Wow - how long has it been? I've been a bit busy, it seems. My partner and I have been house-hunting since last summer; I'm not sure what the hold-up was before that. We did finally find a place this spring, which is great. We "moved" in April. We'll still be unpacking NEXT April, I'm afraid. I promptly went from moving to working on a large sculpture, Garden Spiral, at the Botanic Gardens. The sculpture was about 10 tons, measures 20.5 x 15.5 x 2.25 in feet. I don't measure in metric yet. See pictures above.
It was supposed to take one week to finish with help from a bunch of high school kids from the Artist Apprenticeship Program with Imagination Celebration FW. (It couples high school art students with mentoring artists.) Several things made it take longer - the stones delivered were much larger and thicker than expected - my trucker got them from a different quarry this time, and they were just huge. The kids couldn't pick a lot of them up - I couldn't pick a lot of them up. Then we got rained out one scheduled day, and the next time I only had 4 kids. So I got about 5 total hours of work from the kids, which was great, but not as much as I had expected. The kids were really hard-working - they raked dirt and hauled stones and dug holes. They built most of the "floor" of the piece, and I built most of the wall. I did have help from Laura, a friend of one of the teachers and her daughter Alex. Her twins Sydney and Nick came one day, too, although they mostly ran around the park.
It was supposed to take one week to finish with help from a bunch of high school kids from the Artist Apprenticeship Program with Imagination Celebration FW. (It couples high school art students with mentoring artists.) Several things made it take longer - the stones delivered were much larger and thicker than expected - my trucker got them from a different quarry this time, and they were just huge. The kids couldn't pick a lot of them up - I couldn't pick a lot of them up. Then we got rained out one scheduled day, and the next time I only had 4 kids. So I got about 5 total hours of work from the kids, which was great, but not as much as I had expected. The kids were really hard-working - they raked dirt and hauled stones and dug holes. They built most of the "floor" of the piece, and I built most of the wall. I did have help from Laura, a friend of one of the teachers and her daughter Alex. Her twins Sydney and Nick came one day, too, although they mostly ran around the park.
The piece is drystone masonry, so you have to get just the right stone for the right fit - I don't do much chipping for fit, although I will do a little. I'm not very good at that part - I tend to break off at the wrong point or only break off tiny chips. This is my fifth or sixth piece like this, and I do get better as I go along.
Since Garden Spiral is on City property, I had to jump through more hoops this time. Henry Painter, the director of the Botanic Gardens, and Ginger Head, the director of Imagination Celebration, made all the arrangements, but we had to get permission from Fort Worth Public Art as well, and releases from the student workers and liability coverage for everyone. Then we were only able to get permission for 90 days as a temporary work. If it were to be permanent, FWPA would have to maintain it and it isn't in the budget to do so. I understand, and I'm used to doing temporary artworks, but other people are just aghast that we did that much work for only 90 days. With Concerts in the Garden this summer, the sculpture will be behind a fence (see-through) until after July 5th to keep the thousands of people attending from climbing on it. At least they can see it!
I also had a solo show at my church - which is a small venue but I sold a piece, which makes it all worthwhile. Thinking back to the past year, I guess part of the reason I haven't posted is the number of shows that I have been in or that I have been arranging or curating. It's been busy.
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