Petrogylphs Under the Sand

Actual rune like carvings found on Hawaiian beach. Should I rename my blog to “Carvings Under the Sand”? That of course holds a different meaning (more on that in the about section). If you want your carvings to last ~400 years then sandstone will work much better than sand. Although it would also help if you didn’t carve your images right next to the ocean.

The press release doesn’t explain what the Army has to do with this site. If this find is on Army property then what was that couple, who found the carvings, doing walking down an Army beach. In related news – who knew that the Army have their own archaeologists?

Source: http://dlnr.hawaii.gov/shpd/slider/nr16-155h/

Ceramic Poppies Sculpture

Thousands of ceramic poppies used in the Tower of London installation, which marked the 100 years since the start of World War One, have gone on display at selected locations around the United Kingdom. Each poppy represents a British and Commonwealth death during the war.

Weeping Window is a cascade comprising several thousand handmade ceramic poppies seen pouring from a high window to the ground below; the other sculpture on tour, Wave is a sweeping arch of bright red poppy heads suspended on towering stalks. These two sculptures, by artist Paul Cummins and designer Tom Piper, created to mark the centenary of the outbreak of war.

Source: http://www.experiencewoodhorn.com/poppies-weeping-window-at-woodhorn/

Punch To The Gut

I can’t begin to understand a mindset that would let you think that this is a good thing to do:

Looking at that gives me an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach. Illustrates the war against civilization in one picture.

Source: http://mashable.com/2015/02/26/isis-antiquities-destruction/

Armed With Light Against The Dark

I don’t usually link to news sites that bug visitors about subscribing to their site. I wouldn’t want to encourage their garden wall mentality. This item is pretty unique; so I thought I’d post it (also have to give the paper some credit for calling this section “Weird NJ”).

This interesting sculpture is a fountain built, by Waylande Gregory, for the W.P.A. (Works Progress Administration) during the depression. The work is a monument to Edison’s success with the light bulb; called “Light Dispelling Darkness”.

One of the features that makes this interesting is the artist’s depiction of the evil of darkness:

Where the work really takes a turn toward the surreal though is on the six arched viaducts that buttress the fountain’s base. They radiate from the center pillar, each depicting the “dispelling” of one horrific-looking evil of society in brilliantly glazed terra cotta sculptures. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are represented, who, according to the Old Testament shall scourge the Earth prior to Judgment Day. The additional two sculptures represent Greed and Materialism.

War is shown as a Trojan soldier on horseback carrying a shield emblazoned with a skull and wearing a WWI gas mask. Famine, a cadaverous woman with deep sunken eyes who carries the scales of justice. Pestilence is depicted as a lustful blue character covered in festering yellow sores and riding a horse with a dollar sign on its hindquarters. Materialism is represented by a serpent-like creature, which possesses five grotesque human faces and is trailing a ribbon of stock market ticker tape. Greed is portrayed by two hideous, yet beautifully detailed, octopi writhing in battle with each other. Death is rendered as a scythe-wielding skeleton riding a lightning bolt.

According to the news item, the terra cotta fountain went through a restoration project in 2005. If you find yourself in north Jersey be sure and swing by Edison and check out this cool art deco fountain; with luck you might get to see it with the water turned on.

Source: http://www.courierpostonline.com/story/news/local/new-jersey/2015/02/06/weird-nj-light-dispelling-darkness/22996013/

Resist All Extremists

The irony of the title, is intended. Islam has gotten a lot of bad press lately for the terroristic actions of psychos who kill people who dare to create any illustration of the prophet Muhammad. You don’t hear much about other religions being intolerant of artistic representations that they don’t agree with but apparently it does happen.

A statue by the sculptor John Darren Sutton, who has worked on the Games of Thrones series, attracted the attention of religious extremists. Mr. Sutton’s sculpture of the Celtic god of the sea (located in Northern Ireland) was taken down and replaced with a cross engraved with the words “YOU SHALL HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME”. You know that you have crossed the line between being devout to full-blown fanatical, when you feel the need to control the non-believers.

To be clear – if representations of characters from ancient mythology (Celtic in this case):

Are just too much for you to bear:

Then you deserve an opportunity to share your religious convictions with your fellow inmates.

Source: http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/regional/sculptor-shocked-after-sea-god-statue-stolen-from-mountain-1-6537426

“The story of the stone” sculpture for Saint Andrews, Canada

I had not heard of the sculpture trail in Maine. I get a kick out of the fact that the Atlantic Provinces decided to expand the trail into their coastal area. I hope that New Hampshire becomes inspired to join the trail as well.

