ArtPrize FACE ME

My kinetic sculpture for ArtPrize 2011 will be exhibited at The Calder Plaza Building on Monroe Avenue. The venue is using the wide sidewalk space in front of the building for three different artist's sculptures. This sounds like a great location because it is right across the street from DeVos Hall which will be a busy venue for ArtPrize.

The concept for this kinetic sculpture is about spending face time with one another. We are losing touch physically because of modern technology and the ease of communicating. My design will include the use of kinetics for movement in the hands and face of this life size sculpture of a person. The body will be industrial and the hands and face will be casts from a live model.

Artists are now matching up with venues and by the end of June there should be at least 2,000 artists placed. Then we have a couple of months to do the final work on our art pieces for display in September.

Take a look at these fun videos that show how people react to the sculpture. They either are afraid of it or they want to dance with it!
                                           TERRIFIED LADY

                                          
                                          DANCING LADY

Here's a record of the process of creating the sculpture: Face Me; Artbeing for ArtPrize 2011.

  This documentation includes video clips and tons of info about the kickstarter process.

Want to know what I'm making for ArtPrize this year? It's going to be a kinetic sculpture so the whole thing will be based on metal parts with moving joints. Here's some of the cool stuff I get to choose from. This is all stainless steel and is being dismantled by Melching Demolition. They are donating anything I can use for the sculpture. 

 Here's some of the guys at Melching, Nick, Brock and Chris. They are always happy to help.

Here's some of the stuff I will be using to make FACE ME; Artbeing. It's stainless steel and will also be used to make the  medallions which were cut from some big sheets at the scrap yard. I used a grinding wheel to smooth the edges and polish them up. Then I used  Maggie's drill press to punch the holes. You get one if you support the cause on Kickstarter.

Here I am at Melching Demolition. The wrecking ball is what they use to demolish buildings, some of what's left you can see here. I had the pleasure of choosing anything!

Drawings of the sculpture are all you get to see now but I will be posting lots of pictures of the progress starting tomorrow. There will be a lot happening in the next few weeks with only about 5 weeks to go before ArtPrize begins.

The process of building FACE ME; First I came up with a concept….

Then I decided what to make it out of and looked for places to find the materials I would need….

Next I looked for people who would like to get involved. Lots of people said, "I can help!" Drew from Keller Ford helped me with used parts. He talked to the mechanics and found all kinds of cool stuff.

  Joshua and Paul Evans said,Sure! We love to weld and cut and bend steel. We can help." 

Then I designed some fun stuff to give away to my supporters. Miriam Yisel models the medallion that the supporters of FACE ME get. Kickstarter has all the info.

You can make a keychain with it or use it as a necklace or even hang it in a picture frame. The medallions will have your name engraved and will be signed by me.

My kinetic sculpture for ArtPrize 2011 will be exhibited at The Calder Plaza Building on Monroe Avenue. The venue is using the wide sidewalk space in front of the building for three different artist's sculptures. This sounds like a great location because it is right across the street from DeVos Hall which will be a busy venue for ArtPrize.

The concept for this kinetic sculpture is about spending face time with one another. We are losing touch physically because of modern technology and the ease of communicating. My design will include the use of kinetics for movement in the hands and face of this life size sculpture of a person. The body will be industrial and the hands and face will be casts from a live model.

Artists are now matching up with venues and by the end of June there should be at least 2,000 artists placed. Then we have a couple of months to do the final work on our art pieces for display in September.

Hey, everyone! There is a lot happening and I can't keep up. I'll give you all the info I have up to this date. Look for more great photos and video Labor Day weekend.

You can see almost the whole skeleton here. The head is missing! But there will be a lot more added to this structure. You can see how it will be about 6 1/2 feet tall.

Working on the legs. See the red hot iron below. This is how we're bending it. The feet are being welded here.

Good news! Face Me is one of only a handful of ArtPrize projects to make it on Kickstarter. They helped me raise the funds for Face Me and here's the video that was posted for the project campaign. Over 30 people signed up as backers for the ArtPrize sculpture and we raised enough to pay almost all the expenses.

The forge is fired up until the coals are nice and hot. Then the iron is placed in the coals until it's red hot and bendable. You will see lots of twists and bends in FACE ME.

