Jen Torres Sculpture

Exhibition Up-Date

2012-01-05T15:29:00.001-06:00

It's been a busy few months! I can't believe I have not posted in so long but alas the life of a busy artist and teacher can get in the way!

Right now I am getting ready for an exhibition at the Prichard Gallery at the University of Idaho in Moscow, ID. Here is an early gallery announcement-

February 22 – April 7, 2012Reception: Wednesday February 22, 5-8pm
Uncommon Rivers
Gail Seigel Exhibit Curator
Gail Seigel is the Prichard’s immediate past director and curator of “Uncommon River.” Work by artists Christine Destrempes, Christo & Jeane-Claude, Raymond Ghirardo & Megan Roberts, Philip Govedare, and Jen Torres are included. They explore the concept of rivers from a variety of perspectives. Rivers touch all lives directly or indirectly, but particularly so in the Pacific Northwest and Idaho where agriculture, industry, commerce, energy, recreation, tourism, transportation and countless jobs depend on rivers and where rivers are central to public policy debates on water rights, endangered species and wilderness preservation.

Honestly I did not know I was in a show with Cristo and his late wife Jeane-Claude until I read the announcement, very exciting! We are still working out what sculptures will be in the show and the gallery will ship the works in February. I still don't know if I can make it for the opening, it would be nice but it is a very busy time of the year for me and funds are tight.

I'll keep you all up-dated on how things go with the show.

Grand Opening (X2)!

2011-10-07T20:24:00.000-05:00

First was the Grand Art Garden Gala and two days later the Town Creek Arts Festival, all to celebrate the Art garden and the artists whose work was installed. What an amazing couple of days!

Sculpture Installation

2011-09-10T08:03:00.000-05:00

On the Thursday, September 1st, just before tropical storm Lee hit my friend James and I installed the Garden Boats on site at the Art Garden at the Mississippi Museum of Art. It was sunny and probably 110F during most of the install. We got there at 10:00 AM and started working.

James and at the site. Photo: Julian Rankin

Photo: Julian Rankin

Of course I was worried that something would go wrong but everything went like clock work and by 2:00 PM we were done. Of course I spent the rest of the weekend stressing out that the tropical storm was going to wreck the Garden and my sculptures but everything made it through just fine.

I have gotten some amazing feedback and people are really responding positively to the works, and the Garden is not even officially open yet. Sherry Lucas from the Clarion Ledger came by and did a great article for the newspaper, the print version came out in Friday's paper, real nice. Here's a link to the on-line version of the story.

The grand opening celebration, Town Creek Arts Festival, will be from 10:00 to 10:00 on Saturday October 1. It promises to be a super fun filled day with music, arts and entertainment, and food and beer too! Admission is free, I plan being there for the whole day. I know lots of friends are making plans to drive up from Hattiesburg and join in the festivities as well. It promises to be a very fun event!

Done!

2011-08-19T07:14:00.000-05:00

Finally after nearly a year of planning, design, and fabrication the Garden Boats outdoor sculpture installation is complete. The only thing left to do is to install the works.

I have heard from the Museum that it could be any day now. How exciting that this could happen so soon!

Nine poles...

and nine "boats", ready for installation in the Art Garden.

Working, Working, Working...

2011-08-07T18:04:00.000-05:00

You get the idea. Welder issues taken care of I have been able to get some good work done. I now have a check list and yesterday got a lot of items accomplished. There is light at the end of the tunnel! All the parts are made for the bases and now it's just fabbing everything up. Tomorrow I will cut all the pipes to length, drill and insert the pins and then weld together and attach the internal sleeve bearings. I have a few of the internal sleeves made up and will do the last two tomorrow. After that I can start welding all the bottom supports together. By the end of the week all the fab work should be done and then I have a good chunk of time for clean up and sanding. I feel satisfied that all is going according to plan.

I may be making a few small adjustments to the height of some of the works. You can see in one image that I have my friend John Mark standing next to one of the 'shorter' pieces, he's 6'3". It looks pretty tall to me and I may make some adjustments to keep the works at better relative heights to each other. Also to eliminate the sense of back and front to the works I am installing the support bars randomly. Not that it matters since they all will turn in the wind anyway. More up-dates soon.

My "tall" friend John Mark The shop does not make a good backdrop! Although it might look heavy I can put this up and take it down by myself. However, I will have help when I do the final install at the Museum.

The three 2' pieces with support bars.

Bottom parts.

Top parts, bearing sleeves for the support bars.

The Welder from Hell

2011-07-31T12:00:00.000-05:00

Things progress well on the museum commission. Well, for the most part. I have been having considerable problems with the mig welder. It does not like stainless steel. Funny this should happen now after I have been using it for weeks without problems. I promise you there is nothing out there that I (and several other people) have not tried in attempts to fix it. Even the welding supervisor from Mississippi Tank came over and tried to help. Of course it worked for a few tacks and then it was all over with. Every one has been so kind in offering suggestions, but now it is time for a pro repairmen. My friends at Airgas will get thier chance on Monday.

The annoying part is that I really wanted to start integrating stainless techniques with my upper level sculpture students this fall and I am not sure we can do it with the problems I am having now. It looks like a new mig welder may be on the books, with this one relegated to carbon steel.

As far as the commission, I have the main sculptures made, all nine of them. I have moved them out of my field of vision into the "gallery". I need a rest from them. Later I will pull them back into the shop and work on them as a unit, adding or taking away elements, if needed, to make a more complete statement.

Right now I am working on the poles and attachment structures for the bases. I made a jig to keep the poles upright for welding and various templates for cutting the shapes. We do not have a CNC cutter so it is all being done by hand with the plasma torch.

Jig for holding pole upright for welding base plate and gussets.

Tacked together assembly it will later be secured to a pre-poured concrete base.

As of yesterday (Saturday) all the parts are cut out for the bases. I got one base tacked up (before the welder bird-nested again) and all looks good. Except of course I can't continue any welding! Argh! My next step, is to get all the parts cleaned up and do any grinding/sanding needed. That will take a good day for sure. Next, I should be receiving my seamless tubing and can get the sleeve bearings made up for the top part of the poles. After that I will have to have the welder problem solved or I will be seriously behind schedule and I can not afford that. Hopefully I can up-date you all soon with positive welder news.

A Night at the Musuem

2011-07-21T07:17:00.001-05:00

Yesterday evening I along with several of the other artists involved with the Mississippi Museum of Art's Art Garden got a chance to talk with the museum's New Collectors Club about the work we were doing for the garden project. It really was a fun evening and I got to meet a number of very interesting people who are really excited about this project and who have spent their lives supporting the arts in Mississippi and elsewhere.

I showed some slides of my work and brought along one of the pieces for folks to handle and inspect. Attendees had lots of great questions about my work and creative processes and this really reinforces my belief that Mississippi, spearheaded by Betsy Bradley, her staff, and the Museum supporters are poised to usher in a new rennaisiance of art in the state. As an up-and-coming artist in Mississippi this is very exciting to me and to be a part of anything that advances the fine arts is very profound. The Wall Street Journal just posted an interesting article that showed how investment in art objects is at its highest level in a long time and that it seems immune to a number issues related to the recession. This is good news. Of course they are talking about large purchases of well known works but still it is a good sign even for us little people.

On a side note I did get to finally see the poured foundations for my sculptures. I love the site and the foundations look great. It will not be until September before my work can go up but I look forward to the day!

