lasting art sculptures in the modern era, art that lasts

The web as you know has a wealth if information on virtually any topic. While researching out a new technique that I wish I new more about, I read an article on the topic of "what is considered the longevity needs of modern art/art produced today", well not exactly but .....

   So here I am looking for a medium to cast my sculptures in that will last at least my lifetime and hopefully longer and I come across this thread in an unmentioned forum regarding casting in hydro- cal and how to make it last longer than just a few years. One of the respondents referred a study or a product that said in its description that society generally looses interest in something within 5yrs and that auto manufacturers produce vehicles that are only designed to last 3yrs. By at which point most things will have been broken and thrown away or the owner will have tyred of what ever it was and just pitched it out.

   Now I don't know about you, but when I buy something, it better last and I expect to have to pay for it. It just stumps me though that when I want to create a new work of art. I want to use the best quality materials to produce my finished piece. In this case its sculpture cast in,.... cast in,....... well I don't know yet. That's the problem. I cast in allot of different mediums hot and cold! But due to the wants of me needing a new material that can be finished anyway I like and can be indoor outdoor safe per say. Cement is to heavy and hydro cal is lighter but not strong enough to handle the weather. Now I could cast in metal but most people can't afford that sort of thing. So back to the cold cast materials.

   I have had some pretty good luck casting cement and hydro-cal materials alone and with additives (my own mixes, he he he) that include but are not limited to Carpenters glue, weld-bond, pearlite, vermiculite, fiberglass, latex, acrylic, enamel, as well as others. with varying degrees of success.

   As this seems to be a toss away part of our history I'm taking a stand. I want quality in what I buy and I'm going to create art of the highest quality. My advice to you is to do the same. So with that in mind I can tell you for sure, if your casting with hydro cal throw at least 1/2cup of carpenters glue into every 1/2 bag. Don't use pear lite or vermiculite they both float to much. I have yet to find a suitable sealer or clear to make it weather proof. So if its meant for out doors, cast with cement same mix as for hydro-cal. Don't use pre- mixed cement. Its usually too course for my liking. I like a 50/50 cement sand ratio. Be sure to seal it. but not before it has cured for at last 48hrs after demolding (including next day sealant). The mediums need time to De-gas/dry before you add the new material (clear or sealant) as the cast needs to be able to readily absorb it.

 Remember if you spend the time to make it, take the time reproduce a quality piece. Not everything has to have a "Bic lighter" life span  

Lipstick

So a few weeks back a buddy drops by and just happens to mention that he needs to go down to the coast to pick up his 5yr old daughter. There had been allot of snow in the preceding week so I asked which of his 2 vehicles he planned on taking to which he responded " Oh the 4runner" and I was forced to ask him about the safety aspect of said trip.He has new winter tires but the frame on this 4x4 of his is almost none existent not to mention more hole in than wheel wells. He says ya I know but what choice do I have. I have to go and get my daughter from my ex. "Ah the frame will be fine" he further states. But what really worries me is that the rusted out wheel wells  are going to attract attention and that will get me pulled over for a spot safety check and then I'll get a bunch of tickets that I can't pay, and the list just goes on. Not to mention what my daughters mother will say! So I have a half can of bondo so I'm gonna just fill the holes and I thought I'd drop in and see if you wouldn't tell me how to go about doing it. I said "your really going to do this and he says "Ya!" and I said where ? He says "Oh at my place outside" To which (being his friend and just having cleared the shop up) I said "No we'll do it here!"

So the next day he turns up about noon and we spend the next 36 hrs (none stop, no sleep) and use a whole bunch of my fiber glass and other art stuff to fix (actually recreate) his wheel wells. I won't bore you with all of that fun but I will pass this along. The work we did would have fooled the most diligent of random glances.

We remove all the masking and tape, open the door and roll the gleaming beast into the mountain crisp, winter air. My buddy smiles and says "I think we're done here and I need sleep! He heads for home to catch a nap before he has to leave.