This is the forge that we are using to heat the metal before bending and shaping it. Don't worry it's not fired up--strange though, since this same cat jumped up towards the forge when it was hot and singed all his whiskers off. I guess he's not a scaredy cat.       

This is the fun part- bending the steel and making the shapes for the sculpture. The forge is heating up and now the parts are fitting together nicely. The forge is filled with coal and the fire needs to be stoked for about a half hour before it's hot enough. Then the steel is placed right on the coal for a few minutes until it is red (really!!) hot. The steel is then taken to the anvil and pounded out and bent to the shape desired.

Heating the metal on the forge takes a few minutes.

 This iron is RED HOT! Right off the forge and ready to bend once I know the shape I want to make.

Paul Evans is helping me with the assembling process. We're at his place in the Byron Center area south of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Here's a short video that shows how much fun we're having. Sorry about the crazy angles but at least you can see a little bit of what's happening. 

Next time I'll show you the face and hands of FACE ME.

 Paul and Joshua Evans are welding a joint while I take the video.

This is really close to the final product. Just need to add a few more pieces of metal ribbon and then sandblast and paint.

Can you help me with color? I would love your opinion about what color to paint Face Me. What's your favorite? I don't have any idea what color….well, OK, I do have an idea but I am open and not certain and not biased about the color so please HELP!!

Here's the face and hands in motion. FACE ME is almost finished now. There's more to do; attaching the base for stability, adding more ribbon strips, sandblasting and painting. 

The camera man is having a little trouble here….but hopefully you will be able to get a glimpse of what the final sculpture will resemble.

On Saturday I'll be bending thin strips of steel that will be wrapped around the body of FACE ME. That's what I call the ribbon strips.

Only about 10 days until FACE ME is installed at the ArtPrize show! And only 5 days left to pledge towards this project on Kickstarter. Tell your friends!

Dan, my son is modeling for the face of FACE ME and his daughter and I are talking about it. She doesn't like the way he is looking right now.

We're casting the face and hands today. Dan, my son, is the model and one of his little girls, Esther, is on the scene. His wife, Miriam, is videotaping. 

Tomorrow I build the frame for the the face and hands and work on adjoining them to the metal body.

Hey everybody! Good news! The Face Me project is funded which means we are successful in raising the funds to pay for the production of the sculpture. Thank you SO MUCH for your support and for believing in me and my art!

I can't wait to install the sculpture at ArtPRize. As soon as that is done I will be working on your rewards. 

It is not too late to get more rewards and contribute more towards Face Me. There are a few days left. The kickstarter campaign officially ends at around 6 pm on Wednesday, Sept 14. So if you know anyone who would like some original artwork by me or would like their name right on the sculpture please pass the info along. (I can always use more gas money and the cost of the project is now adding up to about $3,000)

Face Me is ready to be installed at ArtPrize 2011. We are taking it downtown tomorrow (becasue it's raining today and I want to make sure the paint is dry)

We are ready to transport FACE ME today. He's going downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan right now! This video shows the installation of the kinetic sculpture.

Here I am with FACE ME at ArtPrize.

FACE ME getting a groove on

My sons and daughter-in-laws, Nate and Casey and Mike and Danni

My three sons, Nate, Dan and Mike

You can now see FACE ME; Artbeing live at The Calder Plaza Building on Monroe Avenue across the street from DeVos Performance Hall. The venue is right in the heart of Grand Rapids and is in the City Center district.

Here's some photos for those of you who can't get to Michigan for the event. I know there's lots of supporters of FACE ME that are a long ways from Grand Rapids. I will be showing you lots of photos of what the event is like and you are going to want to consider making it here for next years ARTPRIZE when you see how much fun everyone is having. 

I will try to get the video feed going tomorrow. Weather kept me from setting it up on Monday so I will try again on Wednesday which is OPENING DAY.

Since the live feed is not that great for quality I thought you might like to see a short video with several scenes patched together. 

I did upgrade the service for the live feed and that helped but the sound is pretty bad since I don't have a directional mic.

I would like to try to bring you more info from different venues around town. There is a lot to see and you might enjoy seeing some of the competition so I will get around town and take some interesting shots for you. 

Here's the link for the live feed. See previous update for the schedule. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/artprize-anna-donahue

Next year, ArtPrize..................