by admin | Sep 18, 2015 | Uncategorized
The Shelley City Council accepted my proposal for my bust of John F. Shelley to go in City Hall. This week I finished him up, and Hollowed him out. Here is a picture of me doing that.
If you are unaware about how firing a water based clay sculpture works allow me to explain. First of all you need to make the sculpture. I do this using an armature (which for this case is really just a metal pipe and a ball of paper). The armature is what keeps the clay up. Once the sculpture is done you can’t just put it in the kiln and fire it. First it needs to be hollowed out. There are a few reasons you do this. For one it makes it not nearly as heavy. This sculpture required about 150 pounds of clay to make and when it was hollowed out it was around 75 pounds. It will be even lighter after it is dried and fired. Hollowing out also helps your sculpture not explode in the kiln. The moisture in the clay comes out in the kiln and if the clay is too thick it has a hard time coming out and starts exploding.
You can see from the picture that I cut off the top of the head to do this hollowing. I also laid him down on a pillow and hollowed from the bottom as well.
Now that this sculpture is finished and drying I am able to work again on my little girl praying. Coming back to it with fresh eyes made me see a lot of things I needed to finish, fix, and change. This is a work in progress but it is coming along.
I also received some exciting news. I told you before on this blog that my sculpture Out on the Town was not accepted by the Meridian Arts Commission. Well I recently found out that the chose another sculpture for the location they had planned but they are currently discussing funding and placement options for my sculpture as well. They liked it a lot but felt that it would be better in a place that received less vehicular traffic and more pedestrian traffic. It is not for certain yet but hopefully I will be creating this sculpture for Meridian after all.
by admin | Sep 10, 2015 | Art Show, Artist weekly Log, Inspiration
It’s an exciting week where I live! The Eastern Idaho Fair is going on and everyone is either involved in the fair or excited to go and have some fun there.. A major part of the fair for me has always been the Fine Art Competition. Even when I was a child I would enter my artwork into the fair, Back then I was entering into the Western Idaho Fair because I lived in Meridian Idaho.
This year I entered into the professional Division and was surprised to see that I won Best of Show! There was a lot of great work there so this was obviously a confidence booster for me. Sometimes it’s nice to get that little bit of validation that your work is worth something.
I also encouraged my high school students to enter the fair but with all of my trying only one of them entered. And her work looked great! I was proud to see it hanging on the wall with all the other artwork. Another former student entered her painting as well. I was a proud teacher!
Although my pride in my students was great that night I was still sad that not more of them entered. It was hard for me to understand why they wouldn’t enter their artwork into the fair, its fun and who knows… They might win something.
It occurred to me that the word might was what was getting in the way. To many of them were afraid of what would happen if they entered the fair and they didn’t win anything. Their hopes and dreams could be crushed!
It might sound a little silly but those are the kinds of things that my students would say. “My dreams could be crushed” or even “I won’t win anything” or “I’m not good enough”… Wow! what self damaging language comes out of some of my students mouths. Many of them feel like they couldn’t stand the rejection of not winning. This thought had never crossed my mind. I was lucky enough in my younger years to have parents who encouraged me to enter my artwork in the fair and other art shows. Till this day I think is is a great thing for anyone to do. So here it goes… My list of reasons more artists (including armature artists) should enter art shows.
1) Confidence building
It feels great being in art shows and especially wining art shows. My 8 year old daughter also entered the fair. She won a third place ribbon for one of her coil pot bowls she made. You should have seen the look on her face when she saw the ribbon. She was so excited. Yes, I know that this is not always the case.There have been other shows where she hasn’t won and it always is a little sad to see the disappointment on her face. However we continue to encourage her to enter and now that she has won all of those other disappointments have been washed away.
Sometimes you don’t win, but often times other confidence builders will happen like someone might compliment you on a piece or even offer to buy it. This has happened to me at times. There have been shows where I didn’t win any awards but I did sell some of my work which was a better award anyway.
