Tag: Art

A million years ago, I was making a lot of insect inspired works, like this bee inspired one which bounced when you touched the metal rods. We had just moved into the redwood forest and I think I was inspired by some of the critters that made their way into our home. I made small abstract critters using a combination of clay, copper, steel and wire mesh and loved getting the heavy clay bodies to stand on tiny wire legs. (which is not dissimilar to my current medusa sculptures!)

I also remember making a small installation of abstracted bugs with wire wings that were installed to look like a small swarm in flight. I think there was maybe a dozen of them and I remember wanting to make hundreds of them but for some reason didn’t. I haven’t thought about that piece in forever and I couldn’t even find any documentation of it.

Now, living in the desert, I’m surrounded by the weirdest critters, like stick bugs, trap-door spiders and praying mantis. Just the other day, a wild bee hive on our property swarmed and I watched it throughout the day as they left the hive in controlled chaos, clustered on a nearby tree for a few hours and then in perfect timing they all took off to their new home.

Even though I hadn’t thought about that little installation in years, the bee swarm made me realize that it was time to make that installation of hundreds a reality. I’m not sure of the details, but I’m excited to make some abstract bugs that will swarm somewhere on the property. Inspiration comes from all kinds of places but somehow insects always hold a place in my heart!

I get asked a lot, what are you working on in the studio? And right now, it’s not really on new work, those ideas are always there and brewing, so don’t worry, I will circle back to them soon enough. But instead, I’ve been making parts for my studio. I’m planning on gates for the entrances to our property that will have metal framed rectangular structure to them, but will incorporate pieces from my Bone Series into the open panels of the metal structure. It will look similar to the way I filled this arbor space at a past exhibit, but the gates will be broken up into smaller framed sections and it will also be slightly denser with wire cables and ceramic elements to be functional in keeping all the critters on the appropriate sides of the fence. I’ve been working on the parts for the gates, which turns out to be a lot of square footage of area to cover, so a lot of parts!

I also wanted to make custom sconces for the outdoor lights of the studio, I have three made that are in the traditional shape of Mexican clay sconce lights, but designed with my aesthetic of hole pattern carvings, these will hang on the long stretch of the patio area. I plan on making two more that will be larger circular versions for the front walls.

Right now, I’m filling up the shelves with all of these raw clay parts since my kilns can’t run on the solar system since they draw WAY too much power. Instead, they will need to be hooked up to a large generator to run properly and we are still researching the right generator for the job. But soon enough, we will have the kilns running, all the work fired up, and I’ll get these custom works installed.

While we are definitely working hard on projects to get the studio and land functional and beautiful, we are still taking time to enjoy where we are.