Spiraling Forward
It’s been a year since I launched this website and devoted more energy toward completing the art concepts that percolate through my brain. In the five months since I finished my work with the Three Rivers Historical Museum it has been a mixture of day job obligations, travel, and the pursuit of my own development in the art world.
In the middle of the museum project from my previous post, Carrie and I traveled to see our friends who had recently moved to Minneapolis. We enjoyed seeing the sights of the city and the campus at University of Minnesota. We caught a football game and saw their daughter’s hard work at being both a college student and a leader within the marching band, The Pride of Minnesota. There was delicious food, public art, farmers’ markets, and lovely fall weather to top it off.
At the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, a view of ‘Spoonbridge and Cherry’ designed by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. Behind, ‘Hahn/Cock’ by Katherina Fritsch, the Basilica of Saint Mary, and Central Minneapolis.
Between Halloween and Christmas, I snuck in one more museum project. I built a stand-alone display wall for the Tulare County Museum in Visalia as part of their newest exhibit showcasing the history of farm labor and agriculture in their region. It’s a pleasure to be in a position where I can contribute to the community, helping to build the foundations for others’ access to history and information.
Just before Christmas, Carrie and I traveled to San Francisco for a quick holiday getaway in the big city. We had a lovely time eating gourmet food, walking a lot, shopping, and seeing the opening of Ali Wong’s latest tour. It was a lovely opportunity to treat ourselves and get a breather during the busy winter season.
As last year ended and this new year began, my friend Nick and I also built two new arcade cabinets. I’ve enjoyed delving into the world of gaming again within the context of making old-school arcade cabinets. I remember begging for more coins at pizza parlors as a kid so it’s fun engaging that nostalgia for people who grew up in the cacophony of arcades, before consoles and headsets took over the world.
Since 2023 was the year of the cabinet commissions, I began 2024 pushing to engage my creative processes with regard to gallery art. I continue to make progress on canvas painting with a pair of paintings underway. I entered my sculpture ‘The Dangling Carat’ into my first juried show at Scarab Creative Arts in downtown Fresno and earned an honorable mention from judges Robert Weibel and Steve Dzerigian. A second, larger sculpture intended to be part of a series that begins with ‘The Dangling Carat’ is underway, if only in fits and starts.
The same week I dropped off that sculpture for the show, I was also able to participate in a two-day class under the tutelage of Monique Wales of Red Tail Studios. She was a warm, kind teacher and the class had a very enjoyable weekend. We learned the ins and outs of linocut and printmaking and it sparked me to acquire enough materials and equipment to make a real go at trying my hand on a few designs.
A test print on the left and my carved plate of one of the many figures sculpted into the cornice around the exterior of The Louvre.
I tend to prefer artistic processes that allow me to engage my planning abilities as opposed to spontaneous expression. Which isn’t to say I don’t engage in the latter, just that my brain tends not to. I was never very confident in my improvisation as a tenor sax player in junior high jazz band either. Now, between wood sculpture, painting, and printmaking, I’ve begun learning a trio of practices that can progress as needed while the others dry, cure, or are otherwise paused in their creation.