2) Teaches you to deal with rejection
Art shows are a great way to teach you to deal with rejection, especially a show like the fair. I mean this in the best way possible. Some shows have a pretty hefty entry fee and even after you pay the entry fee you may or may not get into the show. The state fair isn’t like that. The entry fees for state fairs are usually small and if you pay the fee you get to be in the show. If you don’t win something then you can learn to deal with that at a relatively small price.
I learned this lesson when I was in high school. There was one year I entered work into my high school art show. I was an underclassman and thought I was pretty hot stuff. The judge loved my work and I received numerous awards for the things that I had entered. The next year I entered work which I thought was better then the previous year and I didn’t win anything. It hurt a bit but I learned that you can’t win them all and that not every judge is the same. Sometimes there are judges that just don’t like your style of work, and that’s okay. If the judge doesn’t like figurative work but has a thing for abstract then you can bet that I wont do very well at that art show. That is just the way it is.
Over the years I have dealt with many rejections. I have also had many wins. More recently I have felt a surge of energy after every rejection making me try harder for something else. The rejections also have made the wins feel even better.
3) It gives you something to work towards.
There are some shows that I create work specifically for that show. Its fun to have a show date coming up to encourage you to create more and better work. It gives you a target to shoot for. My daughter who I previously mentioned will now be making sure that she creates something really awesome so she can enter it into the fair next year.
I met an 11 year old girl at the fair and I could see the disappointment in her face at not winning anything. She had entered three things that were really quite well done. I don’t know if what I told her helped her feel any better but I tried to encourage her as much as I could. I told her good job for being so brave to enter her work into the fair. I told her that most of my high school students were too scared to enter and that she is awesome for even entering. I told her to keep up the good work and keep entering. Her work will get better and better and she will win some years and loose others but that it is fun and exciting to be in a show weather you win or loose. The important thing is that you tried.
I hope that if you are reading this then you will be encouraged to go out on a limb and try something you have been to scared to do. It might be an Art Show like I have talked about here or it might be something else completely unrelated. Either way I hope my words have helped.
I would like to know what you think. Do you have any stories about entering shows that you would like to share? Have you had a confidence boost or a crushed dream? let me know in the comments below.
by admin | Sep 4, 2015 | Artist Bio, Artist weekly Log, Progress Pictures
This post has been long in coming. When I started this blog I said I would be posting once a week, and I did for a while. Once summer hit, I kind of dropped the ball. Well now that the school year has started again and I have more structure in my life I am resolving once again to post every week.
Because you haven’t heard from me in a while this post will basically be catching you up on what I did all summer long, so hear it goes,
Since my last post on June 22nd I…
Went and stayed in a cabin in Island Park and toured Yellowstone with my family. While we were there I got to do some sculpting. It was fun to have the whole family sculpting with me…
Finished this sculpture…
Spent a lot of time with my family. Here is one of my little girls when we were playing with color mixing…
Finished a set of relief versions of my sculptures Shelter and Lotus. These will be available on my website soon.
It got a little hot in my studio and my sculpture With no thought of failure started to melt. I still need to fix it. I will be molding and casting this sculpture shortly.
Made many molds for my sculptures…
Sold my work at the Jackson Hole Art Fair. Here is a picture of me just after setting up my booth.
I went on a backpacking trip in the Sawtooth Mountains with a bunch of boy scouts. This is a picture of me with a friend from high school who I just happened to run into on the trail. What a small world.
I made some Awesome Pizza. It not only looks amazing but it also tastes amazing!
I started teaching school again. Here is a picture of me and my 1st grader on our first day back, walking to school in the morning.
I started sculpting a sculpture of a little girl praying. I am using my 8 year old daughter as the model. It is currently life size but will shrink a little as the clay dries.
And finally I began work on a larger than life size bust of John F. Shelley, the founder of Shelley Idaho.
There is many more things that I did but way to much to share in one blog post. This will have to do for now.
