at workbench
I am participating at the Earth Sculpture 2015 show at the Farley Center. There are 13 installations at the show, which you can visit at any time. The concept is to use resources from the land. I chose to install two shallow relief carvings of cardinals.
Here is the Map
Here is the link to the Farley Center
Below are some pictures
I submitted two carvings to the Eco Squared show at Hatch Art House on Willy Street here in Madison. The art is to contain upcycled or recycled elements. I took some of the wood I received at the Urban Forest Fest. This is a slab of wood cut from an Ash tree that was knocked down by a tornado. Ash us a very strong and fibrous wood, not typically used in carving. I discovered that it can be carved while it is still green. In hardwoods, it counts as green for the first year or so.
The two pieces I submitted are an ash branch showing fall colors and the second is of the emerald ash borer. The irony of the insect is that it is quite a lovely intruder as bugs go.
Showing at Hatch Art House starting January 9. Opening reception January 9 from 6-9pm.
It started with a summer storm. Severe winds tore through the East side of Madison and downed a number of trees. Three of these were saved and taken to the Urban Wood Fest to show how fallen wood can be saved and used. That is where I acquired a slab of ash. This tree came from Hudson Park which features a burial mound. As I walked around the park, I saw other trees, and the mound crowded with prairie plants, carefully not mown down by the city parks workers.
An ancient tribe came here and built these mounds, we are not sure what for exactly. Another park nearby has a bear and a lynx mound. The one at Hudson is not easily identifiable. Just as these visitors found something to commemorate, I remember a previous visit along the shore. We were canoeing between the Yahara and Olbrich park when we saw a blue heron along the shoreline.
I was able to find photographs of the blue heron and so developed this design. I chose to represent the heron in shallow relief, and to develop the color and life of the bird with several layers of thinned acrylic paint. This is the result. I think it is a fitting use for the ash wood that was blown into my way.
Erin and I attended a journal making class in La Crosse on Saturday, October 18. This is designed to integreate art into science instruction. We made one journal out of a cereal box and practiced taking field notes in that one. We drew leaves we found outside and we drew a pigeon feather. Next we made a nicer quality journal with book board and fine paper. It was a great class and the overlap of drawing, and other forms of art, to seeing fit right in what we want to do.
see photo album
The Capital Area Carvers and the Badger Wood Turners have a show annually. This year it is located at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison. I am working on two carving projects. The first is a blue heron made from wood harvested near the lake by Hudson Park. This ash tree was knocked down in a storm and was harvested and sawn into planks at the Urban Wood Fest on Atwood Avenue. I took a look around at the mound and the location and remembered seeing a blue heron on the lake edge. So this this is as far as I have gotten. I am working on the painting scheme.
The second is a Santa – this as an unfinished block of basswood and I was told it was intended to be a Santa coming down the chimney. This is what resulted. Along with other club members carvings, this will be for sale at the show.
Madison has a number of natural areas. I have yet to explore many of them. One morning that was sunny in the early fall beckoned me to go check out the Cherokee Marsh, which is part of the Yahara Riverway waterway. The Yahara, tamed by banks and bridges, passes close to my house, but here in Cherokee is closer to its wild state. In the late fall there were a number of flowers, such as goldenrod, thistle, black eyed Susan and Queen Anne’s lace. I took a moment while sitting on a rather artificial aluminum board walk to make a sketch of the marsh. I was trying for a looser style with the watercolor. The nearby blue jay commented on it but I don’t know whether it was complimentary or not,.
