PART FOUR of NATURE AND ANDY GOLDSWORTHY ARE BETTER THAN ME

We've established a few things about myself. No need to name them all of them(blogging makes me feel egomaniacal enough we don't need to point that bit out); you should know that I'm not great at documentation or proof reading. This is the most I've done for any project. I don't like people around the old creative process unless I'm telling them what to do and I trust them to do it (see what I was saying). I've just been let down too many times. It was nice to work alone until it was my time and scheduling that became the issue...

 Day one at la casa de mi madre. I clear the land. There's more cleared land around it you're just not allowed to see. I'm kidding you'll see it later. Stop being greedy.

 The material gathered from the land. Part of it anyway.

 The base... from the land! Held together with stuff from the old garage.

 I affix the sticks.

 It has a skeleton held together by bits of string.

 Assembly! I wish I had a montage for you but I don't. As you can it's about nine feet tall.

 It developed a twist.

 I thought it was finished here.

 Then I thought: what if it looked as though it's really coming from the land? Great, more work. It's already a late project might as well turn a ridiculous amount of time into an absurd amount.

I then slayed the brambles at the base and laid them as if they were pouring forth into the obelisk.

 

There you have it. Why was it shot facing this direction? I pulled an Akira Kurosawa on this one: there's a big blue house behind me. It looks best here, trust me.

 Attempted artistic photography with my phone.

 Again, attempted artistry.

 Full glory.

 See, I told you there was other stuff you didn't want to see. Those are my yearling trees and I love them.

This is as site related as I could think of. It's a good thing no one lets me design monuments.

I noticed this too.

There you have it. If you're not my professor: why are you still reading this? If you are: I'm sorry I never update this thing, Tyler.

NATURE AND ANDY GOLDSWORTHY ARE BETTER THAN ME

 Andy Goldsworthy has his identity as a person and artist firmly locked down. People pay him to travel and set up installations that might not be permanent. Sometimes the only evidence is pictures and video. I must admit I am somewhat jealous of this prospect. He appears to be the real deal too. When asked to explain himself; he will most assuredly, albeit slowly, do so.

A film featuring Mr. Goldsworthy was the introduction to a formal study conducted with elements found in nature- an assignment if you will. Best of all, we were to do the study on a series sunny spring days at Tacoma's beautiful Owen Beach (not "Owen's" as you'll hear it called in these parts). We were to go out in groups and explore and create. Once again, we all had issues separating ourselves from concept.

 An inspiring log.

 Our project pictured above. It is only aesthetic. No meaning. Meaning is not allowed here; only form. We added completeness to the form of a log with sticks and debris.

 Form.

 My best shot. Lighting and color aren't great. It was later carried into the ocean. Don't read into it at all.

Next was part two. Go into Point Defiance and create something in response to place... formally.

 Formal trees downed in parallel. Different sizes. I got macabre in my head thinking about a family dying in their backyard from a shock wave lying in the same direction... but this was folly.

 Texture.

 Texture.

 Texture everywhere.

 It was neat but there was no "aha! moment". So, once again I set off like a babe in the woods. I kept thinking about what stuff meant and junk (I'm deep like that). The more I wandered the less I could focus on the assignment.

 Sat on this tree for a while.

 Climbed up in this one and pretended to be a vulture. Nobody saw me. If only I were a panther.

 I saw this moss while I was up there and snapped a rather large amount of photographs.

 I then happened upon this lichen (not the werewolves from Underworld; the fungus and algae partner organism). I plucked and set it upside-down on the moss and photo'd it.

Part Three: The Misunderstandening 

 The dogwoods were in bloom at my Mother's property on the upper Key Peninsula. I plucked them and messed with patterns.

 I enjoy spirals. You're getting sleepy.

  Sleepy.

 Very sleepy.

 Checker board.

 I knew I was doing it wrong. As it was later explained to me: those patterns would look great anywhere. I needed to respond to the place. Which I did when I saw this salal and noticed the different tiers which I then highligted with dogwood flowers. It makes for shit photography, but here it is.

 meh.

 Whoa. What's this? The best that Ian can do! I liked it, anyway.

 

All these trees decided to grow like they are going to fall over. Nothing to do with the assignment.

Stay tuned for part four where Ian doesn't really know what he's doing, but is instead responding to his experience.

TENSEGRITY

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tensegrity

Tension sculpture is both fun and frustrating. It can be done with simple inexpensive materials with no formal training. Truly amazing tension sculpture is using a combination of maths and engineering. I sadly lack in those  departments and therefore stumble about and hope my creation won't resent me  for making it a horrible monster. Luckily, unlike the good Dr. Frankenstein, I was dealing with red straws and bits of string (fire bad in either case). I digress. Follow along on this guided tour.

 Not much in the way of process. Fool around with slotted straws (approx. finger nail's length in the ends or a smidge if you want to be technical) and string (approx. white) until something happens. It helps to start with three straws and let anger and frustration guide your hands. Above is my finished piece and I liked how it turned out.

 In a shocking twist we were then told to vote for four that we liked. My sculpture got 3rd. We were then divided into four groups and told to replicate one that was not our own. Above is the one my group was assigned. I got separation anxiety. I felt like Otis watching Milo float downstream. Interesting possible fact: they may have gone through as many as twenty kittens during the filming of that Dudley Moore narrated masterpiece. Sorry, I keep getting sidetracked. I wanted to replicate mine.

 It's a good design.

 I can see why it got first place.

 We labeled everything in preparation for replication. It went smoothly once we all worked together cohesively.

 We later had to skin our group's assigned sculpture. The skin had to highlight different planes present in the sculpture. This is the skin I proposed. Nice easy and monochromatic. This is not the one we chose.

 I don't have picture of that model though.

 This is the end product: A full-scale replica of the assigned sculpture complete with skin. Time, as is often the case, was not our ally. If the fabric looks poorly fitted; that's because it is. If the color scheme looks like we are UW students that happen to be fervent supporters of U of O; that's because the scheme was basically their colors. Oh well, I would've said something nut it seemed of little consequence until the public arrived. Then color was all they could see.Why is everything wrong? The answer is: time.Scheduling and supplies were a major issue for my group and they didn't seem worried about doing this the day we were supposed to setup. Ultimately, this disaster is my fault. I have time, resources, and space to do all of this properly. I should have taken it all home and done it myself in plenty of time. It didn't seem in the spirit of group work, though. I shouldn't be saying any of this. Maybe it's ego, but the blame rests largely on my shoulders because despite the scheduling issues I could've done more; I just didn't want to be the only one working. Shit.

Final thoughts: My group was made of really great people that happened to not be prepared for the amount of time necessary to make a polished end product. When we were all together we worked hard and well.

This is how my original design worked out. That group got away with nice and simple due to instability(just like its designer). All joking aside, I was very impressed with how well this was recreated and how this particular group persevered.