bees! part deux

BZZZZZZZZZZZ! so i got them all cast in brass! and am beginning the clean up stages.. and then will start to assemble them. i also have a perfect bumble bee. i might make a setting and incorporate him.. we shall see!!

balls balls balls

so ive started to incorporate this really soft yarn into my recent work, and made brass settings for the yellow balls i made previously. i have planished them and started to put them together in groups, and they will become one neckpiece. the others are newer and i have started to play with pearls and the soft yarn. i want to make one long neckpiece out of the two balls wrapped in the yarn. i want it to have multiple balls, maybe like a dozen or so, and be a long continuous line that can then be wrapped in any manner. i want to make it at least 7 or 8 feet long. and im not sure what will come of the little pearl/yarn/paper guy. its like a little nest. its so adorable. maybe i will make a prong setting and make it a ring. :)

paper pieces

for our last body of work tracy and rebecca have "teamed" up and having us just make one body of work. for this we are picking fourteen artists who's work we admire and are similar to the kind of work we would like to make. we will have a "virtual gallery" of our 14 artists, with images of their work that best represents what we are interested in it, and then the 15th artist in the gallery will by us, and our work. so i have been playing with paper, im not sure of the exact makeup of the paper but it is fiberous and easy to work with. using thread i am sewing them into little balls, and am planning to make a neckpiece out of it. im trying to just work quickly, not feeling "precious" about anything, which will help me make more than i would with metal. its a relatively fun process, and i dont know if i will keep with the paper, or move to other papers or other materials, but i am liking what is happening with them!

final? pieces for bees..

the copper ones with blue wax is the result of me putting them in the pickle thinking the metal from electroforming them was thick enough, and not knowing that wax also expands under heat, so they cracked and wax came flowing out of the weak spots.. basically rendering them useless. at least i had saved about 4 single ones in the bath to grow stronger and thicker metal, so i could actually make something for crit. otherwise i would have been in trouuubbbllleeee... :)

bees (AH!)

more to come here.. the pieces i actually made are not the final ones, since i had tremendous setbacks with every step of making these pieces, what i did make was just to have sufficient pieces for crit. they are not what was supposed to be!! i made a "master" in purple wax, it took forever! and then made a mold and made multiples from the mold using the injector. (the blue ones) and didn't do a very good job.. eventually (for final crit) i will get them PROFESSIONALLY cast and make the intended piece. i really want the effect of a mass of bees on you, on your body, provoking fear and anxiety.. like i get when i see one!!

Mapping

we had a visiting artist come in from Cranbrook to teach seminar last week and our assignment was to map our work and make connections that we might have not otherwise seen. this is my map, and something i noticed is that i am starting to have an affinity for blues and yellows.. something i want to explore more.. color theory and the histories of these colors. 

First Piece From "Morocco" Series

                                                                                               this is the first piece from a three piece series for Rebecca's assignment on tradition. I wanted the forms to reference architecture and the colors to reference the mosaics in morocco. i have one image in particular from my visit that has these blues and a bright yellow in it, this was my inspiration for this piece. more to come with the next two pieces!