Betsy Bradley gives a talk on the Garden.

Jen Torres and Martha Ferris

My foundations at the site.

Some visitors from New York City enjoying the lovely evening

The piece I brought up to show. Folks really enjoyed being able to handle the actual art work, I got very positive comments!

Back to the Alligator Bench

2011-07-01T14:37:00.000-05:00

I'm taking a few days off from my own work to finish up a commission that I am fabricating for Martha Ferris. This is going into the same art garden as my Garden Boats up in Jackson at the Mississippi Museum of Art. The mosaic finally got the museum from New Hampshire and this past Monday I went to Jackson with James to retrieve it. It came in three pieces on a stiff aluminum honeycomb board.

No matter how experienced you are there is always a bit of trepidation when you put together parts of a work that have been manufactured in different places. Of course after holding my breath and slipping the mosaic onto the bench it all fit fine. There are some shims to be placed to get everything perfectly level and then it will glued into place this weekend. After that I will mask off the top to protect it and sand down the sheet metal edge to make everything perfect. I should be done my mid-week next week, with time given to the silicone adhesive to set.

Here is a picture of the bench, with the mosaic placed in, no glue or shims yet. Soon I'll have some finished images to show you! I think it's a very cool design!

Work Continues

2011-06-17T07:57:00.000-05:00

Work on the Garden Boat commission continues. Things ebb and flow, some days I get a lot done others not so much. It's hot in the shop and I need to take frequent breaks to keep my self going. Right now things are beginning to get really exciting. After completing much of the frames for the boats I am in the creative mode of building. It's free-er and less restrictive as I add on fins and ribs and other elements. I am almost finished with one of the six footers and well into one of the four footers. By early next week I will have one each of the 2, 4 and 6 footers and they will be good (role) models for the rest of the family of boats.

A four footer in progress.

Fin detail

Cutting into that lovely fresh piece of 11 gauge stainless sheet was nerve wracking and exciting at the same time. My wood fin templates are working well. Since stainless is so hard and bitch to grind I want the plasma cuts to be as perfect as possible. I have found that I actually like the added hardness as it hold edges much better and it less likely to over-grinding.

A six footer, in progress, next to a completed 2+ footer.

Last weekend was spent on the road doing the 10 hour (each way) drive back and forth from Ormond Beach to pick up my latest show. It was a very nice show and very nice people who ran it. However, in the future I know that unless I can get covered for my travel I will not be doing an exhibition. Too expensive. I will be asking a lot more pointed questions in the future about sales as well. Just because a curator says that there is a "major possibility of sales" doesn't mean a hoot as I am finding out.

This weekend I am happy to be home all weekend! I will be in the shops all weekend long and will get a lot of work accomplished!

And the Work Continues...

2011-06-08T13:09:00.000-05:00

Here are some more pictures of the Garden Boat sculptures in progress in the shop. Work goes well. I am still working on some engineering with the bearings but have finally figured out a system and did some weight testing yesterday. So far it is all working perfect! It has been depressingly hot in the shop, right up at 100F so I am working slow and taking breaks. This weekend I will spend my time on the road as I do the long drive to pick up my last show in Florida, spend the night at the first cheap motel I can find and the head home Sunday. Blah!

Beautiful (and expensive) 11 gauge sheet of stainless steel

One of the smaller Garden Boats, still needs some finishing

Larger in progress boat and smaller boat piled on bearing assembly mock-up for weight testing

Mock-up of bearing assembly

Commission Work and More Shows

2011-05-27T06:50:00.002-05:00

Schools out for the summer finally! Although I still do teach ceramic sculpture starting next week, that studio class will not affect the metal studio where I am working right now. I have tons of undisturbed space to use and don't have to clean everything up every night.

James relaxing on the just-sanded Alligator Bench for Martha Ferris.

First, I needed to get the Alligator Bench sanded with it's final finish for Martha. It's still not ready for installation as we are waiting for the mosaic to arrive in mid- June. Once that is here I can put it in place and then finish off the top edge. It will probably go to Jackson before it is completely installed with the mosaic glued in place. Doing the final sanding of the bench was fun. James and I worked together on this and it took us a few days to sand it and also do a few spot welds in some places that needed it. I also installed the bottom cross pieces, requested by Madge later on to help with installation. Now it is set off to the side awaiting the mosaic piece and now I can begin work on the Garden Boats.

The Garden Boats are going well. Being back in the studio is very exciting and energizing. I am just at the beginning and working out my techniques for bending, welding and finishing the joints. Stainless is such a different material, so ridged and much stronger than mild steel. When you grind or sand on it with a flap disc it comes off in tiny slivers. Not nice on the skin and very itchy if you are not wearing sleeves. Being so hot in the shop (it's been up over 92F a few times) it's hard to put on sleeves but it's totally worth it. Another thing about stainless is that since it will get no finish later I need to sand every piece now before I weld it into place. Because I have some small parts and some complicated curves I have places that I can not get into with a grinder or sander later, so it all has to get sanded prior to welding. I also have to finish each joint as I go along. It's not something I am used to doing and initially it got in the way of my flow when working but I am adjusting well to the new material and even find I like stainless as I appreciate the hardness. There is more resistance when grinding and sanding and that makes gouging the metal accidentally less of an issue. I can sometimes have a heavy hand when grinding.

The hot shop and modeling my new welding sleeves

I am working on the bearing issues as well. Have a few samples coming and have a good design for how they integrate in the piece. Some bearings can be wildly expensive and others relatively cheap. I have been doing research on this and making some models with parts from the farm store for weeks now but I want to get this part figured out. There are many different bearings that will work for the project but none so far that satisfy my aesthetic for the piece. There are literally thousands of types of bearings and I have been consulting with the tech people at a few of the suppliers and I must say they have been very informative and helpful. One place I must mention is Impact Bearing, their sales manager Scott Barton was extremely helpful. They have so may kinds of bearings it's almost mind numbing, it was great to be able to get someone on the phone who was knowledgeable and easy to talk to. I await a sample piece from them and we'll see if it works.

A Garden Boat, basic structure going well

Templates for the fins to be cut out of 11ga SS sheet

Stainless ready to be made into Garden Boat sculptues

On a side note, The show in Florida at the Ormond Memorial Art Museum is going well and in a few weeks I make the long trek back to collect the work. The Maine show, The Art of the Boat at the Penobscot Maine Museum is up and my heavy ceramic vessel made it fine with out any breakage! Phew! Also, I just received a wonderful letter with an invitation for a show in Idaho in early 2012, of course I accepted and will post more information about that later. Soon I will also begin work on another Train Depo show here in Hattiesburg. The first exhibition, shown last year, was hugely successful and the curators decided to do it again and I am invited to make another work. In addition, I also am working on a top-secret project. We'll see if it materializes or not, if it does you'll get more information later!

Ormond Memorial Art Musuem

2011-04-29T21:04:00.001-05:00

Here are some images from the show I am in at the Ormond Memorial Museum of Art. Located in Ormond Beach Florida (about 1 1/2 hours south of Jacksonville) on the Atlantic coast this lovely museum is a real gem in a lush coastal garden. Susan Richmond and the staff are amazing and I think did a great job in installing the work. You see this is the first time that I have had anyone else install one of my exhibitions. I feel every satisfied that it looks fabulous and represents my work well. Below of some images of the install. Enjoy!

