Sticks, Stones, and Paper Stew Blog

A weekend in the hills

On Saturday and Sunday, I attended a workshop taught by artist Shannon Weber in the hills just south of Eugene. I met Shannon during a recent gallery opening and subsequent artist talk at The Arts Center in Corvallis. She happened to be teaching a workshop that peaked my interest so I signed up. Little did I know I would be the only student in the class! I didn’t take this class with specific needs or requests, I wanted to play and learn how her approach could influence my own work. So that’s what we did. She set up specific exercises to see where my “light bulb” turned on. We played with roots, stems, branches, leaves, string, cordage, bark, wax, and so much more. I came away with new ideas of how to approach lighted forms and possible wall assemblages. Loads of things to mentally digest, plus a few items I need to purchase. The above image is a close-up of a panel I worked on (equisetum, cord, sea grass, bark). Please click on Shannon’s name above to see her work. It’s well worth it!

There were 2 miniature donkeys on site. Such soft noses! I fell in love, but realize they are not a pet for me. I can bet my husband is thrilled to hear that!

🙂

Light Instructions

Today was just fun. I spent mid-day out with a very good friend in Philomath. We looked for turtles, checked out her sheep, watched the wild birds, and she even let me try out her new kayak on the pond. Wow! I’ve gotta get one of those!!! So much fun! After playing out at her place I managed to drag myself home to work on a short instruction sheet for the snap-in candelabra base socket. The above image is the compilation of four sketches trying to illustrate what to do with the lamp. I’m not into technical drawing but hopefully this gets the idea across in a crude style. The instruction sheet currently is about 7″ x 2″ (17.75 cm x 5 cm). Something easily popped into the package so people can figure things out. I thought about making a little booklet, but that seems like too much fuss for this project.

The lanterns/luminarias will go to the new shop Tuesday next week. I’m still working on getting one onto my etsy site. Product description is about the last part needed. Urgh! I dread this portion! I wish someone else would write all of it for me! Where is that darn writing fairy when you need them?

😀

Summer?

We are in a short stretch of hot weather. One source says it’s currently 90 F (32 C) at 5pm! Just shocking! Perfect weather for G & T’s and a little BBQ. What month are we in?? I thought it was still spring in Oregon, not Texas?!

After spending a few morning hours working outside in the heat, beating back the ever growing grass, the coolness of the studio called my name. Lamp bases are finished and more screens need to be created. Today, I started a working on a new motif incorporating Maple tree seeds. For many years I’ve been wanting to use them for something. Whole clusters have hung from my shelves until I recently tossed them out. Fortunately, there are always more in the neighborhood. I picked up several on a recent dog walk.

Right now, I’m just trying to figure out what works visually and if I’m pulled by the concept or not. There will be numerous seeds over a panel surface. More drawing and experimenting to come.

Monday Skeleton

Happy Monday! Look what I found today. Yes, it might be considered gruesome but I find it fascinating. The little creature died last fall and decomposed over the winter next to the house. This morning I happened to be attaching the garden hose and found it. Quite a nifty decomposition! One front leg is missing along with a few other bits but its almost a complete articulation. In it’s previous life it must have been either a mouse or shrew. Right now it’s bound for some quality freezer time to kill off any little unseen critters. I should probably place the bat I found last fall in there too. The bat was totally desiccated, having spent 8 months on a heat vent. Poor thing. One of my dear friends, Carol Chapel, creates amazing drawings using dead animals & birds. No, she doesn’t kill any of the critters herself! Currently there is a show featuring her work at the Arts Center or you can check her website for other images. I highly recommend catching the exhibit before it leaves. The Structure of Nature also features Leah Wilson. Go see it if you’re in the area!

Lamp update and more: The bases have been produced and almost completed. I’ve modified my design in a couple of ways to make it easier to clip the lamp part into place from below. Several new forstner bits were required (they give a flat bottom to the drill shaft). Black walnut stain, a couple of coats of polyurethane and sanding, and it’s about done. I’m ready to move on to something else. I wasn’t expecting to be dealing with house offers, but that seems to be on the plate for this week too. I’ll also be signing a contract for a new job. Not anything earth shattering, but a little extra income will be appreciated. I’ll be working for my favorite people at The Arts Center (from my home computer).