There are some people who have been asking whatever happened to the commission in Meridian Idaho which I was a finalist for. Well… I didn’t get it. Yes it hurt but such is the life of an artist. If I couldn’t handle rejection I wouldn’t still be doing this and I would have never gotten as far as I have. This rejection hurt a little more than usual because it was in my home town and I really felt like this project was made for me, but there will be other opportunities.
by admin | Jun 22, 2015 | Artist weekly Log, Uncategorized
It has been a busy summer both artistically and otherwise. I have not written a post in a number of weeks an as such have so much to say I hardly know where to start. This blog post will be a quick recap of the past few weeks and I will also tell you about a couple things you can do to get involved with my artwork.
The picture above is a design I created for a sculpture I would like to make for my hometown Meridian Idaho. I was chosen as a finalist for this project and they are accepting public input both at Meridian City Hall and online. I invite you to read the proposals and if you feel so inclined to write in a letter in support of my sculpture design. Here is an excerpt from my proposal to the Meridian Arts Council
“My sculpture design features three children enjoying a day out on the town. I have many good memories of going into downtown Meridian with my older siblings, buying candy at Albertsons, Hamburgers and Ice cream at the Burger Den (which is now Main Street Burger), and then looking at toys at Payless (which is now Rite Aid). Coincidentally the location for this project is in the center of these stores. In a way this is a portrait of us when we were younger. I am the little boy with the Ice cream cone holding my older sisters hand and my older brother going ahead of us with a box of candy in his back pocket. I hope it can inspire the people and children in Meridian to enjoy the town more, and help make this corner a little more inviting.”
I hope you will support me in this. Click here to see all the proposals and support my design.
I have also been doing a lot of work trying to get ready for the Jackson Hole Art Fair which I will be selling my work in. You are also invited to come and see me at my booth on July 10th, 11th, and 12th in Jackson Hole. It will be a ton of fun with lots of great artwork from many great artists! You can read more about the Jackson Hole Art Fair here.
Here are a few of the things I have been working on.
Made this totally awesome banner for my booth!
Made a mold for this sculpture of hands entitled “Blessings”
Started Sculpting the relief versions of my full round sculptures “Shelter” and “Lotus”
Finished this sculpture entitled “Stormy Day”
Fired the Kiln with my new sculptures in it.
Completely destroyed the first casting and the mold for this sculpture. No worries I still had the orginal which I am making a new mold of.
Finished this sculpture which the title is still up for debate.
And I cleaned and organized my awesome studio. You can see more pics of my studio if you click here.
More has happened but I have work to do! You will just have to hear about it in future blog posts.
by admin | May 21, 2015 | Artist Resource, Inspiration
This week I went to the Shelley High School Graduation. I have been teaching some of these students every year for the past 4 years. Some of them I have become very close too and despite what I usually tell them, I will miss them a little.
There are many things that I have learned over the years working with teenagers. Usually by their example are these lessons taught. Sometimes I learn things by their good example and sometimes their not-so-good example. I’m happy to say that the lesson I am going to talk about today is from a good example.
This year Shelley High School picked two valedictorians and asked both to give a speech. The picture above is me with these students. Apparently this is the first time this has happened in the history of Shelley High School. It is interesting to note that these two valedictorians were also best friends. I have had the privilege of having both of these young ladies in my classes a number of times over the years. Needless to say they were both very hard workers and as such excelled in my classes. In fact they excelled in just about everything they did. Of course they both had different strengths they were also very much alike.
Is it any wonder that they chose to give their speech together? And the topic of their speech was the importance of friendship? They stood on the stand together and alternated who was speaking. The speech was smart, thoughtful, funny, and inspiring. My favorite quote was:
“There is beauty in imperfections.”
Not taking credit for anything but that does sound and awful lot like something I often say to my perfectionist students.
These two girls make me wonder how things would have been different if they weren’t friends. Would they have excelled the way they did if they didn’t have each other? I like to think that we become what we surround ourselves with. These girls chose to be around each other and as such they both benefited and became better people. In my years teaching I have also seen the reverse. Students who always complain about all the drama in their lives while simultaneously spending time with dramatic people. I could go on and on giving good and bad examples of different groups of students and people who have turned into the people they surround themselves with.
