phase 3 redux - develop thoughtful algorithms

All 14 together!

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:30Klosterneuburg.JPG

Finished all 14 angels and demons! I'm planning to display them vertically, but arranged this way for the photograph, they remind me a little of the Klosterneuburg Altar (which I studied but have never seen in person ...yet ;)).

Klosterneuburg altar by Nicholas
of Verdun, ca. 1180

Of course, true to form, once I finished all 14, I decided that they needed just a little something more...another layer of internal framing? So I carved 2 new blocks of ornament for the corners and printed them in gold ink on gray paper...


 Now, seeing the photo, I think that the paper is about 3/4 too wide (oy.)

\with my index finger both for scale and to help the camera focus - 
I added highlights in the eyes using the tip of a needle dipped in ink - fun times

I bound the two books I've been working on 

as a student in a pop-up book class at the 

Columbia County Art School!

 (Now what to fill them with...)

But it wasn't all angels and demons this week. Over the weekend, I went to Zea Mays Printmaking studio in Florence, MA for a workshop with Nancy Diessner on photopolymer printmaking!  

Thinking about algorithms - bookmaking and printmaking are both algorithm (a repeated series of steps with several options structured as "if-thens".) 

Throw back to mini #27 - from the Power in Precision Project
When I made this, I used digital prints for the 
cityscape and figure, but wasn't satisfied with the image 
quality of those areas...2 years later, I think I may have 
finally solved that issue, haha. 
Coincidentally, I made this the week the tiny press came
into my life :)

Photopolymer printing is a process I've been wanting to learn more about as a way of translating some of my digital photographs into a more manual process. 

I'm going to have to think some more about this, because on the one hand, it's complex and requires specialized materials and equipment (so there are lots of stages along the way where I could make costly mistakes - eep). On the other hand, it produced the results I was looking for... (so, to be honest, I've already decided that it's for me and am thinking through the logistics of how to make it work ;).)

photopolymer prints based on my photographs :)

I think my love of Chuck Close
is coming  through in this photopolymer print

I'll have time to think about it because it will take me some time to work through what I have - I pulled as many prints as I could (dozens in a single day - I can be efficient when I want to be ;)). Not all of them can be finished pieces, but, thinking of my work like beloved pets, the piece that aren't "show quality," will find happy homes as the starting points for collages.

Like the creepy instance of finding the Greek
coin that matched my work in the Met a few
weeks ago,
there were aedicules that match almost exactly
the angel and demon's houses everywhere in the
 building including in the stained glass.

In para-art news, I went to "Troy Night Out," in nearby Troy, NY. I was an artist resident at the Contemporary Artist Center in Troy in Summer 2012 and I like the area and enjoy visiting. Little did I know - there's a Tiffany church, St. Paul's in downtown Troy! Almost the entire interior is Tiffany (windows, lights, stencils, architectural ornament!) Seeing it, I had one of those "I'm so excited I might faint" moments.

this is a picture from wikipedia,
mine didn't do it justice:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Paul's_Episcopal_Church_(Troy,_New_York)

phase 3 redux - develop thoughtful algorithms

The algorithm I worked on this week: the most efficient project is a completed one, haha. Joking (sort of), but seriously, I kept trying to figure out how to make the inverse of last weeks block of a kneeling figure. I know there are probably lots of ways to do it, but I just couldn't decide on one. I ended up redrawing the figure (mirror imaged) onto a new block. Maybe there really is no such thing as an "efficient" gothic-style, multi-block, collaged, polyptych (hahaha).

I finished 3 more of these to reach the total of 7

Front - my favorite one so far

Back - I mounted them to black cardstock
and in my quest to eliminate the glue -
the columns have tabs which side through slits
and then the top is connected by a brad.
The hanging loop will go around the brad

I also cut an inverse of the previous block and a new wing. printed, drew on, cut and assembled the 7
figures that will flank a central image on the opposite side.

I also worked more on the giant tarot card, reusing the body and feet from Spes.

the black is acid-free tape - It's like playing with a giant paper doll

still working on the hands and objects, but it's coming along

still no neck...

And there was gardening :)!

Earlier in this week - snow :(

Before (though after removing a dead shrub)

After -  brick bed, mulch and plants - herb garden!

Phase 3 redux - develop thoughtful algorithms

Quarter not included - Thank you  George Washington for providing a sense of scale ;)
nerd alert: I'm especially proud of the drapery - my own hybrid style of muldenfaltenstil and hairpin  

New art lovelies...

following the algorithm, this week's check list:

- plan blocks (tracery, figure, wing)

- carve blocks (without accidentally stabbing self if possible)printed 

- individualize with white ink and color pencil and black ink and color pencil

- cut out

- assemble

- photograph

- upload/digitally format

two thumbs up! 

(May come back with more text later, but for now - a walk, day job work, show application (fingers crossed), and (hopefully!) some nap time? :))

Phase 3 redux - develop thoughtful algorithms 2

arting...

Still stuck on this representation of Philosophy from
Boethius Consolation of Philosophy
http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts
/record.asp?MSID=8419&CollID=8&NStart=4338

Its starting to seep into other things I see,
like this bust at the Met last week

If you can't beat them...

I incorporated the crown print I just finished to make a fusion of "Sophia"
and the tarot card "Papessa/ high priestess"
(which plays a role in an audio book I just finished
 "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern - recommend :)) 

approximately life-sized + 10% with my fingers for scale

it will have a flame (spiritual knowledge)
and a book (worldly knowledge),
getting the elements to interact through light and shadow
is a challenge

I made a special trip to the store for this paper.
Even though it's too small for the whole sleeve,
it's the exact right color...

drapery of the sleeves

This was my work station  -
the level of mess is directly proportional to the amount of fun I had :)
(It was awesome! There is still room in the class for any local
readers who want to join in the fun.)

class 1 - paste paper - look what I made :)
swirly stripes, visual yum!

In other art news, I'm taking a course on book making with artist and Rauschenberg Fellow Beth Thielen at the Art School of Columbia County.  The class focuses on several things I've been wanting to learn more about - paper making, binding, and
boxes.

I've been thinking that a book is a type of algorithm - it provides a familiar blueprint for viewing. I'm enjoying making relief prints, but want to take another step to provide a "built-in context" for them...