Blacksmithing DIY

I love blacksmithing.  I haven't done it in years but I might have to try after watching this video on making a forge out of a brake drum.  Check out the rest of Purgatory Ironworks vids here.

A change of pace.

via Anna the Red's blog

My lunches never looked this good.

A new post? Not about art? What?

My friend Molly wrote a little something about the current political conundrum.  She posted it on the myspace bulletin board so I have taken the whole thing and put it here.

"A thing or two to think about . . . 

Let me see if I have this straight. . .

 

* If you grow up in Hawaii, raise d by your grand parents, you' re “exotic”, “different ”.

* Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, a quintessential American story .

 

* If your name is Barack you' re a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.

* Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track , you' re a maverick.

 

* Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.

* Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating , you' re well grounded.

 

* If you spend 3 years as a community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150, 000 new voter s, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750, 000 people, become chair man of the state Senate' s Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the Unite d State s Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran' s Affairs committees , you don' t have any real leadership experience.

* If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7, 000 people, 20 month s as the governor of a state with only 650, 000 people, then you' re qualified to become the country' s second highest ranking executive.

 

* If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.

* If , while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant , you' re very responsible.

 

*If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a posit ion in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family' s value s don' t represent America' s.

*If you' re husband is nicknamed ' First Dude' , with at least one DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA , your family is extremely admirable"

I am glad I have wise friends.

Access Denied.

   And so I did not get into the N.E.W. juried show.  I have mixed emotions about this.  I am sad for my show resume but I am kinda glad I didn't get in because when I would have sold a piece I would have hated giving them the 50% they require after the entry fee.  If I can make the opening of the show I would like to go just to see the look of the show and the works the juror chose.  I know my work is a little different (wall hanging sculptures and all) and might be hard to show with a lot of paintings.  So I am going to look into other local venues to show.  The Durham Art Walk is coming up soon and I am in need to do something about that.

   Oh...  And my apologies to the one reader of my bog (thanks Mom ;-) for not posting in a while.  I have been kinda busy with "life shit."  

Giving my old molds another shot.

   I am trying to get a couple more casts out of my old molds before I retire them for good.  And if they mess up another cast I will retire them real good with a real big hammer.  This way I am killing two birds with one stone.  I am getting out some of my frustration and, at the same time, I am preventing future frustration.  Good times.

Starting over on the molds.... I messed up the last one.

   Seeing that my old slip casting molds are no longer doing there job I have started making new ones.  Rushing the first try wasn't such a good method.  I had to trash the first one after my mold dams sprung a leak and I ended up with more plaster on the floor than in the mold itself.  The second time around I took a little more time and did it a little more correctly.  And though not perfect I think that this one will work.  Well it looks better anyway.

Entering a juried show and kissing my $30.00 good bye!

   I have entered these two works in the 19th annual N.E.W. show at the Visual Art Exchange.  It is a show with an entry fee.  I think the whole concept of the "entry fee" is just wrong.  The galleries who choose to charge fees to the artists who are (like myself) not making any significant income with their art are just taking advantage of artists.  It cost me $30.00 to enter both works.  On top of this the gallery will take a 50% commission if I happen to sell a piece.  If I didn't need to flesh out my show resume I wouldn't have entered this show.  I really don't mind an entry fee if the gallery isn't going to take a commission.  I have curated shows in which we needed to charge an entry fee to the artist in order to cover the rent of the space for the duration of the show.  But we didn't charge a commission to the artists.  Charging both is a bad business practice.  This practice is all too common in the level of galleries that "support" the artists that are starting out.  This is just another reason why a lot of artists and I are starving.

Mold making

   I am currently trying to make some new molds for my slip casting.  This is proving to be just as messy of process as I remember.  I made some new oil clay last weekend.  It ended up a little on the soft side but it was my first time making this clay so I am not too disappointed.  It is the plaster part of this process that makes the big mess.  My mold walls for holding the plaster in while it sets up broke and I ended up with more plaster on the floor and myself then were it was supposed to go.

And another one goes up

This one I put up in front of the local Durham Farmer's market while I was walking the dog.  Two birds with one stone... good times.

And now another project started...

   I have started another project to follow the (just started) "Art Posters".  This one is more time consuming and will probably take some funding outside of my sad looking checking account balance.  This one is made of wax.  I am planning on doing multiples of this cast in aluminum and bronze.  And try and get them placed around the world in public places.  

   I think I am going to name these POC's.  Meaning Perception Of Consciousness.  They are exploring the idea of the relationship between consciousness and experience.  I will be explaining this concept more on my website as soon as I get it more fleshed out.

My first "poster" goes up in Paris!

I'm excited to get this work underway.  It is a bit of an exploration of globalization and art.  I am going to try and put up some here in Durham, NC this week and work on sending out some more to people the next week.  World, welcome to the art of Josh Shaffer.

My Art Poster Project has begun!

            This is the start of an idea I’ve recently come up with.  It is art for the place in between the inaccessible art in high priced galleries and the art that is made for everyone to view with no expectations of being “for sale”.  It is “in between” because it is a little of both worlds.  It is free for everyone to view. 

I am finding people who are willing to “hang” the work in a public place of their choice.  My only concern is that they photograph the piece after it is hung and then send me the photo so I have some documentation of where these pieces are going.  The pieces are handmade by me.  They are made with canvas, paper, wax, wood, and colored pigment.  I am trying to send them to anyone who wants to participate. 

On the other side, though the pieces are free for anyone to view, I have printed my web address on them.  So they become a blatant advertisement for my website.  My website address replaces the artist’s signature.   And the viewer can see the inspiration for my logo which is a two dimensional representation of the sculpture on the poster.

I am interested to learn how people react to this work.  The work has this dichotomy of exploration and advertisement.  Who is going to be curious and who is going to be indifferent?

This one is going to Paris.

And a working website for me...

   I finally wrote a post in the awesome RapidWeaver forum. I got a response in no time giving me the solution to all my website blues. It was simple operator error. But this is my first site and I am glad to learn and have help doing so.

   And I am now going to get ready for the class tomorrow.  I am going over some basic anatomy for drawing the figure and the figure ground relationship.  I am less nervous than last week so I think this class will be more fun and more educational for my students.  Ultimately, I just want the students to enjoy the class and to think that they got their moneys worth.  That would make me happy.

The Good, The bad and The Ugly is Someone Else.

Well I have done a lot of work today.  I have re-photographed some of my art work.  I have worked on my current piece (pic above).  And I have ran into problems with my website.  After trying new things all day I have determined that it is not my fault but someone else's.  having the problem be someone else's fault is a double edged sword.  It just means I cannot fix it myself and I now have to count on someone else to fix it.  I can only hope that someone else isn't going to piss me off.

My Website

One of my many works in progress is an attempt at a website.  I will someday be able to pay somebody to do this dirty work.  But for now I am learning how to make it for myself.

Getting Started

I have started teaching a figure drawing class at the Durham Arts Council.  It is the fist time I've taught a class.  I have eight students that I would like to bestow some of my knowledge upon.  I can only hope not to corrupt them too much.