Now the reason he has this 4x4 is that he lives up a mountain at the top of,  (being gracious) a goat trail type driveway. In which in the winter, there is no snow at the bottom. But at the house there could easily be 3ft. On this day luck was not on his side. He gets the bottom of his driveway rolls about a 100 yards up and suddenly there is this horrific sound of grinding and bending metal and his truck comes to a halt and then starts to roll backwards. He jambs his foot on the brake and jumps out to see what he has run over in the snow. He bends down on one knee and looking under the 4runner see's the drive shaft all bent up and the rear wheels out of whack. And on top of all that he now has to climb his 1/2 mile driveway. Fun times eh!

The moral to this story is don't waste time on junk, substrate, materials ect... Because no matter how much time or how good a job you do.....Lipstick on a pig does not make it "less a pig"

Directorslive.com a great place for Indie films & animation or a black hole.

When I work I often need interesting fodder for the mind and once in awhile I find it. Like today for example, I was looking for something to watch/listen to while I worked and I found " directorslive.com , what a score! The two pieces that I watched were "Darkwood "2008. A great little film about a guy loosing his house & the hypocrisy of the system ( www.directorslive.com/channels/films/darkwood-2008-a-short-film/ ) and "Madame Tutli Putli " 2007  ( http://www.directorslive.com/channels/films/madame-tutli-putli/ ) an amazing little NFB stop animation about a woman with baggage and a moth (to say anymore would wreck the story in which no words are spoken).

Now what I chose to watch was up to me, but I dare say you could probably find almost anything at directorslive.com . Both films are under 25min and streamed lagg free and crystal clear on my set up. I don't know if I was just lucky or what but both of these films were very well done and I expect that most will find them as entertaining as I did. So if you are an "up and comer" in either of these film styles this level would be a good place to reach for as far as low budget films are concerned. But whatever you do, make it your own!

Have a look and let me know if you think its a gold mine of inspiration & great indie flix or a black hole, share your favorites.

Snow carving warm-up 2010/2011 let it snow!

Snow is falling all clean and fresh and the almanac says we are in for the coldest winter in 50yrs. Lets carve snow, Calgary got a foot today from what I here. What do you do with it all. Well if you have a bit of time you can do all sorts of things with it but I suppose shoveling (stretch first , you've got lots of work ahead of you) would be the natural place to start, though I leave it up to you but don't forget the anti-freeze. Me, I'm going to re-read the past posts that Mr.Arnell was kind enough to share with us last winter. Making a big pile and hoping it melts just isn't my way. I want to do it right so its ready for some serious snow carving. I think maybe I'll order a set of those snow carving tools Tim was talking about and try my hand at it. And if we're lucky he'll show us some more photo's and snow carving techniques

So bundle up, stay safe, and if your in the back country this winter breaking all the high marks or the rules ( not that you'd do that) be sure to take your avalanche and GPS locator stuff. Because we want you back long before its time to mow the lawn in the spring and I need to know, is it snow carving or snow sculpting?

How to pack and sculpt snow (part2 sculpting)

Here you should be primed & ready for the fun part, carving and sculpting. As I said before I was expecting a bit more snow so I started creating a new pile because it seemed pointless in moving all the snow into one pile which was a long way so I made a second pile about 30 feet away at the end of the driveway. But again the additional snow never came and apparently there is no winter fest in Greenwood B.C. this year. So with the snow melting pretty fast I decided I’d better carve at least one of my piles I’d just have to change my design to fit with a much smaller pile. One thing I should say is that if piled snow sits (packing/packed, has no bearing) the icier it will be and thus harder to shape at it becomes as its more brittle, or at least that was my experience. The pile also sat for a long time too though.

About three weeks later the more snow never came, then one fine day I just started,

I figured otherwise all my work would have just melted away. In second image I have roughed in the general shape of my design and pushed some markers in as reference points for scale. As I said before the longer it sits before you carve it the harder and more ice it has. Here, it was warm during the day ( +3 to 5C ) and then coldish at night (-5 to -10 ) so there were ice and air pockets created by the buried grass and leaf debris heating up melting the snow during the day and freezing at night. In colder climates you don’t have the same problems with the ice but I had the right sculpting tools so it wasn’t to much of a problem. From here you just carve and sculpt your piece ( if you need to do repairs keep a couple 5gallon pails full of snow warming up so when you need it you can just grab a handful and use it kind of like glue/mortar but only when its below zero). I’m going to assume you already know a bit about creating art so I’m not going to go on about it other than to say that I just used pieces of kindling for markers.