All photos by Virginia Rivera

Documenting Work

2011-04-25T09:58:00.003-05:00

It's been more than a few weeks! I have been busy and the blog just got tossed for a bit. I am just back from Ormond Beach Florida where I dropped off my work for an exhibition. It was an epic trip. Broke down on the interstate and had to get a wrecker and lots of work done at a Jacksonville Ford dealership. Thank God for a few angels that came my way and helped to get me back on the road. A six hour delay was bad but at least I did not have to stay overnight in Jacksonville and was able to get to the musuem and unload my work.

I wanted to discuss the importance of documentation. Photographs of a work serve as the final documentation of a lot of hard work and in some cases, if you are lucky enough to sell a piece, that image may be the only one you get of a new artwork. For this most recent show I had several works that were brand new and two that have been reconfigured or upgraded, so to speak. Getting images was extra important since this show will be up until early June and I didn't want to wait that long to post new images on my website. Also to enter new shows I would need good images now.

Taking good images is key for a showing artist. I have been on the receiving end of calls-for-entry and there is nothing worse than viewing a portfolio or stand alone images of poorly photographed work. For one you don't know the real quality of the work and second, it shows that the artist is not really taking the professional side of art making/showing very seriously. If you have spent lots of time and funds making something, please, take some good images of it!

For this report I will focus on indoor studio setups. To start you need a few important elements. It is true some of these things can be an expenditure that artists may have to save up for, but in the end you will get the returns in increased shows and maybe even sales, commissions or grants. I get much of my gear from B&H Photo in NYC. I do all the ordering online. They are fast with shipping, competitive with their pricing, have super great customer service and stand behind their products. Other items I have gotten off of EBay. You have to be cautious when ordering off of Ebay but when you know what you are looking for you can get great deals.

What you need-

A Camera. A digital SLR is best, but any camera that can work in manual mode will work. Point and shoot and cell phone cameras are not an option for final portfolio images. You have to be able to manipulate the aperture and ISO yourself. Get a good book on basic photography, they are worth their weight in gold. Like this...
Light stands, 2-3 are good. I got mine on Ebay for a buck each, I paid for shipping. Like this...
Umbrellas. Important for diffusing lights. Again these are cheap off Ebay, mine are 36", bigger umbrellas allow for for than one fixture per umbrella. Like this...
A universal head attachment for the light stands, these will hold the umbrellas up and in a variety of positions. Like this...
Cheapo clamp-on light fixtures from Home Depot or such, extension cords, etc... I use five fixtures at a time for each photograph, to get a good flood of light.
The proper light bulbs- I got mine from B&H. These were more expensive than much of the other stuff, but will save you a ton of photo editing later. I use Lonestar or General Brand Compact Fluorescent lamps at 5000K - 5500K, 30 - 40W. They are standard spiral bulbs but it is the 5000K that makes all the difference in the color that comes out. Like this...
Background paper. A must! I have three different types, black at 53" (rarely used), grey at 53" and white at 107". I have it hanging from the ceiling and just pull down whichever I need for the particular sized work I am photographing. Like this...
A tripod. Since you will probably be using slower settings than outside light having a tripod is so very important for getting clear and focused images. Not many folks can hold a camera that still! You can really see the difference when you blow images up to large sizes as well. Like this...

Instant computer access. Get a card reader for your camera's data card. You will want to take a few images, pop the card into the reader, then log your manual settings, check exposure and clarity BEFORE spending hours photographing your work. My space is small so I must rearrange furniture and stuff to set up my studio equipment, I wold hate to do all this only to find all of my images out of focus or overexposed!

Make sure you experiment and write down information. Once you have the proper settings most of all the images you take will be within a narrow range of settings. I typically take three settings of each photo, then later delete anything too bright or too dark. I also take up to four different views of the work, one of these being a detail image. These is always some photo editing to be done later, changing the dpi, editing, image size etc... The better the photo editing software you have the easier it will be, but that is a whole different story... Always, always have a stash of unedited photos on a back-up drive, so you can always go back to your library of original images if you need to set up some special images for a show or something.

Below are some images for example, one of the studio set up, taken with my iPhone and the other of the completed photographs ready for my portfolio.

Tall House (Out of Reach), 2011, cast iron, steel, 42" tall, copywrite, Jennifer Torres 2011

Engineers and Such

2011-03-25T09:03:00.000-05:00

Work progresses slow right now. Had a few hiccups to deal with in the process for the commission for the Mississippi Museum of Art. The most notable one had to with a requirement by the Museum for me to have an engineer OK the installation details of the commission piece. I will admit this was unexpected and after I got over my initial unease with the matter I went ahead and contacted the suggested engineering firm to hire them to do the drawings for the pole attachments and the slabs bases for the sculptures.

This is a first for me and it indeed was an unexpected expense. I was however pleasantly surprised with the outcome. I had design in mind for the flange system that would bolt down to the concrete slabs for installation and after furnishing the firm, or specifically Tom Schaefer, with a pdf file of my drawing along with specific information about height, material weights, etc, he came back with virtually the same design as I. The only changes were some minor additions in the width of the flange and specific information on the steel thickness and anchor depth and size. In the end I found it was nice to have a real drawing of the items and now know that my idea has been run through the figure mill and will work just fine.

My dealing with Tom and and the Structural Design Group have been easy and fast. He replied to emails right away and was clear with me on costs and any structural issues. If I needed something explained I could call and talk to him personally. I highly recommend this firm and Tom for any structural work any artist might have. I feel very confident knowing than my piece has the firms mark on it. I know I will use him again in the future and now know to make sure these kinds of issues are brought up at the onset of any consultation for future installations and/or commission works.

More New Work

2011-03-02T10:36:00.000-06:00

Been busy. Great weather and ample sunshine has made working in the indoor/outdoor studio a pleasure. Lots of ideas flowing. That's all. Trying to get all the ideas out of my head in some form or even in a maquette.

New Work

2011-02-21T08:55:00.000-06:00

I have been busy buying supplies, opening my business bank accounts and getting stuff set up to work on my commission. Although the commission piece is not due until August I went ahead and purchased a few of the bigger pieces of stainless steel as the prices are going up fast. One 4 x 8 x 11guage (1/8") piece of stainless was $620.00. Phew. That was a hard purchase to make. But soon it will be $700 so now was as good a time as any.

Now that I have that out of the way I can concentrate on my Museum show in Florida. For this show I am going with more delicate and smaller works. I am using a number of iron castings and fabricated mild steel to make this smaller series. Right now thay are just rough with only minimal sanding and grinding but here are two that I have mostly completed. I am off to the studio right now so we'll what happens today.

Update

2011-02-17T07:00:00.000-06:00

Sorry for not having any exciting pictures to show. Right now work has been busy. I have a whole crew of exciting students this semester and they have been keeping me on my toes.

I finally got word from the Ormond Museum that they want 20 pieces for the show. At first they just said send a list of works and values, I was a bit confused. Those of you who have seen my shows know that my pieces in an exhibition can end up close to a hundred. The clarification was welcome. Now I know what I want to concentrate on finishing. In addition to new work some already made work will be going to and some clean up and/or updating will be necessary. As much as I want to start on the commission pieces, right now the Ormond Museum show is what I need to focus on as I deliver this show in the end of April and with the SLOSS conference coming up April will be very busy.