Karin van Ommeren Sculptor

Over the course of ten years an international sculpture trail has been created in Maine, USA. This trail is situated all along the coastline and consists of 34 monumental, granite sculptures. Two years ago the idea was born in Canada to continue this trial of sculptures along the East coast of Canada.

As I could participate in “Sculpture Saint John” I was pleased to make a sculpture for St. Andrews, a beautiful town in New Brunswick at the Passamaquoddy Bay.

The granite comes from the local “Hampstead Quarry”, a quarry of gray-pink granite. The quarry was last worked in the 1990s.“The story of the stone”  granite. 280x190x80 cm.   (the picture was taken on the workplace)

Stone is the earth on which we walk,

it gives us life and it carries our history.

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3D Printed Venus Sculpture

Kim Thoman is a Nebraskan artist who started as a painter but has moved on to become a mixed media 3D sculptor. Here current work is of color 3D printed sculptures on welded steel displays that she then surrounds with one of her paintings.

I was interested in the fact that she uses OffLoad Studios to do her 3D printing. Unfortunately their website doesn’t contain much useful information about their services (http://offloadstudios.com/).

“I learned more and more about 3D printing and discovered the Z printer. As a painter, none of the other 3D printers are of particular interest…as the full spectrum of color is paramount for me. Since I was already wrapping the Venus shape with my paintings for the diptychs and triptychs, it seemed an obvious evolution to 3D print the shape. I am in the process of making new Venus shapes, wrapping with new paintings and designing new welded steel structures to hold her.”

Source: http://3dprint.com/38897/emerging-venus-kim-thoman/

3D-printed Optical Illusions

John Edmark has created a series of 3D-printed sculptures based on the Fibonnaci sequence. If you spin the sculptures on a rotating base, in sequence with a strobe light, you get an illusion of movement. Mr. Edmark created the sculptures while the artist in residence for Instructables.

Source: http://www.dezeen.com/2015/01/19/3d-printed-blooming-zoetrope-sculptures-optical-illusions-fibonacci-sequence-john-edmark-instructables/

How to Carve a Figure in Marble

Not sure who the blog author, 100Swallows is but I really like his/her blog. The blog’s focus is on great artists but there is a nice series of posts on sculpture. This specific post, on carving in marble, inspired me to order the book “Sculpture: Principles and Practice”. There are many used copies on Amazon for basically the cost of handling and shipping.

The Best Artists

Let’s say you have a block of marble set up before you on a table or bench. And beside it sits your model—a clay model, for instance.

The first thing you do is measure to see if your marble block is big enough. Draw the outline of your model on the block itself with chalk or a crayon—on the front and on one of the sides (the front and the side view)—and see how it fits. Measure with a compass or just a ruler.

The next step—the first part of the actual carving—is to eliminate those areas of the block that you won’t need—that have nothing to do with your figure and are obviously in the way. If they are big areas, you can just start whacking away at them with a hammer.

If a hammer doesn’t get you anywhere you can already begin to use the pointed chisel—a big…

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Artists Push Back on Terror

Like me, you must have read many examples of people expressing their disgust of the murders of the French cartoonists and several other people in Paris. Many have managed to eloquently convey the importance of free speech, over the absurd concept of a “right to not be offended”.

The item the resonated the most with me was a quote by Rowan Atkinson:

“To criticize a person for their race is manifestly irrational and ridiculous, but to criticize their religion, that is a right. That is a freedom. The freedom to criticize ideas, any ideas – even if they are sincerely held beliefs – is one of the fundamental freedoms of society. A law which attempts to say you can criticize and ridicule ideas as long as they are not religious ideas is a very peculiar law indeed.

It all points to the promotion of the idea that there should be a right not to be offended. But in my view the right to offend is far more important than any right not to be offended. The right to ridicule is far more important to society than any right not to be ridiculed because one in my view represents openness – and the other represents oppression”

A very strong image that swept the internet, was originally attributed to Banksy but turned out to be the work of French illustrator Lucille Clerc:

There is already a sculpture that condemns the Paris shooting, from noted sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik:

Memphis Wall Panels

This metal wall decor caught my eye. I wasn’t put off by it’s small size but the description as “retro 80’s hipster” did; a bit. Not sure if the style label of “Memphis style wall panel” is something the artist, Jason Bosh, coined or not.