Airbrushing murals leaves me a good selection of ladder type apparatus to choose from so I went with a two step bench, a ten foot step and a three bend scaffold ladder. Working in snow I found was a little like sand sculpture in that you can do allot as long as you keep physical weight and balance in mind all the time. It sticks to itself well but its not like clay.

In this 3rd photo I have spent a little more time working in the character of the face, using the markers again for scale. The scaffold you can see in the left corner I stood on to look at my work so I didn’t have to move a ladder every time I wanted to check my work. I had started out just using a pruning saw and shovel but as I have sculpted allot of plastelene I am used to certain tools, the characteristics, shapes and what you can do with them so I gave up on the shovels and kitchen utensils (their just to small). In a pinch they would work alright but if I were going to do this a few times every winter I felt it was worth the trouble and money to get some tools for doing this. So after a good look here on the net, I found nothing. Looking around the shop I found some steel and just made some of my own. A little cutting, a weld here a bend there, a bit of grinding and an hour or so of polishing the long day was over and I had come up with some handy tools. If you are interested in a set of large scale sculpting tools send me an email ( t@art-werks.net ), having the right tools made the whole process allot easier and faster.

This fourth photo shows a still rough sculpture (the head still needs some shaping) and how little snow there was.

These two photo’s above show the finishing touches being applied or rather removed. As I said before, I didn’t have all the snow I had wanted so this sculpture only sort of looks like where I was going with it. Notice the snow pile on the right, its the one I did in part 1.

In the end this was as far as I could go without more snow as I had wanted big wild blowing hair. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

These photo's and article are the intellectual and copyrighted property of  Timothy Arnell all rights are reserved and may not be used in whole or in part without permission. copyright 2010 Timothy Arnell.

How to pack and sculpt snow (part 1 piling & packing)

In this post and the next I will hand it over to my good bud the incredibly talented Timothy Arnell of www.art-werks.net fame and let him tell it as he can do anything

 Thanks AW, and for the opportunity to share.

From what I hear we don’t/didn't have as much snow as usual this year but I’m just new to this area, so what do I know. Well I knew enough to stock up on snow. Sounds funny doesn’t it.

So it started to snow, I started to shovel. Soon, I realised that I needed somewhere to pile it all, where it wouldn’t get in the way or turn the yard into a lake when it melted, so this is what happened and this is how I did it.

You need to know where it (the snow pile) is going to sit, I had no idea what I was going to create when I started but, somewhere along the way I came up with my idea, problem was I didn’t have enough snow but I was assured it would snow again in a few days so I started piling. This is what I did, learned, and used.

First you need lots of snow, a few styles of shovels and something to tamp with which is important (I took a garden spade, cut the blade off and welded it back on at a 45 degree angle to the handle so it was more like a pick). You will also find a small folding (camping) shovel handy as well as a curved pruning saw. I also had a set of large sculpting tools similar to the ones used for clay sculpting,  4 cinder blocks, and 4 half inch thick sheets of plywood, one cut in half.

Pile your snow about 3ft deep packing /tamping it down as you go. Then, cut a lead and side edge right through the middle of your pile and clear away debris, lean 1 board up against each the side, edges meeting at one end creating a 45 degree angled corner. You may want to lean one or two of the cinder blocks against each board to hold them up as I did in the above photo. Keep piling and packing the snow until it starts to fill in the corner and then the sides. Add and move boards as needed, being sure to pack/tamp about every half dozen shovel fulls, the more the better (to force the air out). When the pile gets high enough you’ll have to move your boards around.

 In the above photo I also used steel 2x4's for support (wooden ones would have been better), to keep pressure on the sides while I piled & packed. It depends on how large your building the pile though, I went with an 8x8x8-10ft block but in the end I made two piles (this being the larger of the two). When your on top packing it down be careful not to slide off or collapse the edge, the best place to stand is in the center on top. It took two days to pile all this up. It could of been done faster if I'd had more boards but I wanted the snow to set over night with the boards still up against it. So having only 4 boards to work with it was done half, at a time.

