What Have I Been Up to?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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...