I got my check from the MS Museum for 1/2 of the commission payment. The rest I will get on delivery in August. I have some stainless steel on order and will order the rest once I get a feel for what sizes I want. Stainless is not so easy to get in the all the small sizes I like to use for boat sculptures. The cost of all steel and especially stainless had gone up dramatically in the last few months, one 4 x 8 sheet of 11 gauge stainless is $620. Phew, but it's worth it.

I went to the bank yesterday and officially opened my very first business checking account. I had gotten my EIN number late last year but really hadn't had any money to open an account. As soon as things quite down some from all these shows, I have some work to do getting all my business stuff set up and planned out. I am excited about all of this and it really feels like a step in the right direction.

That's it for right now. Hopefully I will have a few studio pictures soon to show you of the new pieces I have been working on.

Cheers!

What's Next...

2011-02-04T16:50:00.005-06:00

The contract came in the mail the other day, it is signed and I should be receiving my first check soon. Good thing as I have an order of stainless steel on the way. I was a bit concerned about the short turn around time, May 25th and then I received news today that construction delays will cause the date to be moved back to August some time. Phew, that extra time will be nice but of course it means I will not get my final payment until installation, which could throw off some carefully planned summer events. Annoying but there really is nothing to do about it.

Since I have a show opening at the end of April I will now have more time to concentrate on that which really is a good thing as I want to make a lot of new pieces. Some of the parts were cast back in November in iron and I have a bunch of cleaning to do, other pieces are just at the drawing stage and I need to get them started and finished, I want to do them out of stainless. Some of the work will be stuff that I already have but it will be the newer versions of some of the boats and houses. It would be really nice if I could sell a piece or two at that show and make up for late income from the commission. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

In the mean time our college at the University has some research money available. These are competitive grants, so we'll see if my proposal even makes it through the first cut. If it does it will give me some much needed funds to make some larger work for outdoor installations. Again, keeping my fingers crossed.

Commission Awarded

2011-01-31T08:45:00.003-06:00

Yay! I was officially awarded the commission at the new Mississippi Museum of Art, Art Garden. I love the idea of being one of the inaugural works in the space.

My nine Garden Boats will be dispersed throughout the water garden part of the park and will be from 2' to 6' long and from 8 feet to 12 feet high on poles. They will have bearings so they can turn in the wind. They will be made from stainless steal with a bright finish.

All nine will remain for a year or two temporary exhibition and then three will remain for the permanent collection. I am very excited but also know I have a ton of work to do in order to get them done for the beginning of June.

Below is a computer rendering of the works, not they will look exactly like this, this was done mainly for understanding scale within the sight. Right now I am learning some real 3D rendering programs in order to be able to fully render the works in a 3D environment for future jobs and competitions.

Grinding, Grinding, Grinding...

2011-01-13T11:52:00.002-06:00

Grinding and sanding. That's pretty much all we did yesterday. A few re-welds and more grinding. Will take a break for a few days while some finishing supplies are ordered. Then some sample finishes will go up to the artist. Once that is settled we will have a bunch more to do with finishing. But for now a break and shop cleanup to get ready for the semester.

Another Day

2011-01-12T06:37:00.006-06:00

Today we worked mostly on getting the ribbon of skin on the outside of the bench. This was tough work and required a lot of tedious welding and cutting of shapes out of the stainless (Got to love the cut-off wheel!). With the skin on we now have a ton of grinding and finishing work to do. I called the artist, Martha Ferris, to see if we could find out if we could get an ETA on when the mosaic will be delivered as we really can't finish the job until we have that in hand. The tile manufacturer sent drawings that specified a 1/8" lip over the top of the tile (the tile and backing board already take up over an inch of space its self), to me that is a pretty sharp edge of metal that would be sticking up into the back of your leg, so we want to get the edge right to the perfect height but need the actual mosaic to do it. In the mean time we can get lots of finishing done and surface treatment started.Right now we are putting in some long hours and working on weekends as we want to get the bulk of this done before the students get back into the studio next week, that's when life gets really crazy! (But in a good way.)

For more of the process go to my Home Page or click the "Home" button below.

Monday's Progress

2011-01-11T10:59:00.007-06:00

Today we did some additional welding on the structure for support and added a side 'ribbon'. I was relieved that the 'bench' felt strong and knew that this would help us in attaching the 15" of 16 gauge stainless that acted like a ribbon encircling the entire 29 feet of the alligator. But first we had to weld together two of the 10' long sections for the long, nearly 13' outside curve on one side. Stainless is a bitch (yes, I said it again) and warps like crazy when you weld, cut or even grind on it. So, you have to work slow and give it lots of time, never over-working any one area at a time. James did the painstaking tack welding along the 15" seam, until the whole thing was welded and then of course it needed to be ground out so we could put it through the roller to give the steal a bit of a curve to it. After all of that we then started to weld the side to the bench frame. This was hard and two of us had to work in unison to get it done. Part of the curve has a pretty tight radius and it was work to force the steel to go where it did not want to in order for us to weld it. James is a great welder (I am notorious for putting holes in sheet metal) and he is patient and easy to work with. Together we got it done and done well. It went together fairly easy and all our planning worked to our advantage. Now even with just one side attached to it the bench feels strong and stable. After a bit of extra tack welding we called it a day.

For more of the process go to my home page, or click on the "home" button below.

More Progress...

2011-01-09T20:10:00.005-06:00

James and I continued work on the "alligator bench" on Saturday. Grinding and preparing top and bottom panels, building the jig for welding, building another jig for cutting uprights,and welding top and bottom together. Next week we do cross bracing and more supports and then start to weld on the side panels. I am pretty sure we have done the easy stuff. Stainless steel is a bitch. I'll be happy when we are finished.

UPdate, 2011

2011-01-08T07:44:00.010-06:00

So it's been a busy year so far. Holiday madness is finally over. I was up in DE, NJ and NYC visiting friends and family for nearly two weeks, I do this every year. I love to travel, but sometimes feel as if I am away from home and studio for too long and then have to work hard to recapture my creative mojo, so-to-speak. This year not so much. I ordered stainless a few days before Christmas and when I got back it was waiting for me. Right now I am working on a fabrication project for artist Martha Ferris who is also doing a project for the Mississippi Museum of Art garden project. She designed a bench with a mosaic on it. I am building the bench in the rough outline of an alligator (though without legs) out of stainless steel. Someone else is doing the mosaic and I will install that later.

I am a great planner and can get just about anything organized, but I knew I would need help with building so I hired my good friend James Davis to work on the project with me. I also want to get the job done fast as I have a couple of other projects waiting in the wings that I need to start. So far things are going well and I am learning a ton of stuff from James. We have two full days of work in and now have a good plan for the final construction. It's hard for me some times when building new things, you can make a lot of plans for how you think you are going to build something but eventually that changes as you work out problems. I like to have everything figured out beforehand, and that just doesn't work in art making.

James working on cutting some stainless steel for the aligator bench.

As far as my own commission for the Museum goes right now I am working on the new location in the garden. I did a bunch of drawing and plans that were sent out just before the holidays and will soon probably have to do a model of something similar to what I presented earlier for the original location. Right now I want to get the alligator bench done and then my mind can be free to work on the Garden Boats.

Update

2010-12-15T07:38:00.005-06:00

The meeting went very well with the Museum. Yay! They really do love my work and in the end I will make 9 pieces for the garden for a two year loan and then they will keep three for their permanent collection. So far that is what we have worked out and I am pretty happy with outcome. In addition they were very happy with my model and graphics and in the end the model stayed with them. Drawing of water garden area of sight. Image copyright by Madge Bemmis Architect.

