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.

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

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.

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

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