 If I’d had 8 sheets of plywood I would have made a big box and let it sit for a week with the boards ratchet strapped on. When I started this project the plan was to pile the snow in a block shape and then put a lip on the front edge but as you can see in the lower picture I set the board up to do that but had to wait for more snow. The “more snow” never came instead it buried the eastern Provinces and States. Part of my plan was to let the snow sit until mid February when there is a winter fest. Being an artist and new to a town full of artists I wanted to be prepared. Well as it turned out I was the only one in town that still had snow when February came along.

It did snow a bit more but like I said before I needed more snow to complete my design. The lip I was putting on one side was for a hand. If you choose to do the same thing, when you set up the board move it away from the base about 1-2 feet as mine fell. Or you could just make the pile that much bigger (which is what I will do next time) and carve it out, I was just being lazy. So there you have it one pile of well packed snow. 

In part 2, I will talk about sculpting/carving, tools and  where to get them etc....

These photo's and article are the intelectual and copyrighted property of Timothy Arnell, use in whole or in part is stictly prohibited. Copyright 2010 Timothy Arnell.

Speeding the Net Slowly, Choked by the Oppresive Panicked Network Monsters

Seems to me that we in the west have this pie in the sky idea that we can control the future, change when we want, dictate who what and how it's done. enmass. Who makes the discision is not up to us, contrary to what we want and how we behave. At our house we had satelite tv set up but when cash started to get tight we axed it and at first we weren't happy. I'm sure we aren't the only ones that felt that way. We have cable internet and have web based businesses. One day I went lookin for a radio station sort of thing to listen to while I worked with no luck. Instead I found a channel with its plithora of content, a way more enjoyable and convenient to only watch what we want, when we want, sans the commercials. (let me change that, I was just tuning into my fav net radio station and I was forced to listen/WATCH a commercial...What the the helllllll it wasn't like that 4 hours ago, they found us..... Run everybody we are being tracked).
Soon, if not already, we can use cell technology and skip the cable/phone line tether all together. But thats a whole different ball of wax. M T Frie's observations/comments, relay the message that "the monsters (big conventioal networks) are affraid that they may have to give things away" like rich content with no filler like the rest of us for a share. I don't know him (Mr.Frie) personally so I don't know for sure were he's coming from exactly and who's side he's on. From what I've read though, his thoughts are spot on in regards to cable companies fears of us migrating from cable and satalite t.v. These monster media companies are going to have to do something rash and right now or they will be in the same boat as the auto industry and in the last 4 hours it looks like they have. I don't need a monster media conglomerate over charging me, T.V. was free when I was a kid as were commercials. Now if it was me I'd start setting it up now as though the market was gone, drop my prices grab a larger share of the market and reinvest in new technologies and make it happen, and just deal with it. Rather than the "wait and see" or "drag it out" approach, because if they don't then they'll have no control at all as and then watch them loose money. I wish more people had integrity in what and how they do things.Some do. Bruce "the BOSS" did he sued and won against the tix agent. So did Charlie Pride, he opposed gouging and took a stand. He flew to Leduc Alberta Canada to refund the difference in the price a fan had to pay for tix to his show. The tix were $60.00 each but she (the fan) had to pay $1200.00 to the reseller, it wasn't even a scalper out side the show. Talk about "Rude". So the monster changes his clothes opens an other window and sells with his left hand what he bought from his right. Stupid Rabbit tricks are for magic shows and kids. At this rate I soon won't be able to afford to view my own paintings and sculpture. Did you know that in Japan you can stream info at 50mbps for I think about 40bucks a month through the same gage cable (and/or phone line I think) your router or modem is useing to view this blog. I have nothing against anybody making money, and I kinda like ads, in fact I"ve designed lots of them,(being an artist designer and all) but I have not, and short of a dreadful accident will not, ever need to decide what tampons to use, lipstck to buy, or what yeast infection suppository I might need.
But I might be interested in a..........but they lost me and P**SED me off at the same time...... if only I had a choice in which commercials to view and didn't feel like I was being dragged down or choked off.