I did get an email yesterday about possibly changing locations. The landscape architect is worried about the young trees blocking views of my work in the original location and wondered if a spot right in the water garden beds might be more appropriate and visible. I kind of like the idea. I love gardening and to see them with in that context would be super. In the end they are leaving the decision to me, so that I, "...feel that the setting honors the concept of your art". Pretty cool I think. I am waiting for some images to be emailed so that I can look at the whole picture and make an informed decision.

In the mean time I an working on layouts for the bench that I am fabricating for artist Martha Ferris for the same art garden. Soon I should have funds in hand to order the stainless for that project and get it going.

Today and over the next few days I will be practicing my tig welding on some other projects as I work out some possible designs for my the pieces in my commission.

Still Working

2010-12-10T08:29:00.005-06:00

The museum project is moving along, at least I am pretty sure... I have received digital renderings from the architect, Madge Bemiss, and have a spot designated for my work. I was asked to take my preliminary drawings and merge them into the renderings so we all could begin to get a sense of the scale and space and what the sculpture will look like installed. I am not savvy on the fancy 3D computer programs (yet another skill to learn...) so I did some drawings in Corel and imported the renderings as a background. A little tough to do much manipulation but I was still pretty happy with them. After looking at them for a while I decided the drawings were not giving me enough information so I made a real 3D model and after placing a standard 6' (actually 6") figure next to the works I decided the sculptures in the model were too tall. So I did a few additional quick sketches, scanned them and sent them off to Madge and the museum this morning.

The model is proving to be challenging and fun. The scale images of the sculptures were done out of steel, very small pieces, and tig welded together, not so fun when the studio is only 34F. I then made the background/landscape out of MDF. I only made three steel maquettes and then a handful of simple shapes out of rods and wood that are to be used for placement and height arrangement. The base of the model has a number of holes so the pieces can be moved around and the rods and top pieces can be interchanged so that I can look at every conceivable possibility for arrangements. It has come out pretty well and after taking another look at it Sunday evening I cut down the pieces some so they are a bit lower.

I have another meeting at the museum today and I guess I'll find out more about it then. Maybe I am jumping the gun with making the model so early, but then again it is a working model and I have learned a ton from making it.

Been a While

2010-11-30T07:38:00.006-06:00

But, I have not been idle. This time of year is always busy at the university studios, with our major annual iron pour and travel back to NC to pick up my show and participate in the ECU iron pour and before that a trip to Tally to help out with their iron pour at FSU, students joining me both times. At school there has been no lack of drama with my students, in fact this year was a stellar year in the annals of "As the Studio Turns" we could win an Emmy for this past semester.

Phew, I'll be happy when this is over. But all in all I am looking forward to next semester, there have been some strong lessons learned this fall and I am hoping that they will work themselves out into some excellent pieces for the spring.

As for myself, not much rest, yet. I had a visit with the Mississippi Museum of Art to talk about a commission for a piece for the Art Garden. One of the first for the new space that will be built, with ground breaking happening in December. I still have some fabrication work I am doing for another part of the park and will soon learn about the specifics of the commission. They have my proposal and budget and they love my work (they called me!) and liked all three of my drawings. This is very exciting for me and I can't wait to get on with it. But as all of you who deal with public money know, you can't count your pennies until you have the check in hand.

This sketch shows a meager image of the piece I proposed, this is the one (of three) they most liked as it can move and will cover the most ground. I really want to build this.

In the mean time I will be working on the pieces for my new show in Florida in late April. I have much work to do as I plan on a new body of work. Of course it's all related to my ships and villages but these will be new, well most of then anyway. I am very excited but will need to kick my ass into gear to make sure I am making good use of my time. Easier said then done.

Installation Complete

2010-10-11T15:47:00.003-05:00

Here are a few images of my work installed at the gallery at the student center at East Carolina in Greenville, NC. It's an awkward space in that it is a three-sided "U" shaped space, but it gets lots of people coming through it, which is what I liked the best. A few last minute adjustments to my plans and the show went up very well. My friend Ed, who came down from NJ to be my art slave for the day, and Andy, the grad student gallery director, were a huge help in getting everything done in a timely manner.

These are a few cell phone shots taken after the installation but prior to lighting. Sorry for the crappy images. There are a number of pieces not represented here but you get the feel for it. I'll take my pro shots when I visit for my lecture and closing reception on November 5th. The show is called, "Ghost Ships and Villages".

New Work

2010-09-28T17:48:00.001-05:00

Check out new work on my web site, http://www.jentorres.com/

More Work

2010-09-17T10:33:00.005-05:00

Getting closer to installation day. Some new works finished and painted, rust on the new swamp shacks, and some new paint on one of the large boat frames. A few things are in the kiln now for a cone 10 reduction firing and that is it for new stuff. Now comes the work of cleaning, oiling and taking inventory and then packing all the works for the installation. Phew.

Repairs, Re-fits, and Some Remodeling

2010-09-05T14:52:00.000-05:00

Working with epoxy resin to do some repairs and alterations of older boat, light areas will be dyed darker when complete. Also wire added in for support and for emphasis on different areas. Also re-figuring some components on smaller new boat, it will be painted red when done. Lots of small things like that to be completed in the next few weeks.

More New Stuff

2010-08-11T18:36:00.000-05:00

New Swamp Shacks, had to get in pre-dawn in order to beat the heat. Still have lots more work to do and need to consider what kind of finish I want to use.

More Stuff In-Progress

2010-08-09T13:01:00.000-05:00

Parts of new Ghost Ship sculpture pieces as I am working on them in the shop.

Updates

2010-08-05T05:20:00.000-05:00

Ahhh, classes are finally over. With summer classes being every day of the week the work load is pretty amazing with little or no time to do my own work. I now get a two week break to do as much relaxing as I can and try and get some sculpture made. I have two ghost ships in the works in the school shop right now (it has AC!) but my work has been punctuated by many other little tasks that have come up and need to be taken care off. So I get a few hours and then I have to run off, come back for an hour and then I am off again. Oh well at least I am getting something done. I would really like to get some metal work done , but with the 100+ heat indexes we have been having I am simply not going out to work in the shop.

I finally got my contract for the North Carolina show and after studying the images and layout of the space I think I have come up with a good idea for the installation. I am excited! Physical help will be minimal so I am thinking about something that does not have a lot of hanging from the ceiling involved. I will probably do a wave effect; boats coming off the floor, in a tightly knit grouping that waves up onto the wall and back down again and so on and so forth. Of course their will be houses in their as well, of course.

In the fall my teaching schedule goes back to two killer studio days a week, Tuesday and Thursday all day with Wednesday being my office day. Friday many times ends up as a meeting day. I have a lot of work to do this fall, the early part devoted to this big installation in North Carolina and the later part of the winter and early spring devoted to the show in Florida. And somewhere in there will be the museum commission for up in Jackson. Whew! I am tired just thinking about it. It was interesting when I was talking to my students about my job and was explaining to them about how making work and having exhibitions was actually part of my job and that if I did not keep up with it I could lose my position. Most people don't understand that. They think that us faculty members have some cush life, teaching a few classes, making some "fun" art. Most people have no idea of the pressure we are under to perform, so to speak. Luckily I love what I do, even if the pressure is substantial, my love of my work and making that work outweighs all the negatives.

