We are making more and more progress on the studio each day, and right now, I’ve got extra help. Nate has been working on getting the plumbing system completely online including getting the mini-kitchen installed. And my parents came into town to visit. They are helping install the new track lighting, troubleshoot the ceiling fan and help organize things. So it’s all hands on deck right now to get all the details sorted.
Don’t worry, we are making sure they get some down time on the beach, eat good food and go on adventures too.
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.
I ~almost~ have enough bottles to complete both bottle wall windows in the studio and I think they’re going to look great! I love the variety of shapes and shades of green in all the bottles. Each brick is made with two bottles that have been cut and taped together to make a bottle brick, so this is approximately 300 bottles that I’ve collected, cut and cleaned to make these windows. Mortaring them into place will be a whole other part of this project, but very fun to see it start to come together. Big thank you’s to all my friends who have been doing their part slugging back the contents and saving the bottles for me!
In other studio news, Nate is working away at getting our plumbing online. We needed to get a pump, pressure tank and all the piping components to get everything set up to work with our solar system and septic system. Getting all the components is a process in itself. While we have a plethora of local hardware stores, there’s no guarantee that they will have all the parts you need in the right size and quantity that you need, plus we of course need to ask for all these parts in Spanish, because most products are behind the counter here not in aisles where you can browse for what you want, so that adds another level to the search for parts. And our property is about 20 minutes from the nearest store, so missing something off your list can take a few hours out of your workday. The lesson here is to slow down, be patient and eventually your project will come together.
The studio is designed to double as a guest space as needed, so we included a full shower in our bathroom set up. We will be adding a solar water heater into the system soon too. I still haven’t quite figured out how I want to design the sink/counter area, so that’s still on hold, but we’re slowly collecting the rugs, curtains, hooks and of course the ART to design out the space. I never thought I’d post a photo of my bathroom on my blog, and it currently doesn’t look like much, but when you go through this much work just to get indoor plumbing on an off the grid system, you’ve got to show off the milestones!
After taking months to research solar systems and different providers in our area, we finally chose a winner and we stoked to have sunshine powering the studio now! The funny thing is that we don’t really have a lot to power up yet, so until I install the new track lights and we get a water pump and refrigerator ordered, our sunshine will just be charging our devices and lighting up these little temporary lightbulbs – even still it’s pretty exciting! Next up is a functioning plumbing system…stay tuned.
In other sun related news, we are in a spot for about 95% coverage of sun for the eclipse the other day, so we put on our welding helmets/goggles and sat down to watch the show. Always an impressive phenomenon to watch the universe do it’s thing. It amazed us that even with that much coverage it didn’t get particularly dark, it did get noticeably colder but I guess we’ll have to try to catch the 100% path next time to experience the difference.
I am very thrilled to announce that I am finally be done painting the outside of the studio and I’m loving the way it looks! It took me a bit longer to do than expected since I got side tracked making my big piece for the show, the wind was very uncooperative in the past few weeks, and I also had a color matching snafu at the paint store when I went back to pick up a little more paint but that got sorted and I was underway again to finish the project. A few touch ups and clean up spots but other than that I’m done – phew!
I cut another batch of bottles up for my bottle window project. Loving all these green shades in the sunlight. I think I have enough bottles for one window to be completed, so now I’ve only got about 100 more bottles to go!
I’ve also just scheduled our solar to be installed next week – so very, very soon we are going to be powered up at the studio, which will be game changing! Lots more projects to check off the list…. poco a poco!
Excited to setup my ephemeral site specific piece on the roof of this gorgeous structure in the middle of the desert! Join us for an afternoon of art and mezcal sipping followed by panoramic views of sun set on the ocean.
When given the opportunity to create a piece for the event ABC Art Baja 24 with the Cascabel Mountain Collective, I knew that I couldn’t create a fired work. There just wasn’t the time or resources but I embraced the idea of making an ephemeral piece for the the green roof of the main house designed by Taller de Terreno Arquitectura. The house is the vision of Kevin Wickham and is a cast in place concrete structure of angles and grandeur all the while it is quietly hidden in the desert landscape. The sculpture is responding to the house’s shapes and angles while also responding to the desert landscape in which is resides.
