HOLY MOLY

Man what a great day! Liz and I did so much. I totally fell in love all over again with Beacon, New York. First, of course there is Dia. Liz had to drop off a Red Velvet cake at work and man oh man as always jaw dropping. I still can't believe we are lucky enough to live 20 minutes from freaking DIA. Anyhoo we decided to get lunch. I had heard rumors about this place from Liz's co-workers and SHO NUFF! Freaking Poppy's! Hamburgers! 100% Grass Fed 100% Local 100% Organic 100% delicious! I had some kind of B B Q Bacon burger that almost made me go crazy. Also we had a HUGE bag of hand cut french fries. SON OF A B!!! Melt in your mouth goodness. You gotta go! POPPY'S 184 Main St., Beacon, NY 12508 Closed on Monday, Tues-Thurs 12-7 Fri-Sat 12-9 and Sun 12-6 Link about poppy's.

After that... across the street....the School of Jellyfish also pretty mind blowing. Here is a blurb "The School of Jellyfish for the Advancement of Sustainable Living and Chocolate is... a few architects, designers, and thinkers with a lot of ideas to help you feel better in your own skin and make the world a finer place for all — while you appease your dark chocolaty side." Well let me tell you we had a dark hot chocolate with a large marshmallow, chili powder and whipped cream as well as a STELLAR chocolate truffle served on a piece of Ply-boo (plywood made from bamboo). Yes sir. My mouth is just freaking loving me right now. The space is really great. When we were in there a Charlie Chaplin movie was being projected above the coffee bar. The furniture had a really interesting space saving design where the benches keyed into the table.

When we left I was almost ready to pass out from sensory overload. We popped into one last store and visited Clay, Wood and Cotton. It was a great little place that sold some really nice things. They had hand printed towels, beautiful serving dishes, bowels salt and pepper shakers, handcrafted camera pouches and lots of wooden spoons. They also had some really nice clocks. Man I am spent. I was going to work in the studio tonight but after all of this I just want to sit on the couch and watch a movie. Liz is making macaroons so the house smells great! Life is good.

Here is a time lapsed movie I did in Poppys. That is all for now. Talk soon.

ahhhh sofa

Well I am back. It has taken me this long to process SOFA and how everything went. Here are just a few things:

Helped Sienna man the booth. Met and worked with some awesome folks. BARBARA SEIDENATH, RAISS BUMP and LAUREN KALMEN. I also had a good time meeting some of the Cranbrook grad students and Stefan at the Ornamentum booth oogling Iris Eichenberg's work. Had drinks with Doug Bucci and Don Friedlich. There were lots of folks there that I wanted to talk to but didn't have that much time. Most of my days were spent stopping people from taking photos. Namita, one day, we are going to have lunch or a drink and sit and talk for a long, long time. I swear. What a great time. It was a whirlwind! Anne and Mark thank you so much for inviting me and of course I want to thank the Sienna Gallery for bringing me. Be friends with her on Facebook.

Now that I am back....

The best thing I learned about all this was what people buy at SOFA or maybe who buys at SOFA. For a long time I have subscribed to the notion of democratic design. Something for everyone. I truly believe that something great should not have to cost an arm and a leg. So maybe SOFA wasn't really the place for me. For people that have had the luxury of growing up napping on a Le Corbusier lounge or ate TV dinners off of an Isamu Noguchi table or even used a Peter Voulkos charger as a fruit bowl, congrats, officially I am jealous. REALLY jealous. Since good design was all around you when you were growing up it I believe it desensitized you to beautiful things. I saw a LOT of beautiful things at SOFA. If I had the money I would have bought most of it. On the other hand I saw a bunch of stuff that I wasn't so thrilled with. I am sure people looked at my work and said the same thing.

In my opinion, jewelry functions, for the most part, when someone wears it. If you are only making jewelry for the 5% of collectors or buyers that come to SOFA, then your piece should be made out of crystal skulls, mayan gold and the bones of the elephant man. A piece can be beautiful and not have to cost $50,000.00. Here is the problem. You gotta eat. You gotta pay your bills. You have to at least cover your costs of going to SOFA. I guess what I am getting at is that I think my prices were too low. The illusion of value wasn't there. I didn't think about all of the fees associated with a gallery going to SOFA. Its a whole new ball of wax. Booth fees, lights, paint, packaging, phone line for the credit card machine, lettering.....It is not your neighborhood craft show. It is a large machine with lots of high polished, quality parts that are expensive. It requires high test gasoline.

On another note, I had this "big idea" that didn't work. It was 66 separate brooches that when assembled together formed my hand. I used a 3D scanner and CAD software to generate these pieces and then fabricated silver sheet and pin stems for their backs. Priced at $100 each, which I might add barely covered the cost of the silver back and 3D print material, never even got touched. I had this great idea about tracking the pieces as they were sold who has what part. Joe Smith in Dallas, Texas had the tip of my thumb Jan Smith in California had a piece of the palm. etc etc etc. Out of the 66 brooches only one sold. oh well. Anyhoo enough of my babbling. Here are some images from the show!

Propane

I can't remember if I posted this. I just watched Objectified with my Digital Fabrication class. It had ups and downs. It kind of made me feel like a waste. I feel like I should be a collector instead of a maker. Are we all just spinning our wheels? How is what I am making important to the world? Do I just make things because I have to? Is it part of who I am? Is it that important? On the eve of SOFA I feel like I need to re-evaluate the subject of my lecture and completely re-work it.

thing to do when we get back to Richmond

Just realized that there are so many things missing from the list. Krispie Kreme, VCU, Ipanema, Cous Cous...etc etc etc.

