Like Frying Bacon

As you have probably noticed (all two of you who read this blog) I haven't posted anything for the past two weeks, but this time I have an awesome reason for not doing so and that reason is this:

Welding. Say it with me, welding. W-E-L-D-I-N-G, roll it around and contemplate it. More to the point my last two Saturdays have been spent at the Rochester Arc & Flame Center taking their two day eight hour sculpture class that uses the MIG welding process. The simple way of explaining it is that its a lot like using a glue gun. The longer way is that a consumable wire electrode is fed through a torch tip like gun with an inert gas to shield it. A circuit is made (with clamps and things) which make an electric arc that melts the metal together. You also have to hold the tip of the gun 1/4th to 3/8ths of an inch away from your welding. Too far away and it spatters and pops but when its the right distance away it sounds like frying bacon. 

After practicing laying down beads, it was time to have fun practicing with scrap! From left to right I have a lousy abstract sculpture, a cool  doorstop, a base for a bud vase, and a small wall hanging. Personally, I like the doorstop and wall hanging the most along with the final project for the first day of the class:

A Universal Positioning Device (To borrow the one of the instructors' jokes!) To us laymen it is a stool and a surprisingly handy one too. Bonus fact: I cut out those cross braces with a plasma cutter, which was lots of fun and easy to use, except it shows every stop, start, and jittery hand movement you made.

Day two was eight hours to work on a sculpture you designed. I decided to go all out since part of the reason I took a welding class was to work in a larger scale. It took me an extra hour and quite a bit of help, but I ended up with

THIS FREAKING AWESOME FIVE FOOT SEVEN INCH GIRAFFE!! There's nothing to say about this other than it's a big ol' animal sculpture and I made it. Other than being wildly happy about it I already have a million touch up plans to make it even better. Of course because of all this I've been eyeing MIG welders in catalogs and staring at a short TIG welding workshop also offered by Arc & Flame because apparently TIG welding, although difficult and finicky, can be used in jewelry.

Enjoy this giraffe head detail before we must return to college arts, which also has had a lot happening on that front, from Runway 5.0 to me finishing my super secret glasses project.

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?