thinking . . . .

So You Think You've Got Enough Stuff?

One of my instructors has been Sharon Smith (work shown above). Sharon is the person who gave me the Carrion plant, not because it was a sly stinky plant, but because she knew it would be weirdly beautiful when it bloomed.

Maybe you think you have enough Stuff to make art with but I can promise you that Sharon has more. Lots more. And she's makes her Stuff her art environment. On her website click first on the option "Studio", which she has subtitled "The Real Smithsonian", and you'll get an idea of the real impact of her house and yard.

Yes, I've been in her house. No, it isn't as amazing as the pictures make it seem -- it's even more amazing and wilder and crazier and brain-exploding creative than you can ever imagine.

Bedsprings Bob

You can have your Joe the Plumber and Joe Six-Pack. I have Bedsprings Bob from Ohio, spotted outside Athens on Hwy 50 early in the spring and very early in the morning.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Gathering Stuff

Susan and EJ went to an Estate Sale last week even though she was pretty sure everything would be picked over because it was late on the 2nd day. Fortunately for me she only had $40 cash with her so that kept her from buying more than one of these cool school posters at $15. It is about 3'x5', has some water stains but still looks great.

The Belgian story book intrigued her because instead of the characters having word balloons over their heads so you know who is talking, they have little character heads next to the text. Or maybe that's the way all story books are now. What do we know? We grew up with Dick and Jane.

Once she photographed the poster she had to go crazy with Photoshop. She told me she had planned to cut the poster up (it's paper glued on heavy canvas) to make book covers but now she's liking it the way it is.

Other loot acquired included old velvet-covered record album books, children's silverware, wooden weaving shuttles, a china doll head, a weird Kewpie doll with one (broken) arm, and some mysterious old tools. All in all, a good haul.

Little Guy

Sometimes all I have to do is look at my scrap metal and a piece will turn into a person before I know it. Then, it's just a matter of waiting until the right ceramic head appears. I don't design the heads with the scrap metal pieces in mind. But, when the right combination happens, you just know it. It speaks to you.

Art Propelled

When I started my blog I thought the best part would be seeing my own work online. I was wrong. The best part is the friends I've made, the artists whose work I've been able to see, the visual places I've been to, and by reading other blogs, being able to have a sense of how people go through their creative process.

One special person who encompasses all of that is Robyn at Art Propelled. She always has something interesting to say (today it was about owls) and includes great links to other sites. She and I have a connection about "junking" in general, but now, the more we get to know each other, the connection seems to be getting stronger. This picture is of the interior of a totem she made and after studying all the photos she had of it I realized about 3/4 of the items she put in it were nearly identical to items I have.

We're nearly half a world away from each other, riding on the same wave length.

And Carolyn

Meet Carolyn, up close and personal. If Susan can't name any of the pieces I make it's because the piece is wrong. Missing personality. Lacking soul. No aura. Can't communicate. Carolyn, Hector and Eloise were named immediately.

I first learned how to make rivets in an Art Metal class taught by David Clemons, who makes beautiful, meticulously crafted art pieces. Keith LoBue helped me hone those skills. I really like making rivets but sometimes it is a challenge to keep recycled pieces of metal from breaking apart while I work on them. Again, pieces from July 3.

Hector and Eloise

Hector and Eloise. Check my post of July 3, you'll see pieces I used here.

Antz

Today we are dealing with carpenter ants.

Running Around in Tight Circles

Nailed this to the front of the garage today. The large part is the top of an old air conditioner, the center is a ceramic grid I made, about 1" thick. I may have to make some more grids, I'm liking how they look on the wall.