Here is a PR image from the Majestic National exhibition, you can see my work on the bases in the background.

New Show

2010-07-26T15:24:00.001-05:00

I just found I got into another show in California (yay!), this one at the Haggin Museum in Stockton. It's the Stockton Art League 56th National Juried Exhibition. It's just one sculpture, Kickstand, but that's OK, that's probably all I can afford to ship right now anyway.

Been pushing myself to get into the studio as much as possible. Class will be over at the end of this week (July 30th) and that will help. Right now the heat is a killer and that makes it hard to want to put on jeans and work boots. I was actually welding in long shorts the other day! In addition right now I am having a squirrel infestation. Although I don't mind the critters they have just trashed the insulation, which is now hanging down all tattered and such. I have to do something soon before the cold weather gets here in a few months.

The commission at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson, that I am working on with Martha Ferris had been rescheduled for later in the fall, of course that's exactly when I will be the busiest. But no matter, I am sure it will all work out in the end. My students and friends ask how do I make plans for using funds when projects get delayed or temporarily tabled all the time, I tell them, I don't make plans until I have an actual check deposited in my back account; until then it's all just neat ideas on paper!

Been Busy

2010-07-16T05:33:00.001-05:00

Oops, it's been a while since I had a chance to post. Been busy with summer teaching duties and trying to get some studio time in. Since I work in steel and wood and my studios have no AC it's been difficult to convince myself to put on jeans and work boots to go out side in 100F temps to weld. I digress! I have been working on some ceramics projects, as that is inside and it's what has my interest right now. I do need to force my self back into the wood shop for a bit as I do have that big show coming in October in NC and want to have new work for it. I guess I will use the shop at school, it's cool there!

I have a few ceramic sculptures about to get high fired and glazed this weekend so I'll post pictures of those when they come out. I am experimenting with some new glaze colors so they might be just disasters but hey, that's they way it works.

Since I last posted I was excited to find out I got into a very sweet national juried show in Berkeley CA at the ACCI Gallery. It was a fast turn around; they contacted me one day then I built my crate and shipped off the work, Swamp Shack I, a day later. I like to have a little more turn around time but when dealing with commercial galleries you sometimes have to jump through a few hoops. I have been trying to get some work onto the west coast and with this show I can tag that one. I am now hoping I can do more in that area.

Well that's all for now, hopefully I'll have some pictures soon of those new ceramics works. Cheers!

What Have I Been Up to?

2010-06-15T07:17:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I posted. As usual the job gets in the way in the late spring as we get busy with end of the semester activities. I am also teaching classes this summer and due to the compressed nature of the summer schedule it is a crazy time that keeps me in the studio with my students for long hours. But that is actually OK as I love the summer semester exactly because it gives the students a real view of what an artists life is like, especially the 4-5 hour studio session, every single day! It's hard to keep your mind on the same thing day after day, so I encourage my students to work on multiple projects to keep their minds fresh and open. Something I always have to keep reminding myself of as well.

As far as my work is concerned, I haven't been making much right now. Mostly I am doing the office stuff; entering shows, taking images, doing some website updating, etc. I am starting to get some materials and sketches done for new work, as soon I will get back into the 'making' mode again.

Good news has been coming way however-

As mentioned before I am doing a solo exhibition at East Carolina University in October and will give a lecture as well.
I was also formally awarded a fabrication and design job by artist Martha Ferris to work with her on a major commission at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson MS. We are hoping that will take place starting right in July when I will have additional studio space and free time for nearly two months to work on it. Right now we are waiting to hear back about exactly when the money that has been awarded will become available.
I have a signed contract with The Ormond Memorial Art Museum in Ormond Beach, FL, for a three person show in April of 2011. It's a beautiful location with a very active arts community; I am very excited about this one.
Right now I have work in a national juried show at the Majestic Galleries in Ohio. This show is from June 35 to July 18. Unfortunately I don't think I will get up there to see the exhibition. I got two works accepted into the show, Ghost Shop 0903 and another vessel, Kickstand.
And the best news is that I have been contacted by a museum of art that interested in putting up an outdoor work of mine in their gardens. I will not mention any names at this time until all the details are worked out. I am very excited about this as I received a really nice email from them and they seem to really like my work. As soon as I have details I will be sure to share them!

More New Work

2010-05-11T21:35:00.000-05:00

Here are some images of my last larger "home" or I like to call it the Swamp Shack. It's four feet tall and made from sheet metal. In all actuality is more like the shacks you see down in coastal Mississippi and Louisiana, often lived in by fisherman or trappers. Made on stilts to combat high tides and storm surges. It seems that these days they are keeping high from oil leaks. I have seen whole villages that are on stilts, for some reason the images are stuck in my head. Disasters like the Gulf oil spill and hurricane Katrina keep imprinting them even deeper. I have a feeling they will be a part of my work for a while in some form or another.

New Sculpture

2010-05-01T10:35:00.000-05:00

It's been a busy few weeks! Here are some updates on what's going on.

Jackson Museum of Art Project- It's been a while since I up dated this one. As you recall I am working with an other artist who is designing a fountain/splash pool for the new garden project and I am the head contractor and fabricator. The project keeps changing. A lot. I initially got paid for working on a model and driving up to the artist studio where we worked on the project for two days. Since then the model, which came to rave reviews, has seen numerous changes. All requiring new budgets and materials research. And the size of the project keeps getting smaller. It went from something big enough that I could employ a few folks with some summer work to now me maybe getting enough work out if it to survive, maybe. I have probably about an additional $1000 in additional billable hours and travel expenses but I can not invoice for any of it. It is also possible that the all the sculptural objects could get cut and then I am totally out in the cold. Which is why I am still working on it, in hopes it will come to fruition. Keep your fingers crossed! I am still loving the project and that is an even better reason to work on it.

My Business Plan- I have not mentioned this before, but I have been working on the many details to make my studio a real business. Most likely it will end up being Jen Torres Sculpture LLC. Sounds cool, right? But it is much work. Luckily for me the Mississippi SBDC (Small Business Development Center) is very active here and I have access to some great people (for free) who will work one-on-one with me to learn the ropes and get every thing set up. I went to my first class and am all jazzed, I know this is something I can do. My basic goal is simple- I eventually want to get out of teaching (love the students, hate the administrative BS) so that I may design, fabricate and sell my own work. This part, setting up a real business, is just the start; I have no intentions of quitting my job for many years. Writing up a business plan is hard work but very rewarding, I look forward to the rest of the journey.

My Sculpture- I finally got my last wax cast in Georgia. It came out OK, but the casting has a lot of burn in and I will have to do a lot of work to grind off the sand embedded in the surface. On another front I finally got time to photograph all of my other 'houses' for my web page, which I will up date in a week or so. So above I post for you a few of the many "houses" that are fast becoming a major part of my portfolio. It's important to remember that these range in size from 6" tall to over 17" tall, some are wood and some are iron and generally are shown in a grouping of 3 to 10 pieces or what I like to call a Village.

