Collector image...

One of the nicer treats I can receive is a picture of a sculpture installed at a collector's home. If I've delivered the piece myself I often have an idea of how it will be displayed, but in the case of shipped work I may never get that opportunity.

I received this image of Trios installed in a back patio a while ago but just got around to sharing it now. Night shots are great (I don't know why sculptors don't shoot their work like this more often). Thanks for the image, Ron.

Daphne

Taking perhaps longer than anticipated, Daphne is finally completed. The detail and level of finish of this one is perhaps beyond anything else I've done. Needless to say, I'm happy with it.

The Precious Object

This Friday is the opening reception for The Precious Object, a group exhibition I'm a part of at the Minneapolis Central Library organized by the Walker Art Center and mnartists.org. Bringing together a diverse group of artists, it looks to be a really interesting show. Stop by later in October for some panel discussions on issues relating to the work as well. See the larger poster below for more info.

Pflipsen Glassworks

The whole family drove over to River Falls, WI for an enjoyable visit with Steve and Katia of Pflipsen Glassworks the other day. I briefly met them at the Madison Art Fair a few weeks back and we immediately saw a connection in our work. The pair collaborates to create simply beautiful jewelry and sculptural objects. Steve is in charge of creating glass with a wonderfully ethereal quality and Katia creates these beautiful organic, and yet almost architectural (think Gaudi), soldered constructions. Their work is top notch and I can't recommend them highly enough.

SI09

I took a little road trip down to Chatfield for the Standard Issue Iron Pour, brain child of Karl Unnasch and perpetrated each year (this was the third) by a host of various and sundry characters. After the pour was over, they like to let down their hair a bit... below is a shot of some of the after-hour festivities.

Progress

To say that raising a child is time consuming is understating the matter. Progress is still being made in the studio, however. In fact, I have two pieces underway at the moment, unusual for me. The vast majority of the time I begin and complete a single sculpture before starting another one. But I was carried along a wave of energy after getting the basic framework for the one finished and so I moved on to the next, smaller piece right away. Below is the larger of the two.

When talking about starting a piece, painters often complain about the difficulty of making a mark on a clean, white canvas. As soon as you begin, the multitude of options available begin to diminish. Each mark limits the next, and these limitations build on each other as the work progresses. It can be incredibly difficult to make those first few marks in the void.

Making a sculpture is no different, except that you are dealing with three dimensions, not two, and the resulting void of space is that much larger and intimidating. While later stages of a sculpture may be more physically tiring, there is nothing more psychologically draining than the beginning.

SculptureWalk

The whole family at the installation of Nighthawk for SculptureWalk in Sioux Falls, SD.