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The past couple of weeks have been extremely hectic.  School has started back and with the addition of a new course (Art Theory and Criticism) and the accompanying text along with an unexpected update to an older text for Art Appreciation, time in the studio has been limited.

I have been working extensively with Google Sketchup to make sure all the angles are just right for the construction of the bank vault.  The vault has been reduced to 9' tall by 18' wide because of height restrictions in most local and regional exhibition spaces.  Because of the scale of this piece I am using Sketchup to help create a mockup.  The entire sculpture will be able to be broken down into 16 manageable "chunks".  Manageable means roughly 3' long by 10" wide sections for the entryway and larger pie shaped pieces for the door.  Other parts such as gears and pistons will be added after the main pieces are assembled on site.  The main pieces will consist of a large 9' circle (the vault entrance) and a 9' door.  The easiest way to make a circle this large is to actually start with an octagon.  Most radial arm saws have a preset stop for the angle that's required to build an octagon (22.5 degrees).  Cut 8 pieces at 22.5 degrees on each end.  Assemble them together to form a large octagon.  Use a large board as a makeshift compass and you have a circle.  This was the exact same technique I used to create my Superpowers Chamber.  It's also the same technique used to create a gazebo.  My first purchase with the MakeWork grant was a sliding radial arm saw.  This has allowed me to quickly and accurately cut the needed pieces.  In all there will be 32 sections that will be pieced together.  I have created several templates to help this piece move as fast and as accurately as possible.  If a cut is off even an 1/8 of inch...multiplied by 8 pieces...I am left with a 1 inch gap.  Needless to say I am taking my time to make sure the cuts are as accurate as possible.

Along with working on the vault I have also patched and sanded some of the diptych paintings.  I have been struggling with exactly how these paintings should work but think I have settled on a combination of overlapping imagery across two panels instead of my original idea of two different, yet complementary works.

Google Sketchup print out of the various angles and cuts I will need to make

New radial arm saw that can cut 22.5 angles for the octagon

1/2" MDF cut to length. The top piece is the template for the other 15 pieces underneath. This will form the individual pieces that will make up the vault entryway.

Also bought a 6 gallon Porter Cable air compressor and 3 nailer combo pack. The regular price was $299 but I got a refurbished unit for $189 with free shipping. Same warranty as a brand new one.

Labels: CreateHere, F.A.M.P., MakeWork, mark mcleod

This question was posed at the recent MakeWork Sustainability session last Saturday. It's one of those questions that as an educator I should have a pocket answer for, but in reality is much more difficult to answer. The questions is really about justifying arts existence. Why, particularly in the visual arts, is time and money spent on something that few will see and even fewer will understand?

Art is difficult to define. It's this other thing, it's intangible, or as Cai Guo-Qiang put it in the video series Art21, "it's the things we don't see." On a personal level, the visual arts have become an act of expression that for me have moved past the traditional boundaries of media such as painting or sculpture. It's become this mix of media that allow artists, both visual and performing, to move effortlessly between various media. This freedom in an artists choice of media also exists in an artists choice of message. This unrestrcited freedom is why I am personally drawn to create. Through art I am allowed to express ideas and create works that could not exist elsewhere. I think most people have a desire to create, but it's through art that this freedom is cultured. Art allows us to express ideas and emotions that cannot be expressed through other means. Art has the unique ability to on one hand inspire and on the other outrage it's audience.

Why does art matter? It matters because we need it. It exists as a snapshot of the cultural, religious, secular, political, social, moral, sexual bents that define us at a particular moment in time. Creative expression is the foundation and very essence of a diverse cultural experience.

Using Google Sketchup to figure out the angles and lengths of the vault. If you haven't tried it, Sketchup is an incredibly easy to use and powerful 3d CAD like program that's free.

I spent the day looking at air compressors and staple guns to use in my F.A.M.P. project which is funded by a MakeWork grant. The best deal seemed to be a 6 gallon Porter Cable with 2 nail guns and a staple gun for $299. I also managed to find a 10% off coupon online to save a little extra money. I am hoping it will go on sale tomorrow to save even a little more.

I am still debating on whether to use blue insulating foam to build up the thickness of the bank vault walls or to create it entirely out of wood. The foam will be much easier to cut and assemble, but also easier to damage. The wood will take a lot more work creating templates and making sure all the measurements are just right. The foam will also require a different painting approach because it tends to absorb the paint more than wood. I ran some tests last week on the foam and will check those out on Monday.

Labels: CreateHere, F.A.M.P., MakeWork, mark mcleod, sculpture

Labels: CreateHere, F.A.M.P., MakeWork

I was recently awarded a grant through MakeWork, part of the CreateHere initiative in Chattanooga. The funds will be used over the course of a year to develop an entirely new body of work. Check back often for updates.