My Shows- I am waiting for my contract from East Carolina University for my solo show in October, all the details have been pretty much ironed out so things are set and that will act as a good goal date to work towards. I also just received an invitation from the Ormond Memorial Art Museum in Ormond Beach, Florida. It is a three person show in April of 2011. This is a tough one, as it is a very cool place to show, but they offer no compensation for travel or shipping. My work requires that I be present for installation so there could be some real expenses for a show that is a ten hour drive away. However, there is a good possibility for sales with this show and that might be the deciding factor for me as I forge ahead with my business plans. There are always risks, I just have to decide if I can afford this one. Anyway it might be a cool excuse to go visit the beach!

Heading to Georgia for Some Iron Casting

2010-04-07T07:18:00.001-05:00

Can you believe the show is almost over?! This Friday Taylor, James and I head back up to Tennessee to take down the installation. From there we immediately head south down 75 into Georgia where we make our way to Athens and UGA for their Iron Pour. It will be a crazy day with close to 14 hours of driving, but between three of us driving it should be OK.

To take advantage of the weekend activities I have made another wax for a cast iron house. The images above show the house all gated and ready for investment. That was a few days ago and since then I have made the resin sand mold and am just waiting for a few students to get theirs done so we can melt out the wax and then I can get my truck loaded for the trip.

About four of my students will be meeting us there, not only to partake in the pour but also to see the facilities. UGA is good graduate program for sculpture and a number of our students have gone there over the years and had successful experiences.

It is also my birthday on Sunday; I'm turning 45. OMG! Oh well, there really is nothing I can do about it. I am sort of hoping with all the excitement of the pour and the road trip no one will remember.

Recently I have gone into 'submit mode'. A period of time where I get into sending out show applications and portfolios. I have a few to do today and did three the other day. They take so much work. I really wish galleries and juried shows would pick a standard for their submission. It is real pain in the ass to have to re-format every single image on each CD because these guys want 4x6 images and those guys want 5x7 images. I'll probably be doing this for the next week of so and it should get me some good exhibitions for the next year.

Final Show Images

2010-03-25T17:40:00.001-05:00

The show is up and done! The gallery talk and reception were perfect. Here are some images of the final installation. My next solo exhibition will be in October at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. I am looking forward to it!

Installation In Progress

2010-03-23T08:12:00.000-05:00

Images from early on in the installation, lots of art still on the floor and Taylor up on the ladder as we begin to hang stuff. Cell phone images are poor quality, better images of final set-up to come!

Still up in Tennessee, the installation went well. Tonight is the opening reception and gallery talk. Taylor has been a huge help with getting things done and a good hotel roommate for the past few days. One more night and then we are back home. Yay! Can't wait to sleep in my own bed again and get back to my students and my art work.

I also wanted to thank Steph King- Ten Sewing Machines and a Surger for a beautiful Sunshine Award!! (See sidebar.)

In the Studio Today

2010-03-17T15:32:00.000-05:00

Images of tagged sculpture ready for packing and Red Boats, just out of their bath.

After going for a much needed and very nice run this morning I ran a few errands and took care of some laundry and dishes, I then finished making additional hanging brackets and they are now painted. I then drug out eight of the Red Boats, a very popular show item, and gave them all a bath.

After that I felt good about what was done and spent a few hours working on the train engine for the next show. It still needs a ton of work but I did get some stuff done and I feel the final solutions to some of the formal issues are beginning to peak through.

Now I will start wrapping stuff for travel. I feel as if I am ahead of schedule and that's good, but there are still many details to take care of. For example, I need to get all the installation tools and supplies together, including but not limited to, fishing line, bolts, screws, drill bits, sand paper, cleaning tools, a knife, portable drill and saw, paint for touch ups, brushes, etc... Rain is on the horizon for tomorrow so I will probably go and wrap some of the outside stuff first...

Not Exciting (but important non-the-less)

2010-03-16T17:15:00.000-05:00

Today was another full day in the studio. I started the day with a pretty expensive trip to the Depot. I needed to get hardware for hanging 'boats' as well as plastic and other stuff needed for the trip to TN. Back home I oiled the Swamp Shack, did some repair on some broken stuff and pretty much spent the rest of the day making hangers, brackets and other hardware necessary for horizontal wall mounting of some of the 'boats'. Making the stuff is not hard but it is repetitive, I have plenty of good tools and steel, it just takes lots of time to customize them to each boat. It went better than expected and I hope to make more tomorrow, should go faster.

I really have to start wrapping stuff for travel. Now that's going to be a real pain... I'll admit I am ready to see this show up. I need to get back to some of the new work I am interested in, like making more swamp shacks and such. That is what is getting me excited these days and I want to finish the engine (I need to 'cause it's due at the end of the month). I was just invited to do another solo exhibition with a stipend up in North Carolina in October, I'll say more later when everything is ironed out.

Tomorrow is more studio work... To be continued...

Today in the Shop

2010-03-15T14:07:00.000-05:00

Working on the Swamp Shack.

Inventory

2010-03-14T17:29:00.000-05:00

It's been a crazy busy week. Luckily for me this next week is spring break. On top of that the weather has been perrrrrfect; mid to high 60's and sunny. I have moved all the finishing outside and got an assistant for the day. Bryon and I worked all day, he cleaning and oiling steel and cast iron works, me applying finish with my spray gun to wooden boats, among other things. A lot was accomplished. Today I did inventory, lost a few things I had on the list and found a few that I forgot to put on. Friday is trailer loading day and we drive all day Saturday. My friend Taylor will make the trip north-east. It should be a fun and interesting journey. The show will get installed on Sunday and Monday. It will be nice to see all the sculpture in one place and out of my house!

This Week in the Studio

2010-03-09T08:51:00.000-06:00

Or more accurately, several weeks in the studio...

In two weeks I head off to Cookeville Tenn, for a big solo show at Tennessee Tech University at the Joan Derryberry Art Gallery, the home of the famous Appalachian Center for Craft. Right now I am furiously working at fixing, cleaning and refinishing the works that will go into the show. There are many pieces in this installation and I have a ton of work to do. On Saturday I will have a student assistant come by and help with oiling many of the steel pieces to get them nice and clean for the show. I have been doing some 'boat' repair and alterations as well. I like to make subtle changes to each show and repair work offers me the opportunity to do so. In some cases I am taking out old wood ribs and changing them for copper wire ribs, the colors work well for me.

I am also working on a sculpture for the "All Aboard" Exhibition celebrating the anniversary of the Train Depot in downtown Hattiesburg. Eighteen or so artists were invited to create any sculpture that involves trains, tracks, stations, or any imagery related to trains, etc. This sculpture is due two days after I get back from my four-day trip to install my work in Tennessee. Basically that means I have to finish it before I travel in two weeks. Yikes! I have a lot to do! These images show various stages of still unfinished engine, or abstraction of an engine. No wheels yet and I am still working out the 'basket' on the back. Lots to do.

And finally, as an update to the ferro-cement test; I have put on a couple of coats of finish layers and done some sanding. The surface is getting very smooth, need to do a lot more sanding, but all will have to wait until I get back from Tennessee, to much other stuff that needs to get finished first.

Ferro Finishes

2010-02-22T09:21:00.000-06:00

So today I decided it was time to start experiments with the finishes on the ferro cement test shape. I have been doing Internet research and found a few folks who describe using silica-sand (AKA flint silica) to make a slip out of the cement. Color is, or can be, added at this time into the mixture. The slip is pained on and then when it has set it is sanded down and the process is repeated until a silky smooth surface is achieved. I am guessing at the ratios and tried a 2:1 mixture of silica:cement. I also didn't have acyclic so I tried some gouache I had. I applied it to my test object after it I made sure it was damp.

