Willow Sculpture

For one of my last projects in Finland I got the opportunity to work at a nature research center. I had no idea what to expect, but by this point I was already way outside my comfort zone. Upon arrival we were told that while we were working we had to wear a heart monitor. Immediately I thought weird....but ok. They wanted to track how the art practice affected our stress levels. Clearly this was shaping up to be quite the peace and love mother nature type project.

The point of this project was to work with local resources and alter the natural landscape. At this point I was a little skeptical. The project leader then went through her presentation of what was possible and changed my mind. We were to work with rocks, sticks and dirt to create a scuplture. I knew right away that I wanted to create a stand alone woven willow sculpture. I had never worked with the material before so planning was a bit vague. I prefer the trial and error method when working with something knew. The happy accidents are always so much better than the planned outline.

We threw a few ideas around, but nothing really grabbed my attention. The group leader then suggested we build a waterwheel as tribute to the one that once stood there. I thought that shape was a good combination of interest and skill. Overall it was a great experience and I'm happy with the result. I hope that it is solid enough to withstand the elements and curious tourists. The manager of the research center said that he would keep it for as long as it was safe. I will have to check on it sometime.

Kaamos ON/OFF

This was a massive project involving around 70 people. We all worked together at a manic pace to get this ready in time for the opening and some of us were working right up until the last hour. We knew it was an ambitious project from the start, but sometimes you just need a challenge.

We rented a small parking lot complex and spent most of the first two days filling it with snow and ice. This was definitely the hardest part of the whole project. Everyone needed the raw materials to begin working and it felt really weird to be working so hard to move snow that was literally surrounding us and raining down from the sky.

In order for everything to be ready on time we divided the complex into sections and I manged to make it on to the team that was responsible for designing one of the entrance ice domes. A hemisphere balloon with a 6 meter radius was covered with a thick layer of ice then deflated to create the working space. It was a simple yet effective solution.

Unlike previous projects in Finland, there was no heavy sponsorship to cater to so we could do whatever we wanted. I knew right away that I wanted to push boundaries and try something new. After much discussion we decided to make fabric sculptures that would be frozen in space. We thought it would be interesting if we could shape the fabric into a free standing spiral structure. A local artist donated some fabric for us to work with. However long story short, it wasn't meant to be.

 

 

As you can tell the sculptures lack any sort of aesthetic appeal and structural integrity. Personally, I was crushed. I still think there is something to this method, but I will have to work on it at a later date. So on the last work day we changed our design entirely and the race to the end began. The first thing we did was switch out the spiral fabric for ice.

This changed solved two problems. It gave us a place to hide our light sources and was much better than their fabric counterparts in every way. We didn't want to abandon the fabric completely so we reformed it into a forest structure.

This redesign helped to emphasize the printed image much better and gave a nod to the famous Finnish landscape. We then hid some speakers behind our fabric forest to further create an encompassing experience for the viewer. We created a series of atmospheric noises by distorting sounds from a xylophone and walking through snow. An unexpected bonus from our sound installation is that the bass noises reverberated throughout the entire complex.

Show time arrived, everything was in place, and it looked fantastic. It really was something that could only be experienced in person. The sound, lighting, and visuals all combined to create a unique experience. Unfortunately, spring came and it survives only through pictures and memories now.

Kaamos ON/OFF Fashion show

One day in Finland I was wandering around the University when a poster caught my eye. It was advertizing an upcoming modelling show that would be held for Rovaniemi Design week. At that point I was already building a snow castle/installation for design week so I thought, why not model in front of my own art. Long story short the Finns agreed that I was sexy and I got to model a contemporary ice sculptor outfit.

The apron was made of highly reflective and durable material with ergonomically placed pockets. The boots were rated for -50 C and they were about the only part of me that was warm. It was around -15 C at the time and I was outside for about 20 minutes. It was cold. Some of the girls had it much worse than me though. At least I didn't have to wear 5 inch heels and walk on ice.

Muse Rant

Here I find myself again sitting before my dear neglected blog, which only ever really wants to just promote me as an artist. Now before you roll your eyes and cringe over the idea that this may be an apology post, I direct your attention to the title. Yes this will be a rant of thoughts that are pestering my brain box. I know we all love pretty pictures and even video, but for now life dictates that I only have my words to express with. Worry not dear followers, I am doing my best to get back into the studio and yet again resume my consumption of various chemicals through art supplies. Now on to the rant.

As my art career furthers and the day of finding a real job looms ever closer I occasionally sit back and think, trying desperately to find meaning through it all. What is this feeling that drives me to art yet at the same time allows me to lose hours in thought. It is best described as a source of motivation or muse, if you will.

I use to think I was lost as an artist. I was aimlessly creating looking for the theme that would be me. Now in moments of reflection I see that it has always been me with an ever focusing goal. It is an odd feeling to know that you are working towards something that will be the culmination of your being yet have no idea what the hell it is. Every time someone asks me for a general explanation of what it is I do, I am painfully reminded that I still have no idea.

As it is right now, art is my only way of life. I can't see myself surviving without it. It invades all my thoughts and daily life. The people closest to me are based in art as well. So its art or nothing.

The problem arises when you consider the state of the modern world. In many ways it is hostile to the artist way of life. My present niche is much more forgiving than many parts of the world, but I still can't seem to drop the feeling that I will fade away into some menial job. I can't let that happen.

Ice Sculpture

One of my first workshops in Finland was ice sculpture. As a whole the experience was great, but much of the process drove me crazy. We were bound by corporate sponsorship so right from the start we had stunted creative freedom. Add to that the thrill of working with a new material and I was off balance pretty much the whole time.

The first workday arrived and we received our material. Due to an exceptionally late winter all the ice was man made instead of bits from the lake. What this translate to is ice that is foggier and shaped funny. We had to adjust all of our measurements and reshape several blocks.Fortunately ice is a surprisingly easy material to work with and we made quick work of the set back.

Our sponsor was a local bank so we decided to make to an exaggerated safe. I was feeling a bit steampunk at the time so I was really excited to carved a whole bunch of random gears and machinery parts. Our initial design detailed a safe that was 2 meters high and offered the possibility for people to poke their head inside. As with all public work, safety had to be considered so a down scale was necessary. To compensate for the extra blocks of ice one of my teammates suggested we make a herd of children's banks to accompany the adult bank. Naturally I thought they meant the common piggy banks, however in Finland for whatever reason piggy banks are hippo banks. So we got to work on making an army of hippos surrounding a larger safe box.In the above picture you can see our first prototype. To emphasis the Finnish aspect of the work even further one girl thought it would be nice to fill one hippo bank with Finnish berries.

The finished work was lit from within the safe box and the under the leading berry hippo bank. Due to time constraints, I did not achieve the level of detail I was hoping for, but it was a successful project none the less. I discovered that I really enjoyed working with ice. It allows me to indulge my desire for large scale sculpture without the consequence of what to do with it after. Ice melts and there is not much you can do about that, but for at least a little while it was shaped into meaning something a bit more.