Thumbkin Maquette

The CofC sculpture department has been lucky enough to score four $500 public art commissions for its students this semester. A competition will be held among all advanced students who will each submit a public art proposal, complete with budgets, drawings, and 3-D models. My proposal is geared towards the City of North Charleston's commission, for which the parameters are relatively boundless. Since it commands quite a bit of space, I would love for this piece to be able to live among the other large-scale sculptures at Riverfront Park.

This proposed installation is comprised of seven massive concrete thumbs, each depicting various stages of progressive motion. Crawling like an inchworm, the thumb comes to life as an object all its own. He becomes a character in his very own story. To further this concept of personification, the thumbs will be scaled up to human-size. No longer are they appendages, but bodies of their own. Those familiar with the childhood nursery rhyme “Where is Thumbkin?” should know that this song has served as a great source of inspiration for this body work.

February 2010

painted cast plaster thumbs, model grass, wood, wire
approximately 24" wide x 4" tall x 6" deep

Situation Ossification

I typically start with a shape, a form. Something nearly completely visual. Somewhere along the way the concept hits me... it's like "Ooooohhh, so that's what this piece is all about!" This time around it didn't hit me... I had to go hunt for it, chase after it, wrestle with it. Luckily I pinned it down just in time to get a title to Karen at Redux.

I'll try to spare you the long-winded attempt at an explanation....

os·si·fi·ca·tion (ŏs'ə-fĭ-kā'shən) n.
1. the natural process of bone formation
2. the process of becoming set in a rigidly conventional pattern, as of behavior, habits, or beliefs
3. rigid, unimaginative convention

To me, this piece deals with the issue of growing up. I'm not wanting to make a statement on the issue as much as I am an observation. So, the form is of a fluid nature. It's nothing in particular... but after seeing it up in the space, I liken it to several things often associated with childhood... tears, drool, a runny nose, you get the idea. Yet this substance (whatever it is) has been frozen. The steel armature gives it a certain stiffness, a rigidity, a pattern. It's been hardened... it's been ossified.

January 2010

steel, polypropylene landscaping fabric, light

CLICK HERE for many more photos of the exhibition and the opening

Now Showing!

The opening was a blast. Everything looked great.
I could get used to this.

stay tuned for an official piece post including many more words and images

coming sooner... (!!!)

Last Friday was the big move... and it proved to be much easier than anticipated, thanks to all my great helpers. I had nightmares of it bending, ripping, getting caught in tree branches... but luckily not a thing went wrong! We met at 10AM in the sculpture studio on campus, picked the thing up, and walked it down St. Phillips Street several blocks to Redux. It felt like a parade or something... but without the crowds and goofy music.

in the studio... ready for the big move

on the move.... see our reflection?

We made it to Redux!!
(Pictured with Karen Meyers, Executive Director of Redux...)

And just shortly after 12PM, the piece was up and hanging in place above our heads. Kind of freaky how things just seem to work out sometimes...

Just one more week until opening night! Maybe I'll see you there....?

coming soon!

It's good to be back in Charleston, and perhaps even better to be back in the studio! I spent the first week of winter break, and will now spend the last week, putting together my most exciting, most ambitious piece yet (or so I like to think)! I am so terribly thrilled to have the opportunity to be a part of Redux Contemporary Art Center's first show of the new year! 1x1 will feature works by the nine tenured faculty members of CofC's studio art department alongside with works by each professor's student of choice. I will be showing with my very cool sculpture professor, Herb Parker! Congratulations to all my talented colleagues...

