I’m starting to see the very yellow light at the end of this umbel tunnel! The pile of finished Umbel Flowers has gotten drastically larger than the unfinished pile and I’m getting ready to install them in a few weeks- I’m very excited about this installation. I’ve had some help from my studio assistants Nina and Sequoia with getting through the glazing process and helping load and unload the kilns which has been extremely helpful in making progress. Below is a current panorama shot of my studio table, I know, it’s a little crazy.
The other part of this project that had to be taken care of was cutting all the steel rods that will be the stems for each flower. Local metal artist Roy Holmberg helped me order the right materials, curator Susana Arias loaned me her brand new saw and my husband Nate took the better part of a day to cut the 800′ of steel rod into 2.5′ pieces and grind the cut ends of each one. Now they are all piled up neatly waiting to be hammered into the ground. I am so grateful for all of this help, it truly takes a village to raise an artist.
Slow and steady, this project is really starting to take shape! The exhibition opens May 20th with a reception for the artists and will run through late November. I’m really looking forward to seeing how the installation changes as the landscape makes its own seasonal changes. The Umbel Flower installation will close with a ‘picking day’ where visitors can purchase and pick the flowers from the field to transplant into their own gardens.