Artisti’s Esty page: https://www.etsy.com/shop/jtbmetaldesigns?page=1

jtbmetaldesigns's Blog

Colorful Memphis Style Art

This is a recent piece I created from the 4 cool panels I purchased last year. It is a small Memphis style wall panel with clean geometric lines.  This wall decor just screams retro 80’s hipster.  It is all painted in gloss oil based enamel paint for durability and boldness of color.  The main body is deep blue and the accents are painted in gloss black, red, and white.  This item is 12 inches wide and 12 inches in height.  It has a maximum depth of 2 inches from wall.  Do not be put off by the small size the brilliance will add pop to any wall.

     

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Project – Recreating Michelangelo’s “Battle of Cascina” In 3D

When I saw the title of this news item: “Bringing Lost Art Back From the Grave via 3D Printing”, my assumption was that these would be projects that “filled” in the missing pieces of famous sculptures like the arms for the Venus de Milo. Instead this is a report on a project to recreate a Michelangelo painting that no longer exists; called the “Battle of Cascina”.

Turns out the original painting was never completely finished and then was destroyed by a jealous rival artist. As luck would have it, there are some of Michelangelo’s preparatory drawings still available. Also, some less notable artists made copies of the original composition; which can be used to recreate the painting.

An artist, named Mushogenshin, took on the project to recreate Michelangelo’s “Battle of Cascina” as individual 3D printed sculptures. Mushogenshin launched a kickstarter project that did not meet it’s funding goal. As a result he has been continuing the project on a part-time basis.

“I started preparing for the project, on and off, since May 2014 by shooting photo reference for anatomical details, employing a big turntable I built in April 2013. In mid-July 2014 I quit one of my day jobs so that I could dive into sculpting the figures.”

Source w/video: http://3dprint.com/28612/3d-printed-battle-of-cascina/

Experiments in Color

Anyone who has ever taken an art history class is likely to know that the ancient Greek sculptures originally had been painted. Our modern expectation is to appreciate the beauty of the stone “unadorned”.

Sculptor David Worthington’s current exhibition show cases a series of designs called ‘Experiments in Colour’. Mr. Worthington’s sculptures are of marble with color applied using paint that is more commonly used on custom cars.

“What I wanted to do with the colour was to de-stabilise the stone so that it is no longer purely a marble stone object – there is something else going on.”

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/bob-chaundy/david-worthington-experiments-in-colour_b_6211360.html

Good Luck and Wishes Recycling Station

Every three years, the arts charity, Creative Foundation holds a public art festival called the Folkestone Triennial. The event is held in Folkestone; which is a seaside town on the south-east coast of England. The theme of the project is that artists are invited to use the town as their ‘canvas’. Sounds like fun, I don’t imagine there are many places bold enough to let artists loose in their public spaces.

One of the installations that caught my attention is a collaboration between a 3D printer manufacturer Renishaw and an outdoor art group called Strange Cargo. The creative and fun result of their joint effort is the installation of a luck and wish recycling point. Their piece incorporates various lucky symbols: horse shoes, wishbones, 4 leaf clovers, shooting stars, etc. The concept is that visitors insert a penny, make a wish and then take a different penny to spread the good luck.

They decided to title the piece ‘The Luckiest Place on Earth’. I’m very impressed that they printed the piece in titanium.

Source: http://3dprintingindustry.com/2014/10/16/luckiest-place-earth-forged-metal-3d-printing/

Cool Cat About Town Gets Statue

Lost in all the reporting about the Scottish independence vote was this important event, the unveiling of the statue by David Annan for Hamish McHamish; local St. Andrews celebrity. Over the years Hamish’s fame has been growing about town, he now has his own facebook page and a book about him. However, I can’t help but suspect that the desire to immortalise Hamish may have had an undercurrent of competitive spirit with Edinburgh and their statue to a mythical dog.

Here’s a nice photo collage of the unveiling; I like how Hamish even has his own logo:

They managed to get a shot of Hamish inspecting the statue:

I thought I’d round out the post with a nice artistic shot of Hamish in his environment:

Source: http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/fife/st-andrews-pays-tribute-to-famous-feline-hamish-mchamish-1.306330

An Underwater Museum

Learning how to dive is one of those activities I wish I had made time to pursue. In addition to being able to be up close with amazing aquatic wildlife, swimming through old shipwrecks  always sounded like a lot of fun.

Now, imagine being able to swim through interesting works of art as well. Referring to Jason deCaires Taylor’s seabed sculptures as a museum may be a bit of a stretch but I bet it is a blast for divers.

Do you think it would be even more of an adventure if you have no hint about what the works are; before your dive?

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2014/mar/20/the-worlds-first-underwater-museum-in-pictures?