Marshall Thomas
Matthew Bowers
Samantha Theall
Sarah Haynes
George Davis
Shelley Smith
Maddie Reyna
Liz Vaughn

With so many artists and so little space, we have each been given a 60" x 60" space in which to display one piece. Somehow, I've managed to bend these parameters... just slightly... ahem. So, yea, the piece I'm working on will be approximately 16' long, 5' wide, and 9' tall... but, of course, only 60" x 60" will protrude into walking space... the rest will remain above the viewer's head. I mean, "art is what you can get away with," right? Warhol wouldn't lie...

here's a little sneak peak... my maquette

Situation Manipulation Maquette

I've recently stumbled into to fun world of maquette making. More and more I've been finding myself stuck, picture in head, pencil in hand, and absolutely no clue where to begin. I have had the hardest time visualizing, in 2 dimensions, such fluid 3-dimensional things. So I've been left with no other choice than to construct. Using simple brazing techniques (learned in sculpture 1) I'm able to create a mini 3-D version of just about anything. It's great, really... to make a small thing... that I know, one day, will be real... not to mention real big! Here's the maquette for my recent piece, Situation Manipulation.

September 2009

made of brazed steel bailing wire, and newspaper
appx. 7" tall, 20" long, and 15" deep
scaled at 1" = 1'

Statement

A work in itself... and very much a work in progress. It's hard to write an artist's statement when you're in denial about being an artist. But it's been an extremely beneficial exercise. Makes me wish I was required to write about my work more often. Perhaps it's too playful, not serious enough... but I think it rightly represents how I feel about the things I make and about what art is to me, at least at this point in my life.

December 2009

I like amusement parks almost as much as I like to make things. The creative process is such a roller coaster. After experiencing all the ups and downs and twists and curves of all that goes into creating a finished piece, I often stumble off the so-called ‘ride’ slightly disoriented. Once I recover my equilibrium, I feel that childish urge to squeal, “let’s do it again!” And that’s exactly how I want others to feel after encountering my work. It’s about experience. I like to think that the things I create, especially my architectonic sculptures and installations, will cultivate a child-like enthusiasm in even the grouchiest of folks.

I am so impressed by, and will admit, my work is very much inspired by, children. They embody a sense of wonder and have a compulsive playfulness that is nowhere to be found among the bulk of grown people. At what point did we all become so uptight? Art, for me, is the force that yanks me from my comfortable routine, jerks me around, makes me nauseous, and yet keeps me begging for more. Thus the things I create are an invitation for you, if only for a moment, to loosen up, buckle up, and enjoy the ride.

Situation Manipulation

My most recent piece. Aiming to get out of my comfort zone, this is what I came up with. It's another tunnel of sorts. Walk through it, bend with it (if you're tall enough, that is). I designed it for this space, the CofC student gallery, which is where it's living for the time being. There's a chance it may get to make appearances elsewhere... keep your fingers crossed! I'm looking forward to using this technique more and more in the very near future.

October 2009

armature made from roughly 280 ft. of arc welded 3/4 in. rebar
covering made from roughly 120 sq. yd. of landscaping fabric (procured from the theater department) hardened with 4 1/2 gallons of polyurethane.

Hand Me a Biscuit!

I was really drawn to this position of the hand... a neat shape, I think. Decided to cast lots of them and put them all together in an abstract-ish piece. I had a hard time deciding how to display the hands for our class critique, but once I got them back to Atlanta, they quickly found their home on my mom's kitchen table! What a lively centerpiece!

February 2008

6 cast plaster hands (mine, of course!) stained with tea

WALK Gallery Installation

Just a few weeks ago I was contacted by Max Miller, the fantastic local painter and just extremely nice dude, about being a part of WALK Gallery. WALK is a new Charleston organization that puts art in empty storefronts along Charleston's main shopping street, King St. Their website describes it as "a win:win for all — visibility for local artists, increased visual appeal, interest on the street, and a means to enhance available space." Not a bad idea, huh?

So I was, and still am, beyond thrilled to have this opportunity! I could not have asked for a better space to work with. It's huge! Just how I like it! It will be up until mid-September... and if I'm lucky, perhaps a bit longer...?! So if you find yourself strolling along upper King, keep your eye out for this monster that lives in 501 King! It's not too hard to miss.

August 2009

wooden panels covered in lots of manipulated carpet padding... nearly 10,000 staples were used!
approximately 13 ft wide and 10 ft tall

(this photo was taken before it was entirely finished... I have since closed the central hole in some more... But I think I like it better like this...)