Wood

The last couple of days have been spent, in part, hanging out with the cats and woodworking tools in the garage. The lamp base numbers have dwindled to zero and that means someone (ME) has to get busy. I purchased a couple of 6ft hemlock boards to create bases. After the initial cuts, I had 18 bases! Yippee! Then came the table saw. The first cuts went fine but the next setting screwed up 3. This makes me realize I really need to get my band saw up and running. It would have eliminated the major mistakes from the saw blade. Now I’m into sanding, adding an additional block, drilling, more sanding and finally staining and varnishing. Eventually I’ll have a finished product. Hopefully before Wednesday of next week! Thursday work is due for the new shop.

Since this is a new endeavor, I feel terribly uncomfortable with the whole thing. It’s forcing me to move outside my comfort zone. I guess this is where personal growth occurs, but I keep dragging my feet. People might actually buy my creations! What a foreign concept! I might get over this hurdle once money starts coming back my direction. 🙂

Field Trip #2: Halsey

Tuesday was an enjoyable day. No specific appointments, just a simple drive to Eugene to pick up mail and visit my sister. However, I took extra time to explore Halsey and the building for the Art in Rural Storefronts project. Initially I stopped off at the recently remodeled train station that holds City Hall, a community meeting space, and the small city museum. I didn’t take the time to investigate things inside but had a nice time looking at their mural. Saving a little something special for another day. 🙂

I drove through the residential area then cut over to the industrial zone along the train tracks. Low and behold, I found the building.

In one of it’s former lives, it was the public library(1929). More recently it’s been home to their city hall. Did it have an even earlier life before 1929?

The building is not on the main traveled road and faces the blank wall of a warehouse. It seems like the only traffic would be for the DFL seed company one block south. There is a building in use north a bit, but really this street section feels pretty empty of life. This makes me a tad concerned. I’m also a bit concerned about the narrow divided windows. Where will the Arts Center place their information? Will there be any sort of signage off the main road? How will people even know about this project as they travel through town? This will be much more challenging than I originally envisioned. What was I envisioning? Big plate glass windows on a main road. Oh well. I’ll just have to work harder to make it a spectacular space to come visit.

Looking in through the front door at the windows. The interior is carpeted and the windows don’t extend down as far as I had originally thought (which is probably a good thing). Once the desk, chairs and boxes are moved to the other side of the room, there will be plenty of space to work in.

Looking north on 1st Street at the blue telecom building. There are a couple of kids at a home (lighter blue) just past that playing on the sidewalk. Ok, there is some street life! 🙂

The deconstructed building is right on the train track line. I suspect it was a granary. I’ve been watching the dismantling over the past many years. It’s east and north of the project building.

A view looking east but not from Halsey. This was a bit south off Peoria Rd. I took a side trip to see Irish Bend on the Willamette River.

More field trips to come. 😀

Field Trip

Friday afternoon, under beautiful sunny skies, I took a brief field trip to Finley Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is located south of Corvallis on 99W. My buddy Harry had told me about a road filled with blooming camas. Of course, that was last weekend and I wasn’t certain how much blooming continued due to the recent burst of high temps. I discovered many plants still blooming and beautiful. You’ll be seeing many renditions of this flower over the coming months. (Hint: it has something to do with my proposal for Art in Rural Storefronts) I was able to take photos of all stages: from tight buds emerging to spent flowers with seed heads forming. I really wanted to sit and sketch but had forgotten my paper and time was short due to an early dinner date. Photos will have to suffice for now.

🙂

Accepted!