From the MakeWork website:

In Chattanooga, we take our artists seriously, so we support them financially. MakeWork is an arts grant program open to emerging and established artists and artisans within a 50-mile radius of Chattanooga. The core mission of the program is to stimulate our city’s creative economy and empower artists and artisans with the tools to succeed and grow. Rising and established artists alike are eligible for assistance for studio rental, tools, workshops, and those "someday-I´d-love-to" projects.

Adding to the bottom line of creativity. It’s a beautiful thing.

MakeWork debuted in January 2008. Since then the program has awarded $450,000 to 55 artists and artisans, an investment in Chattanooga’s creative community that has stimulated cultural and economic development for our entire city. MakeWork recipients include cheesemakers, portrait artists, musicians, cutting edge graphic designers, and performing artist. Along with sharing their work with the community, MakeWork artists commit to attend sustainability sessions through SpringBoard and participate in a showcase of their work.

Granting to the arts, rather than taking them for granted.

Join us for a Public Showcase on Friday, July 23, 2010 from 6 to 9 PM at CreateHere.
This event will be an opportunity to meet past and present MakeWork recipients and hear about the projects that will take place during the 2010 cycle.

2010 Grantees
This year 153 Chattanooga area artists and artisans applied, requesting just over $1.6 million. We are pleased to announce that the following applicants were selected for funding as part of the 2010 MakeWork Grant Cycle:

Recipient Name | Discipline
Grant Title
Nora Bernhardt | Visual Arts (3D)
Book Arts Teaching Studio
Wendy & Brandon Buckner | Culinary Arts
A Sweet Tooth for Growth and Knowledge
Aaron Cabeen | Visual Arts (3D)
Equipment Provision for Original Furniture Production
Carlos Colon | Performing Arts
Latin Beat Percussion Classes
Shane Darwent | Visual Arts (2D)
The Flag in Our Hands: A lens based look into America during 2009
Matthew Downer | Other
Slowtime Field Recordings
Linda Duvoisin | Visual Arts (2D)
Linda Edits on the Fly
Caleb Ludwick | Literary Arts
SOUTHSIDE: Eight Short Stories in the Verbal and the Visual
Frances McDonald | Other
Workshops on Public Art Collaborations
Mark Mcleod | Visual Arts (3D)
The Fiscal Asset Management Program (FAMP)
Bridget Miller |Visual Arts (3D)
Creative Eco-Friendly Clothing Line by Astronette: Spring/Summer Collection 2011
Christopher Oughtred |Visual Arts (2D)
Marketing my existing business, North Light Imaging, by creating a stronger web presence (rebuilding my website)
Leif Ramsey |Visual Arts (2D)
Black Friday, a 90-minute documentary film
Justin Wilcox|Performing Arts
Transportation Grant for Moonlight Bride

Labels: CreateHere, F.A.M.P., MakeWork

In my research about the beginnings of trade and currency I came across this article on wampum. These systems of trade have had drastic impacts on the people and their culture.



"In 1609, Henry Hudson received wampum as a gift from upriver Indians. The first European credited with discovering the significance of wampum was Jacob Eelkes, a Dutch fur trader in the New Netherland colony. In early 1622, Eelkes seized a sachem of the Pequot on Long Island and threatened to cut off his head unless he received a large ransom. The sachem gave Eelkes wampum of over 840 feet in length, which Eelkes discovered would command many more pelts in trade among the Indians than European-made goods.

As a result, the two-trade system for the purchase of pelts quickly supplanted direct barter methods. The Dutch began both accepting and distributing wampum as a currency at their trading stations. They began an aggressive campaign of buying as much wampum as possible from coastal Algonquians and transporting it up the Hudson Valley, where it is scarcer, to trade for pelts among the Mahicans.

The sudden growth of wealth of Mahicans, who are considered a peaceful people by the Europeans, soon brought them into conflict with the Iroquois tribes of present-day upstate New York, resulting in the Mohawk-Mahican War.
Word of the value of wampum was spread to English settlers in Massachusetts by Isaak de Rasieres, the chief commercial agent of the Dutch West India Company, who informed Governor William Bradford of the Plymouth Colony of the significance of the belts.
The system of wampum trading did not survive long after the arrival of Europeans. The Europeans introduced metal tools, specifically rasps and steel drills, that greatly reduced the labor needed to manufacture wampum. Additionally, the English in the Massachusetts Bay Colony began to manufacture wampum on their own.

In 1746, John Campbell established a wampum factory in what is now Park Ridge, New Jersey. The manufacture of wampum was a seasonal occupation which arose out of the need for establishing closer trading ties to remaining Native American tribes in the Pascack Valley region."

http://dictionary.sensagent.com/wampum/en-en/

Labels: CreateHere, F.A.M.P., MakeWork

In progress.

2nd Annual Student Art League Trip to NYC.