What I will look for is,
- how fast it dries
- how stable it is with all this stuff added
- how easy it sands
- how quickly I can re-coat
- how many coats I will need to get it smooth.
It's all an experiment and we'll see how things look later today.

Experiments in Ferro Cement

2010-02-21T12:25:00.000-06:00

In an earlier post I spoke about working with Martha Ferris on a commission in Jackson at the Museum of Art. As Martha finalizes designs for the works I have been doing some experiments in a process called ferro-cement. We think this may be the process we are going to use for building the outdoor structure for the commission and to make sure I know everything I can about it I decided to go ahead and do some experiments. The process is fairly easy; I have done it before. What makes this project different are the colors and surfaces needed for this project are for more refined that I have done in the past. Bright colors and smooth, almost shiny surfaces are needed for what we are constructing. I have found many examples of this on the Internet, so I know it can be done and done well. I just have to learn how to do it myself. The funny thing about this whole process is that I had been making some plans and drawings for my own designs using this method and now it's kind of like killing two birds with one stone.

Below is a step-by-step description of the first part of the project. The second part will entail descriptions of final surface treatments and coloring. Click on images to make them larger.

Up Dates and the Faculty Show

2010-01-24T07:41:00.000-06:00

The most recent news about the 'water park' project, for lack of a better name, is good. Martha and I meet with Madge Bemis, Betsy Bradley, Ed Blake, Dan Piersol, Ed Magowan and a few others, to talk about the various components of the new art park and water gardens going into the museum site. It was very exciting. Madge Bemis and Ed blake are super stars in their respective areas of architecture and just to be spending time with them was an honor. There were a few questions about our proposal, some about the imagery that Martha covered and some about structure that I covered. But for the most part the project is ours! Yea! A bit of money for the summer months will be great, never mind the fact that that this is a super project and will represent a first, in the art realm, for Jackson Mississippi.

More details to be worked on, a few budget items to be re-figured, and hopefully in a few months we will start working. Hopefully some pictures later too.

On another note we just had the opening of our biennial faculty show in the USM Museum of Art. I showed some newer boats and then for the first time put together the 'house' piece called Homes for Everyone. With all the stuff going on in Haiti it seemed so weirdly appropriate. I love how the different materials, scales and colors come together in this work and am excited about doing more if them.

My big solo show in Tennessee is coming up in a month and a half. I have a tone of work to do!

Been too Long!

2010-01-11T08:02:00.000-06:00

Gosh I am so remiss in my posting! The business of being an academic along with the holidays has conspired against me in a big way!

However, I have not been idle. I am still working on finishing my 'houses', but since my studio has no heat and it is 16F out right now I will dispense with and shop work until it is a bit warmer. Just a bit.

Currently I am working on a project with another Mississippi artist, Martha Ferris on a proposal for a sculptural water part up in Jackson at the MS Museum of Art. It's a hug project that involves all kinds of gardens and art and we are responsible for just one part of it all. Martha envisioned the original plan and called me to work with her as head fabricator and subcontractor on the project. Our part consists of what are called splash pools with a variety of animal forms that rise up from the floor and are covered with mosaic. It will be bright and big and lots of fun. Madge Bemiss is the architect for the whole project and I am excited to work with her as she has a very creative vision as a designer. Last week Martha and I finished the maquette for the committee to view this week. We have been working on budgets and time lines and it has been a lot of work!

The budget for water park part of the project is $200,000. I will be responsible for building the three dimensional shapes around her 2D drawings and concepts. Martha is an amazing artist and I love her imagery and color, that makes working on this project even easier. We think that we will use a ferro-cement method of building, but that might change as the process goes forward. First armatures will be constructed out of steel and mesh and then covered in ferro-cement. Check out this LINK for some fascinating information on this style of work. Once the pieces are in place at the museum another team will take over the detailed work of covering all the objects with mosaic. Next week the committee will look at it and then we will see from there if they approve the project or want changes and such. I am keeping fingers crossed.

Grinding Away

2009-11-23T12:18:00.000-06:00

Here are some images of raw castings, one shows the works with the gates and vents still on one of the pieces and the others show the gates cut off and some grinding done on the surface.

There is still lots to do with getting the surfaces cleaned up and then giving them the rusty patina I like so much. I also have another one from a prior pour I still have to do.

It's pretty nasty, dirty work, but they won't grind them selves, so I've got to do it. There is a lot of satisfaction once they are done.

These "homes" are part of a larger installation called Homes for Everyone. I have about 15 already complete and they are made out of all kinds of materials; clay, iron, steel and wood. They are also all different sizes and colors. This variety is an important factor that for me as it echos our ethnic mixture in this country. For me it's all about the housing crisis and how so many different people have been effected. I actually came close to losing my home this summer, it was a shocking realization. I truly believe that all people deserve a safe place to live and this art work will be just a small token to express my feelings on that.

Pour Iron!

2009-11-20T16:42:00.000-06:00

Some images from pouring iron.

It was an exciting day and lots of hard work. Never mind the many weeks of preparation leading up to it. In the end the day went well. No major mishaps or injuries. We had some cold metal which caused a few molds not to pour properly but that's part of the precess and the possibility of something not coming out is always a reality to deal with.

My molds came out great. I am so happy. After the pour all of us celebrated by going to La Fiesta Brava; one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. Boy we had fun, way too much fun for some! But it was all worth the headache the next day!

In a few days I will get to cut off the gates and vents and clean up my castings up to get some images. Right now I am real busy with end of the semester stuff; we are done in less than three weeks! I still can't believe it!

New Work and A Crazy Week Ahead

2009-11-09T09:21:00.001-06:00

Lord I have so many pieces of work that I need to photograph and get onto my web page. The effort is non-stop! Here are some images from some recent work, now finished and painted. I lost the color of the green copper, it didn't really go with the red paint. I did like the natural wood, and green copper color, but it was not in the plan for this group. No worries, I will just make some more! More images of the works can be seen on my official web page, www.jentorres.com in the portfolio sction.

At the end of this week we will be doing the big iron pour. It will be an exhausting week but worth it in the end. By Thursday many friends will have arrived and we will spend the next few days setting up for the pour by day and being bad by night. Just as long as I get my long run in Wednesday morning, I'll be OK by that! More images soon!

Fuel for the Fire

2009-11-06T12:22:00.001-06:00

Images from ABC Coke in Birmingham AL.

Right now we are heavy into preparations for our annual iron pour. Yesterday James and I headed east for the 3.5 hour ride to Birmingham to stock up on much needed raw materials. Our first stop was to ABC Coke. For years they have generously donated the coke (refined coal) that we use to fuel our blast furnace to melt iron for making art castings. We'll typically get between 4 and 6 thousand pounds per trip. Sounds like a lot but considering that ABC usually sells coke by the rail road car, what we get are just crumbs to them. We also made a stop a Specialty Foundry Supply to get some other supplies and then it was back home. A 12 hour day in the truck, thank God I had my good buddy James with me and a Ipod full of exceptional Jazz.

New Art Blog!

2009-11-06T10:31:00.000-06:00

I decided after much thought it was time to separate my running blog from my sculpture blog. There really are too many things to talk about in each and for the most part the audience is different. Of course I will have some info on both my blogs about stuff I am doing in general so folks will know what I am up to.

I will post some images soon from my trip to Birmingham.

Cheers!