Sunday, October 30, 2011

Sad Sculpture Safari


So in talking to an artist friend of mine I discovered that the clay people on the benches were done by her ceramics class who were given some old clay and told to do an installation somewhere.

Then another friend doing glass making at Alfred University found some one had lined up all these salt shakers on the wall, and there was some debate on Facebook to whether it was an art project or just a prank.

This got my artist friend and I thinking about how its the Year of the Arts at Buffalo State College, and how terrible our campus sculptures look.

 This sundial one between the library and Bacon Hall is getting streaks of rust and dirt down it

These by Rockwell appear to be surviving well...

This one in the same area is rusting away, and I have no idea if the artist intended it to do so. Besides, none of these are labeled at all and there isn't any info about them on the college website either.

Can you spot the marginalized sculpture hanging out next to a dorm for no reason?

Here it is! this one at least rusted appropriately but that doesn't excuse it being a smaller sculpture all out on its own in a quad.


Now this ice fountain sculpture doesn't exist anymore....
Neither does this one, the weather of course did a number on the wood...

The one on the left was switched out for the "torch" on the right.


Which means currently the giant yellow C in front of the arts building is currently the best looking sculpture on campus. Bonus fact it was made in 1981 and I know that only because it has that date inscribed in it.

So looking around at the campus sculpture a lot of it is outdated, installed in goofy spots, and on the verge of being ruined. Since its the Year of the Arts and all, why can't they spare some money for a new sculpture? It would add interest to the campus and there's plenty of room. If cost is that big an issue I'm sure there's plenty of students who'd love to make one and the college technically owns our work anyways. There also must be some successful design and fine arts alumni who'd love a commission. Plus we even do an iron pour each year, easy access to a durable medium!

Oh well nothing to do about beside use the college presidents email as a complaint box, or perhaps do some guerrilla installations?

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Motivation Again! Sort of...

Now that I've gotten pass the whole narrative problem with the first project I'm motivated to actually work again! This time the project is production, and I have many grand plans for that, probably too many to make before the student sale in December.

So here's how my jib is currently cut:

Thus far I have a headstart on making my Link a Dink triangle pins by cutting out forty textured triangles to make 20 pins. Now I have to file, solder, and clean them up. Provisionally they are going to be priced at $25, not sure if that will change. From the scraps I hope to make more "Melty" pins as well.

My third plan for production is to tap into the geek market a bit (I have no idea how far art nerds overlap with regular nerds) by making d-pad pins from this controller. I have yet to double check that the patents and copyrights to the NES design have expired but I'm mostly certain they have.

You may notice the lack of my theme in these projects, but don't fret! some flower and weed modeled hair pins are in the works!


I have thick copper wire to use for the pin part of the hair ornaments (graciously given to me by a plumber friend) and only one idea for what to stick on top: a clover. That will be done by layers of copper sheet cut into thin petals and bent upward. Though since hair pins are not popular at the moment, I may not put them into the student sale.


For fibers I have been making julienne fries out of a linoleum block carving a train wheel to use as a background for the unit on fabric printing. I went with a fun harmless theme of trains just to have a break from the serious development of a semester long one. So far I will use this block to have a random base pattern of yellow, orange, and red. I still don't know what to put over it, perhaps I will emulate a train poster form the 1930s.

For the record this is what the inside of an NES controller is like. It also works exactly like a Genesis controller does yet the Sega ones wear out faster. I also have another project brewing in 2D design and went to the opening night of the Art in Craft Media exhibit at the Burchfield-Penney Museum. If I ever get a chance to go back and take decent non-cell phone pictures I may write up a full review, but for now I leave you with this: The craft exhibit as a whole has some solidly designed pieces and good craftsmanship of course, but seems to lack some sort of wow factor or break out work.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Upton has been bugged!

Quite a beaut, isn't he? perhaps this means a production run of cricket earrings... still no ideas on that front but check back soon.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

A is for Rembrandt

Recently I've found myself chafing under the one fallacy many art professors are stricken with. It's the whole conception that an A is unattainable, the holy grail of grades, and more endangered than pandas. To use a quote heard through the grapevine, "I'll only give you an A if you paint a Rembrandt."

After encountering so many professors that hold to the unattainable A I have to wonder where did this idea come from? Is it extrapolated from the fact that A= 100%= perfect? Last I knew 90% to 99% was also an A and none of those numbers are perfection. Why even bother having an A at all if it represents such godlike presicion?

I can see being sparing with the As in junior level and higher studio classes, but it just becomes a crime in the intro level classes. How can an intro level student create a perfect project, or "go above and beyond" while learning the concepts and making mistakes at the same time? Why would I even need to go to school at all if I could create perfect art every time and never made errors to learn from?

It's rather a self defeating idea here and leads me to two possible conclusions:

1. I suck at art.
2. The department guidelines need another rewrite.

So the only solutions I have at the moment are to resign myself to my fate of the dreaded B or work myself into the ground and burnout trying to get an A. And we all now how successful quests for the holy grail are not.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Bada Bing Bada Boom.

The past week (or two?) in pictures, consisting of...

Burning pitch.

Happening late night studios.

Dyeing mishaps.

Chasing leaves.

More dyeing mishaps.

Craaazy soldering set ups.

A finished 2D project.

A finished jewelry piece.

Bored ceramics majors.

And a scenic view.