Hungry Art

As a working artist, teaching and making art, it is true that many times one must make a choice as to what is most important. We all work at balancing our lives, family, health, studio work, (not necessarily in that order) but they all can compete. Even so, It seems to me that no matter what's going on when my studio work beckons I will drop everything and come running.

When projects stretch out due to engineering complications (or other reasons) the hardest part can be holding my interest so that I solve the problem well and can keep going with as much energy and excitement as when I started. All artists face these issues. I also find that it's one of the biggest issues with art students- how to keep going when it gets tough, or boring, or you run out of money, etc. I find it funny that they think they are the only ones to suffer from this and they are often times surprised when they hear I go through the same issues and do my fair share of struggling, and on a regular basis too.

I am not sure what my point here is except that to the casual viewer, this new series I am working on may seem long and drawn out, but really it's just a blip in the bigger picture. To really be an artist one must work at it all the time, give everything and let the art devour you. The smallest ideas become giant and worth every second you spend on them.

OK. So now onto what I am working on.

The pictures I showed in my previous post showed the sculptures complete in form and put together. However, they were not secure and I want them to be very secure. In fact I want the pieces to be so sound that I can turn them as whole sculptures in any direction and not have shifting or something falling off. This is hard to do, and my years of being a furniture builder have made my conception of this hard. Traditional furniture construction has rules, and that is not how I work. I compose my work. As I build I change it, shift the parts around or make new ones until I get what I like. I am not a planner (unless it's a commission) and want, no, need the option to be flexible in my building. So, my pieces are often times made of parts that are interchangeable and that means they move easily. In theory. In reality some have to be bludgeoned on and off while other parts slide too easy. To the naked eye all the joints look nice and tight, but if you work with wood/plywood you know it doesn't take much, even the humidity will make a joint impossibly annoying to work with. But beside all that at some point, when my symphony is constructed I have to secure the parts. What you don't see here are pictures of the weeks of torture spent trying to figure how to do this and then finally executing it. Ironically, I ended up using the same process as used in furniture; pining with dowel rods. in some cases it was extreme, construction or wood glue in the joint and then 1/2" or 3/8" rods that went very deep and at extreme angles. A good drill and new super sharp bits, one of them 12" long made all the difference. Each sculpture still retains one larger joint that will remain unfixed, as I need to break them down somewhat to get them through doorways and for shipping. Amazingly enough it all worked great, I can turn them in all directions and they are super strong and sound.

Right now I am working on finishing and that always takes forever. The color is super important to me and this time I am taking a new route to a more subtle conversation between the colors, planes, and volumes. Really it all came from me observing that in my studio, with halogen, incandescent and florescent lighting, that the white painted sculptures changed color from side to side depending where the lighting was in the room. This is not my first time doing this, but it is the first larger scale work. The color is not meant to be in your face, but more of a hint, one that keeps the viewer looking and guessing. I have tried to show some images here and you can see it a bit, of course it has more impact in person.

You can see the warmer white on the left faces and the cooler white on others.

 

One of the pieces with tags so I don't loose track of what color goes where.

 

As you can imagine this part of the process takes a lot of time. In the meanwhile I have started the next sculpture out in my freezing cold shop. Of course I want the next ones bigger, and now that I am much more proficient in fabricating them that should not be an issue. I am also adding voids. Holy cow! This is much more exciting that I thought it would be. Scary too, as I have no idea what I am going to do with them.

 

Hopefully the temperatures will be on the rise soon, (this has been the coldest weather in all 15 years of living here) so I can be out in my shop working on a more regular basis. It's OK to bring stuff to my house studio for painting and sanding, but the big power tools live outside in my (unheated) shop.

A New Year or Holy Shit it's 2014 Already

"Gosh where has the time gone?" I am clearly not the only one asking this question. I am behind in updating this blog, but I have my reasons, all of them good.

Right now I am getting ready for classes next week and catching up on correspondence. It's freaking cold here, not usual for Mississippi to stay below freezing for the whole day.

