ArtPrize skeleton, FACE ME; Artbeing

The head which will just be a face is not going on for awhile. Until then I think I'll add a temporary mask. Next up is some work on the arms and working on the joints.

HOT CAT! Don't worry, the forge is not fired up yet.

Did you see how beautiful the sky looked today? Blue in Michigan!! Breezy and 70s. Loved being outside working on the sculpture.

The skeleton is almost finished and the fine work will start this week. There's all kinds of thin metal stripping that will be wound around the skeleton to give it life.

Michigan and ArtPrize

Isn't this scenery nice? You get to watch these beautiful trees turn fall colors as I work on FACE ME for ArtPrize.

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.

Kanoa and the Moth is a bronze sculpture created for ArtPrize. Kanoa means "the free one" in Hawaiin. He has found a giant moth and is caging it in his hands and is just about to let it go free. The sculpture weighs about 215 pounds and is designed to be exhibited outdoors near a pond or in a garden.

Welding burns!

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.

ArtPrize Critics don't like the top ten

I will take photos of the top ten so you can see what everyone is so up in arms about-

GR Press 

 

I must tell you I agree with the critic on this but it is hilarious to read!

and if you would like to read more about each piece the home page of ArtPrize.org

Here's one that's not top ten but the critics would have loved to see it there. I was really interested in this piece of art because it uses sound and it's interactive. Everyone was engaged in finding out more about this piece and walking into and through the art installation. 

Urban Center for Contemporary Arts is a brand new facility with galleries, a theatre and loft apartments. It's a major ArtPrize exhibitor so I tried to show some of the artwork there with the live feed laptop cam but the quality was not too hot sooooo…. here's a 3 minute video taken with my camera that shows an interesting exhibit I saw there today. 

The sound and sculpture installation is called Wappen Field. You can pause the video when the artist statement is shown to read about it….that is if you can understand "artspeak." 

Artspeak is my new favorite word. This is what I call art gobbledygook. It's not that artists don't have something significant to say it's just that they (we) have such a hard time verbalizing these complicated concepts. (and also want to sound really intellectual and elevated)

So enjoy this video and as you listen you will hear some strange musical sounds that come from the helmets.