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.