I was in the Netherlands for 16 days over the holidays, it was a wonderful time, as it was last year. I am still getting over travel hangover.

Some of the good things...

Homes for Everyone is going to the Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center in Virginia for 2014.

The six Garden Boats, not going into the Mississippi Museum of Art permanent collection, are going to the Kemp Center for the Arts, in Wichita Falls, TX for 2104.

I made good progress on my cloud series pieces, but honestly the studio is too cold right now for my hands to work so I'll take a short break. These are so far, finished in many coats of sanded gesso. It's taking a long time and I clearly have made no decisions on the final colors, if any.

I also got a new webpage up and running. www.jentorres.com is still the same name and address as the old one just a new website host and updated design.

Almost There, But Not Quite

I have made progress. It's been over a month and I am sad (sort of) they are not finished. However, they represent a whole new body of work and for me the language is exciting and new, I want to learn it thoroughly as I progress into these new works.

I won't bore you with all the small problems, both physical and design related, that have manifested (and are expected), but suffice to say as one problem is solved it often reveals another to deal with. A thick lamination made to solve a scale problem means a physical weight shift that requires another solution. Solving these types of engineering problems are fun but weigh on me after a while. The brain can get tired easily. I have learned how to use Sketch Up and this program can be very handy. Rendering parts on my computer and trying out different solutions virtually has helped me not to waste plywood when working. It's very good for figuring out color too. Drawing is still a constant though and a very immediate tool that I still use, always.

Yesterday I had one of those BAM! moments, and the fun times ensued. The work flowed, the solutions flowed, the whole session was productive.

So, as of this point, I have my forms, I have several laminations to complete, some connections to make, sanding and patching, more sanding, and then gluing and pining pieces together. A few weeks of work for sure.

Some pieces will be glued in place and others will be pinned so they can be attached when installing the work. These works will remain largely intact though. As far as color, right now I have no idea, I have a gallon of good sandable gesso and that will be the start.

Color

Construction of my daily compositions, as a friend calls them, has slowed down a bit, as expected. For two reasons; our summer semester started, and I had to slow down as I needed to start doing more composing of the forms.

The first group of works were kind of like 3d gesture drawings, I jumped in not knowing or really planing where I was going. As forms, commonalities, and relationships began to develop I knew I wanted to slow down and make deliberate decisions about where to go next. The hard part is not losing the freshness and spontaneity apparent in the first works. So far so good. I started adding larger laminated sections and fabricated parts that required clear decisions and planning in the construction phase. I like how things are going, and they are getting bigger and stronger. I also decided it was time to start experimenting with finishes. Hand painting was not going to work, too may inaccessible spaces for a brush and many of the works will not come apart to paint individual pieces. So I tried spray paint and although it requires great patience the results have been very pleasing, and I am getting the bold saturated colors that I want. I have an excellent spray system, but right now I am using too small a quantity of paint in any one color to justify the expense of the paint itself, and there are so many excellent spray paint choices.

Right now I will be doing more of my daily compositions in clay, mainly because my intense summer teaching scheduled will keep me in the USM studio pretty much 40 hrs a week straight for the month of June. I will have several hours a day to work side by side with some of my upper level ceramics students and so far it has been rewarding, and they seem to be getting a lot out of seeing me work too.

I'll still work on the wood ones, but at a slower pace and probably on weekends. My goal with the clay and the wood is to get bigger.

Back to Work

Not that I ever left. But I needed to focus on my furniture class for a few weeks and the weather was ass-kickin' hot so I took a break from the hot shop for a bit too. Two more of the village homes mostly tack welded together. Still have bases to make and plenty more to do. Here are a few images from the past week. Probably will get much more work done at the end of the month when classes are over and I can get in real early to work. It's so hot here in the afternoons.

The Welder from Hell

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

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!

Installation Complete

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".

Heading to Georgia for Some Iron Casting

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.

New Art Blog!

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!