Also our houses almost made it in the Times (Thats the New York Times folks). If only the cameraman had stepped to the right about 5 feet. Oh well. On that not we have two beautiful places for rent. A studio apartment and house for in Richmond VA. Near Gallery Five. Both newly renovated with all new appliances and new hard wood floors. If anyone wants photos LMK

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/travel/18hours.html

SF

Shepard Fairey from Arkitip on Vimeo.

FYI

Hey everyone just a quick heads up for you Philly folks. My buddy Anthony Tammaro has a show up at the Wexler gallery. Here are some images of the show and some images of his work. The video is great

sneak peek

MORE episodes!!!

Design for life | Episode 2 from designforlife|episode2 on Vimeo.

Design for Life | Epsiode 3 from designforlife|episode3 on Vimeo.

Design for life | Episode 4 from designforlife on Vimeo.

Tom Joyce

I have to take a quick break from my grueling studio schedule and talk about our recent visiting artist here at SUNY New Paltz, Tom Joyce. Oh man. What to say? What to say? I remember his lecture at SNAG a couple of years back being absolutely amazing and this lecture was no different. It was just eye opening and mind blowing. I have a new found respect for metals and metalsmithing as a whole. It made me seriously want to get back to work. For me it was perfect timing for such a motivational lecture. The number one thing that I got from all of it was "keep working". I tell myself that everyday but his lecture just hammered it home (hah!) Here are just a few images of his work. I especially love the prints that he has done with burning wood panels.

Design for Life

Design for Life from design on Vimeo.

just checking in (don't forget the stuff at the bottom)

Still plugging away at the work for SOFA. It is coming up FAST!!! I had to pause today for emergency dental stuff. Right before I left richmond I paid $800 dollars for a couple of filings.....that fell out while I was chewing on some movie theatre candy. Son of a B!!! DAmn you twizzlers! I go back on Thursday for the "major" work. My poor yuck mouth. I also wanted to point out a great article on Lauren Kalman by Gabriel Craig in this months American Craft. Lauren is the one of the other artists that is going to SOFA with Sienna. I love her work. The metal in the mouth makes me cringe. I feel like I am back in the dentist's chair. Anyhoo here are a couple of process shots just to prove that I have been doing stuff.





Some of the things that I am working on include generating 3D shapes from points on a map. Here is how it goes:
1.Screen shot of google maps
2.place background bitmap in Rhino
3.Running a Script that generates 3D surfaces from points
(This script is based on the Voronoi tessellations. These tessellations generate cellular structures from predetermined points. The script allows for cellular growth which in turn automatically makes polygonal cells. These cells are then used as the base of the brooch. Here is a great link on how to draw the http://765.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-draw-voronoi-diagram.html)
4. I then determine a pattern based on icons from google maps (thumb tacks, stars markers etc)
5. I then extend and trim the pattern. I also draw in the tabs for the pin stem and catch
6. The copper is painted and then the template is "etched" off with the laser.
7. The brooch is then drilled, cut and folded into its final state

working working working

Just thought I would keep everyone in the loop. I am experimenting with the laser cutter a bit. These are prototypes for SOFA. They are made from upcycled copper (left over copper flashing) I paint the sheet and laser etch the paint off, cut them out and fold them up. The final designs are being tweaked and will probably be a bit more complicated. I am having some problems with the pin back as well as size etc. the interior will have a flat sheet of pattern so you wont see the copper on the inside. I am also throwing in a video of the laser in action. It is kind of random how the laser chooses which lines to "etch" first. Whacky machine. Tell me what you think.

all done

Whew that was close. I think I finished raising the fine silver about an hour before we left for the wedding. Anyhoo. It was a smash hit! Too bad I was in the bathroom when they cut the cake. Too many Jack and Cokes I guess. 12 gauge sterling silver, Sand blasted, brass brushed with a polished edge.

Cake Server

I got a little side tracked from the SOFA stuff. I forgot all about Liz's brothers wedding. Anyhoo here is the cake server Liz and I made for them. I hope they like birds.

Just saw this and thought it was cool. It really shows what you can do with different types of 3D printing materials. It is from a flickr friend called SUPERRUNE. Great stuff. Couldn't have explained the process better myself. I might steal it for a slide show in my Construction Fabrication class at SUNY.

its my birthday!

I just wanted to take a quick break from my studio work today to talk about how my girlfriend rocks!!




For my birthday Liz bought me this coffee machine that I have been secretly eyeballing at the Blue Cashew ever since we moved to New Paltz. I also truly believe that the secret to an academics heart is a good cup of coffee. So she hit the nail on the head this year. The machine is a Jasper Morrison: Rowenta Coffee Maker and I personally think it is one of the best designed coffee machines ever!!! It drives me absolutely nuts that these companies have been making coffee machines for so long and they can't freaking make a non drip spout or a carafe that isn't made out of feather weight highly breakable glass. God forbid they make one that looks good. I have bought or used countless coffee machines over the years and only just now have I found the ultimate machine. No drippy pours, no fancy timers, no complicated measuring systems, no hard to clean trays and IT LOOKS COOL! Oh and did I mention it makes an incredible cup of coffee!!!! Thank you LIZ!! Thank you Blue Cashew! Thank you Rowenta! Thank you Jasper Morrison!

New laser at SUNY New Paltz

I thought I would pause fro a moment and share some images. We are setting up a new Digital Media center in Fine Arts with the help of Jenn Woodin our new Ceramics faculty. Part of the lab is a new laser cutter!!! I documented the whole unpacking. Here it is for your viewing pleasure. -Arthur

SOFA

The cat is officially out of the bag.