Descending Ashtray

I have been working out in the garage on some wood flowers for a gallery downtown. It is nice working at home again especially with good ventilation. The only problem is that all of the outlets in the garage are hooked up to one breaker. I have blown it several times today alone. I had to run an extension cord from the house just so I could run the dust collecter while the sanding machine was going. It sucks!
Dave, did you have to run a separate line to your garage when you put the 220 in or was there a breaker box in the garage that could handle it?

Sarah and I visited my friend Sara Kennedy in Seattle this weekend, and ended up checking out two museums on the University of Washington campus.

At the Henry Museum, there was an amazing Maya Lin exhibition called “Systematic Landscapes.” Basically, it involved repetition of common objects to form perceived landscapes. The largest piece was a miniature hill made of 2×4 lumber stood on end, about 80×40 feet and probably 12-15 feet high at its pinnacle. An immense amount of wood, and very incredible to see. Sara told us that Maya Lin had intended visitors to the exhibition to walk/climb on the piece, but the curators had vetoed the idea. It was very hard not to. I think if I ever create a piece like that, I will insist on my vision. When you’re Maya Lin, I think you get to be difficult. In fact, I think you’re supposed to be.

There were several great pieces there, including another large installation of a segmented countour made of bandsawn and laminated MDF. The edges were so crisp, I can’t imagine how they installed it or moved it from place to place. It must have weighed a ton, as well. Very impressive, though.

On a much smaller scale, there was a great piece where she had cut shapes/contours from old atlases to create 3D lake-like depressions in the pages. Difficult to explain, but PBS’ Art 21 web site has a short video.

I got to thinking more about the exhibition later, and the artist’s responsibility to his work. Is Maya Lin required to personally install or supervise installation of each of her artworks forever? What about after she dies? You can imagine that as your body of work grows in number, installation/repair activities could take so much time it would prevent you from creating new work at all … especially when you consider that her works are literally all over the world …

Yesterday I started working on a compost bin. I used some weathered wood that was left behind and found a good out of the way spot between the garden shed and the fence. The ground there has a slight slope and I am going to line the bottom of the bin with plastic which will drain to some sort of funnel or hose into a bucket. I read somewhere online that compost juice is like liquid gold for plants.

We removed old carpet from three of the rooms in the house. In two of the rooms the hardwood floors underneath were pretty good but the main dining room area was pretty bad. So Brandy and I went out and rented a floor sander and refinished the floor. The woodstain turned out really well and then we used a special floor poly to seal it up.

The sanding machine was a beast to maneuver.

The woodstain really made a difference. Do you like the door knob on the front door?

Sarah and I went to a Sigur Ros concert tonight. We haven’t been to a concert for a while, but this one was amazing. I was pretty curious how they’d be live, and I was surprised in a very good way. The sound was just incredible in person, moving your whole body. Combined with the amazing light/multimedia show, it was probably the most emotionally intense musical experience I have ever had. They played mostly songs from their new album, Takk.

I was also surprised, not knowing much about the band, how much of the sound is not digital. I just didn’t picture a man able to reach such high notes, nor to sustain that kind of falsetto for 2 hours! Wild. Great drummer, too.

The opening act was Amiina, who I want to check out further. 4 women who played a variety of interesting instruments (cello, violin, wood saw, “service, please” bells, piano, organ, computer) in a really compelling way. A very good opener to Sigur Ros.

I got some good sculpture ideas during the concert. I want to do more with light, as I did a teensy bit in college.

Oh, and Ticketmaster still sucks, just so you know.

I have always wondered how you cut your own mats. I feel confident I could make a nice frame, but never knew how to cut the mats. Now I just need to learn how to properly cut glass and I’m all set.