I know it isn’t always that easy. But I believe that we need to not only surround ourselves with people but also things that will help us become the person we want to be. There are many ways we can do this but I am going to talk about some of the ways more specific to artists.
Art
This should be a given for artists and art lovers but we need to surround ourselves with great art, as well as strive to make great art! People are affected by they art they view. Find artwork that is well done and beautiful and display it in places where you will see it regularly. Let this great art, work its magic in your life. If you want to be more relaxed find art that is relaxing and it will wear off on you. I was once contacted by someone who wanted to commission me to make a sculpture for him. He was wanting me to recreate The Thinker sculpture by Rodin but instead of the sculpture resting his head on his fist he wanted the man to be holding a gun to his head. I rejected the commission for many reasons. One major reason was because I strive to make my artwork have inspirational and positive messages. This was the opposite. Another reason came from my communications with this man. I got the feeling that he may in fact be suicidal. I was not willing to create something that could influence anyone to have those types of thoughts. It surprises me that anyone would want to surround themselves with Art that gives them negative feelings.
Other Artists
It is important as an artist to make friends with and spend time around other artists. Hopefully you can find artists who will inspire you and help you in your skills. You also need to make sure you are spending time with artists who are encouraging and not discouraging. The starving artist myth is strong and even artists will try to discourage you from following your dreams. I have met these types of artists and that is not a relationship I perused. I know a number of artists who are wonderful and encouraging who I know want me to succeed. These are the relationships I try to cultivate. The question now might be “where do I find these kinds of artists”. The answer is simple. You go where those kinds of artists are. In general the artists that are involved in your local art organizations will be a good fit. In Eastern Idaho where I live there are four great organizations to be involved in. In no particular order we have the Idaho Art Lab, The Idaho Falls Arts Council, The Eagle Rock Art Guild, and the Art Museum of Eastern Idaho. I have yet to become fully involved with all of these organizations but have been very involved with the Idaho Art Lab and the Idaho Falls Arts Council. I have never regretted my relationship with any of these organizations and I have met many great artists through my participation.
Another great way to become friends with other artists is simply to ask. This past year I have become friends with a few artists who I have looked up to for some time just because I asked to meet them. On a business trip to Utah I contacted a few artists who I love and said that I would like to meet them and see their studio. All of them said yes and I have kept in touch with some of them since. One of my best friends locally is an artist who came to my classroom and invited me and my family over for dinner. We have been friends and helped encourage each other ever since.
It is easy to stay in touch with people through means of social media. I have also met a few artists who I now consider friends through social media. Although I have never met these artists in person they still encourage me to be a better artist and inspire me with their work.
Teachers
If you have ever been to school you know as well as I do, not all teachers are equal. I know very few teachers who are intentionally horrible. But I know there are some teachers out there that are above par. As often as possible choose the best teachers. It is getting easier and easier to do this with the internet. There are tons of online resources to help you with your artwork. In my experience the best resources are rarely free. If you really want to learn a new skill, find a teacher who can teach that skill very well. Look up reviews or read testimonials. Make sure their work reflects the skill level you desire. Make sure they are good at teaching also. Not every great artist is a great teacher. I myself will be releasing online sculpture classes in the near future. If you are interested in taking an online sculpture course from me or an in person workshop please sign up for my newsletter. The sign up form can be found in the right sidebar on this page.
Music and Movies
While I sculpt I often listen to beautiful instrumental music, sometimes classical, sometimes contemporary acoustic guitar. Listening to beautiful music helps me sculpture more beautifully. When I am not sculpting I will often listen to music that is thought provoking with lyrics that utilize strong metaphors. I am naturally drawn to movies that deal more with character development and story line than special effects. Is it any wonder that my artwork themes often deal with personal growth, strength and the human spirit? If my goal was to be a comic book artist or a whimsical artist my choice in music and movies might be different.
This by no means is an extensive list of everything you can do to surround yourself with worth while people and things. I’d like to know what you think. What are some things you do to surround yourself with things that help you become the person you want to become?