I created a small model in clay of my sculptural form and then scaled it up in cardboard. Using the cardboard model as a template, I created large scale panels in clay that dried enough to hold their form and be attached together. Getting the clay dry enough to hold its shape and still wet enough to be modified while taking the desert climate into the equation makes for a tricky balancing act. While building this piece, I realized that it is probably the largest single item I’ve made. And the reason I’ve never attempted to make something this big is that it simply wouldn’t have fit in my kiln, so it’s kind of a why bother. But on the flip side, it’s liberating to make a piece that will be ephemeral and kiln size isn’t an issue and just to challenge my skills to see if I can actually do it. And I did.
modelcardboard mockup + modelin progressin progressfinal form
We still need to transport it from my studio, up the hill, and onto the roof. And I need to attach the rods that will move in the wind. And we will see how it degrades with wind and moisture, so there is still a lot of uncertainty but that is also what I love most about this process.
Studio updates and other fun and random things that have happened lately…
The big news is that I got the entire outside of the studio primed for painting and as of this posting one wall done with color. It’s funny because the color is so close to the concrete color, it almost seems like a fruitless effort, but it is a little warmer and browner than the concrete, plus of course the walls are sealed and protected. Over the coming days, I’ll slowly get the rest of the walls done. It’s a bit of a frustrating process since the blazing sun and/or whipping winds seem to make it impossible to get the job done and I’ve had to start painting just after sunrise to avoid both of those elements.
I also made my own plaster wedging table for the studio, which if you don’t work in clay, it is used for recycling clay on and as a surface for wedging or kneading your clay. It’s a pretty simple thing, just a low wooden frame with plaster poured into it, but it’s the kind of thing that I generally rely on my husband Nate to help me make and this time I did it all on my own. I’m pretty good with most power tools and making basic stuff but I’m not super confident with using the skillsaw and that was a requirement for this project. So while it’s only a box, I’m pretty proud of myself for this one! And in other news…
A cow kicked my car door while I was passing it on the road, that was a first! I bought an entire used kitchen cabinet set from a local online buy/sell/trade group and the sweetest couple delivered it to my studio. I fixed up a few rust holes in the roof of one of our shipping containers, only to discover there’s a few more that need my attention, so that’s not great. I had my first Santa Cruz visitor come to the studio; artist Sandy Cherk and her family braved the dirt roads to come say hi and see the studio, we had a very sweet visit. I was gifted some Oregon cheddar cheese (which I’d very much missed!) from my friend Mike and it was delivered courtesy of Sandy. A mouse ate a huge chunk out of one of my crochet projects. I was given fresh cut roses and basil from the woman working the counter in the paint store while I waiting for my paint to be mixed. And I figured out how to ask for a door sweep and plaster at the hardware store in Spanish. Let the adventure continue!
I am very happy to report a huge step forward in the progression of the studio build… WE HAVE DOORS!!!
While I have loved having unobscured open vistas to look out at while I’m working, the ability to lock up the studio, have a safe place to keep the dog while I run errands and a weatherproof/bug-proof area to hang out in is pretty priceless. There is still a lot to do to make this place fully functional and decked out in all it’s creativeness, but this is one giant leap forward and I am stoked.
I had decided from the very beginning of building my new studio that I wanted to include a bottle wall in some aspect of it. I had spent time in buildings in Haiti where bottle walls were used in construction and I’ve always love the look and of course the repurposing aspect of it. Here in Baja, it’s very hard to recycle colored glass, so I wanted to make use of these bottles. The back of our studio faces our road and a neighbors house, so I didn’t want to have big windows on that side but it’s also the side that the sun comes up on, so we designed high long windows for airflow and light while maintaining privacy. Two of those four long windows are going to become bottle windows. I’ve been collecting and had friends collecting green bottles for me for months now. Thought I’d share the process of making the ‘bricks’.
So far I’ve cut about 60 bottles with a tile saw and made 30 bricks that are the same depth as the window opening. I take two cut off bottoms and duct tape them together to create each brick. I just collected another 40 bottles so those are still awaiting processing. I’m estimating that I’ll need about 70 bricks per window. Once I have enough bricks, they will be mortared in place in the window and the ends will be cleaned off to allow the light to shine through. I’ve taped out the size of the window on the floor so I can get an idea of the spacing, the layout of shapes and colors and how many bottles I’ll actually need. It will be a while before this project is finished but it’s been really fun to work on step by step. I’m very excited to eventually see the sun shining through them and casting the colors around the studio. I will definitely share more pics of this project as it progresses.