Derivative Discourse

This piece made an appearance in the The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art's 2008 Young Contemporaries show. I've not been able to put my hands on the photos taken when it was on display... yet. Will work on getting some better ones.

January 2008

(photo taken from above)

made of brazed steel wire and newspaper... roughly 2ft x 2ft x 2ft

Petrified Pertinence

This was made my freshman year at CofC to satisfy a Sculpture 1 assignment. I was excited to work on the face... had done a series of faces in high school... out of clay. The reductive process was much more challenging than I had anticipated. Nonetheless, I ventured to challenge myself further with a specific expression... one of utter pain and distress.

March 2008

carved out of a solidified plaster and vermiculite mixture

Adit Anew

Some further adventures with carpet padding... wanted to take it a step further and create a space with the material. Ideally, I would have liked to have lined the walls (and ceiling, of course) of some kind of slightly cramped existing thoroughfare, but suitable spaces were limited. I chose instead to construct my own hallway, designed specifically for a spot in CofC's Simons Center for the Arts. It went at the top of a turning staircase... it was unexpected... unavoidable... exactly what I was going for.

March 2009

As you can see, it's rather large. I am forever indebted to all those who aided in the installation/de-installation of the piece... especially to my incredibly encouraging and ridiculously accommodating professor, Jarod Charzewski. We had the pleasure (??) of installing it once, for our class critique, and then a second time, for the Halsey Gallery's 2009 Young Contemporaries, the annual juried CofC student show.

Read about it here... on the Charleston City Paper's website.

I was thrilled that the piece was going to get to live for another month, the duration of the show, but was unfortunately informed just days after the opening that that wasn't going to be the case. Apparently carpet padding is a highly flammable material... and the placing of my piece was in "direct violation" of the fire code. Imagine that. It was promptly moved.


It was beyond repair. I shed a few tears. But oh well... I'm recovering. At least I got some prize money from the show!

There's a chance you may be seeing a resurrected version of Adit Anew in the near future... will keep you posted...

4ft x 8ft x 8ft tunnel constucted with 2x4's and covered with drywall

Where is Thumbkin? (on the move)

This is my latest Thumbkin piece. Somewhat of a model for what I would like to do large-scale. Unfortunately it only got to stay up for a day... plaster isn't the most durable of materials, after all. I would have liked to have done them in concrete, but naturally, as a student, I happened to be under time restraints. I do still have the molds, so be on the lookout for baby concrete thumbs!

April 2009

And no, I did not get in trouble for destroying the vines... yet... they grow back, right?

I've been having fun lately with installation sculpture... I'll elaborate on this someday on my other blog.

nearly 50 cast plaster thumbs... ranging from 1 to 3 inches tall

Where is Thumbkin?

This is the first of my Thumbkin series... I hope to do many more! I was inspired by the childhood song by the same title. It currently resides in the College of Charleston's Sottile Sculpture Garden.

October 2008

made of cast concrete... stands roughly 3ft tall

Confounded Foundations

This is my first carpet padding piece... The material caught my eye in Home Depot, and I simply had to have it, for I immediately had an image of what I wanted to do with it. I carted 2 big rolls of it around in the the back of my car for the greater part of my senior year of high school, but it wasn't until the end of my 1st year at college that I finally figured out how to make it do what I wanted it to do. I like to think it's the first of many.

April 2008

2ft x 2ft wooden panels covered in manipulated carpet padding

Combination Cultivation (deux)

This is my most recent sculpture... inspired by the piece in my previous post. It is a chair of sorts- perhaps a bit more like a jungle gym.

April 2009

made from nearly 400ft of arc welded 3/8in steel rods

Combination Cultivation

This piece is currently on display in the College of Charleston's Student Gallery as part of the 2009 Salon des Refusés.

September 2008

made from nearly 150 ft. of welded 1/4 in. steel pencil rod