On Thursday I received excellent news regarding the Art in Rural Storefronts project. The towns had made their final selection and I was among the chosen! Woo Hoo! Halsey, a small town I pass through regularly, will become home to my creation from Oct – Dec 2014. That means you, dear blog followers, will be subject to many posts on ideas and process for the installation. This time around I want to take over as much window space as possible (and there is plenty) and possibly play in both 2D & 3D work. No crazy hanging fish that takes a week to install. I’m hoping to set up everything in one day! Of course, it will all depend on my final design, building structure, rental truck and helpful friends! Yes, I will be looking for a body or two to help. 😉

For those of you feeling a tad lost, let me give you a bit of background on Art in Rural Storefronts. It is what the name implies, bringing installation art into rural communities and filling empty storefront windows. The program was initiated in 2012 by the Arts Center of Corvallis and supported by the Oregon Arts Commission. It covers both Benton and Linn county. During the first year, only two towns and 3 artists participated: 2 in Sweet home, 1 in Philomath. In 2014, 5 towns will be receiving artists! Interested artists had to submit a portfolio of relevant work and several pages of bio/resume & letter of intent, to be juried by 2 groups. The first jury scrutinized the art and background of the applicant. Jury 2, composed of town representative, chose who they were most interested in. Once selected, the artist has 1 month to determine their concept through drawings/models for the empty storefront windows. After that, the artist will have 3 months to finish the project then install the work onsite. The above photo was from my Unseen Natives project that hung in Sweet home winter 2012/13.

I feel so honored to be chosen again. Ideas are already solidifying. I think it’s meant to be. If I can see it in my brain, I can make it happen!

Ethical Photo Use?

Every once in a while I check Google for my name and see what come up. I browse through multiple pages and click links that I’ve not seen posted before. Friday, I ran across a class taught at the Virginia Arts of the Book Center using one of my images for advertising a class. Wow, I have to admit I was shocked to see use of my work in this manner. Ok, a little background: this image is being pinned all over Pinterest along with other book creations I’ve made. Bookmaking is not a full time job, but something I like to do every once in a while. I created a tutorial because I had received a nice request from someone in the UK. The end book was photographed in my studio but I FAILED to place a © on the image. My studio name is on the photo along with the year. The class listing did note my name under the photo, but failed to spell it correctly. They at least gave a nod of credit my direction yet I have absolutely no connection to this organization.

Here’s my question to you:

Do you think it’s ethical for an arts organization to use images pulled from the web without even attempting to contact the artist who created the work?

Why wouldn’t the artist teaching the class provide a good image of their work?

Looking into ideas

I grew up with parents who wanted to know about the surrounding history and geology of Oregon. When we traveled, which seemed often, we had numerous books stuffed under the front seat for easy access: roadside geology of Oregon, numerous plant & tree identification guides, bird identification guides (plus binoculars), and a state geographic names book. Don’t all families travel like this? Apparently not, according to my friends growing up. Ok, we also had huge stockpiles of kids books too and I benefited from older siblings who would actually read to me. During my time at university, I discovered a love of history classes but wasn’t about to tag on an additional degree at that point. An Art major and Anthropology minor was just fine. Yesterday I pulled out two books to initiate the thought process for the 5 communities offering windows for the Art in Rural Storefront project. Railroad, wool, dairy, agriculture, & timber are all components that crossed between most of the cities early history. I didn’t expect a story about Big Red the rooster in Scio or how Brownsville was the site of the second woolen mill in the valley. Halsey was named for William Halsey, a head-honcho in the Willamette Valley Railroad company. Most of these towns started out around 1840 (early settlements) and became official around 1870-90. Some of the town names changed over time too. There was the deeper occupation of the valley by the Kalapuyan tribes. Fur traders didn’t enter the area until about 1810 and the native people had been there for generations prior. The valley was very abundant in natural resources. The Kalapuyan tribes harvested wapato and camas plants/roots, ate deer, elk , birds & salmon from the forests and streams. They did an autumn burn of the valley to control the grasses. So much vibrant history involving humans and I’ve not even started looking into the geologic history (like the Missoula flood or volcanic activity). Enough to ponder on for today. What I really need is to visit the Benton County Historical Museum in Philomath to gather more ideas.

The fern panels have started and I’ve run out of spruce wood. I really need to figure out a good source and just order a bunch of sticks. Picking through my local hobby shop supply has been alright but not a good overall solution. At least I have enough for this particular lamp!