Archive for August, 2007
Each year, Home Resource puts together a killer fundraising event called Spontaneous Construction. Last year, one of my pieces raised quite a controversy in the silent auction. The picture of me manning the machine gun built by the boys whose father complained about one of my pieces made it onto the poster and onto and the website, how fun. This year, they’re doing it again, and it promises to be a huge event, including music by The Flying Rickshaws, beer from Big Sky Brewing Company, a silent artwork auction, and of course, the actual spontaneous construction itself. Home Resource is located at 825 W. Kent Avenue in Missoula. Click here for directions. For those of you who don’t know about Home Resource and their mission, they are a non-profit organization that collects and sells re-usable building materials to reduce waste, build healthier communities and promote a more vibrant sustainable community. The spontaneous construction is a block of five hours wherein teams of up to five people can run amok in a specified area of the Home Resource yard, collecting materials with which to build a sculpture that will later be auctioned off, the proceeds benefiting Home Resource. It’s a lot of fun, and can be a team-building experience for participants. Last year’s was a blast, and I have some photos to prove it. Other planned events include: * Paint a door: we provide the door, the paint, the brushes, you provide the vision! I’ve donated two pieces to the silent auction, one a spatter piece I did using recycled wood that I got at Home Resource for the frame over which I stretched recycled canvas and used donated housepaint I acquired from Home Resource. The other is a collage that I framed using wood found at Home Resource as well.
Minimum bids begin at $75, which is amazing. 50% of the proceeds from the sale of my work will be donated to Home Resource. Please plan to attend the event, bid on the art, and maybe even participate in some of the events. Click the links below for full information.
SPONTANEOUS CONSTRUCTION 2007 – AUGUST 25TH @ HOME RESOURCE
It was dark in my house and all I wanted was to take a bath and fall into bed. I’d been working ten and eleven hour days all week out in the hot sun mowing lawns, digging trenches, laying sprinkler pipe and hauling around boulders to help build a creek bed and I was tired. The bathwater was running, and as I prepared to sink into the soothing heat of the water, I noticed that I had run out of soap in my bathroom. No problem, I thought, I have some soap in my gym bag. The art that I had scattered around my kitchen in preparation for the show at the beginning of the month had been hung in the gallery space, so I had no reason to believe I would trip over anything. I had recently cleaned the house, and, I thought, everything’s in order. I didn’t turn on the light as I walked in my bare feet to retrieve the soap from my gym bag. You know what’s coming. There was a pane of glass leaning against the wall under the window near where my gymbag sat. I kicked the edge of the glass with my foot. The glass caught my foot between my baby toe and fourth toe. A sliver of glass about three inches long and an eight of an inch wide broke off and lodged itself between my toes, shaving off part of the top of my fourth toe in the process. After some prolific and piercing profanity, I limped into the bathroom and turned on the light to survey the damage. I gently pulled the glass splinter from my gushing foot and dug around in my drawer for the cotton balls and peroxide. I turned off the water running in the bath and sat down on the toilet to clean my foot. There were no stray particles of glass hiding amidst the gore that I could see, but the blood wouldn’t stop, so I couldn’t be sure. It hurt. A lot. I decided the best plan would be to go ahead and take my bath, letting the warmth of the water ease out any remaining glass to work its way out. I was careful to keep my feet in one spot, wash myself with a washcloth, and avoid much movement to prevent more cuts from any glass that might fall out of my foot. The bath seemed to sooth the pain and ease the bloodflow, but when I drained the tub and stood there drying myself, the blood started up again.
I set to work again with the peroxide and tried to get the blood to clot. Knowing my foot would be trapped in a hot workboot all the next day, I wanted to keep the air flowing around it during the night, so I treated it with some Neosporin and went to bed, finally. Surprisingly, in the morning, there was not a crusty bloodstain on my sheets where my foot came to rest. I arose, limped back into the bathroom and washed the dried blood from my foot before applying bandages and athletic tape, throwing on a sock, and fixing myself breakfast and lunch for the day. No major issues to report during the workday, just minor discomfort. Last night, I finally put together the profile for the frame, hoping that my little mishap would not mean that I would have to cut another piece of glass. I gingerly picked it up and set it into the frame. HHhmmmmnnn, I dunno, I thought. I couldn’t tell if it was noticeable. I really wanted it not to be, but the more I looked at it, the more I knew that yes, I am going to have to cut another piece of glass. Sure, this one is still usable for a smaller piece of art, but dammit, I hate cutting glass almost as much as I hate cleaning it. So I’m off to the garage to see if I can find a piece that works. If not, it’s off to Ace to get a piece.
So I completed my todo list for the August art opening and everything went well. Here are some photos of the exhibition as it was hung.
Damon and Reuben Vold arrived about the same time I did at the gallery space. I had been there earlier to hang artwork, hammer and level in hand, and now was the moment of truth: did we really pull it off? Or, more accurately, were we about to really pull it off? During the day, usually about six days a week, I’m out either mowing lawns or landscaping. One day, landscaping, Damon, who works with me, and I were talking, and I invited him to play at my art opening, never having heard his music. He agreed, and said that he’d try to talk his brother Reuben into playing as well. Reuben agreed, and The Brothers Vold made their debut at the CTA debut into the Missoula First Friday community. It was a night of firsts. It was my first “official” art exhibit of the year, opening in a real gallery space instead of just an alley. (Though I really enjoy the alley shows.) It was the first time CTA had participated in First Friday. (Interestingly, the fact that I even exhibited at CTA is a direct result of my alley shows. The office manager for CTA dropped by the alley in June, and I got an email from her the following Monday inviting me to participate in First Friday at CTA.) And it wasn’t until Damon and Reuben began playing that I learned they had never played together publicly. Very cool. And they sounded great together. The turnout, however, was not as good as I had expected for the number of postcards that went out. I also sent out a blast email and blast text messages, which, incidentally, was a successful experiment. One of the couples that attended the show because of the SMS message, and they ended up buying a piece. I’m chalking the turnout up to the fact that CTA is a little out of the way, and they have never participated in First Friday before, so many folks didn’t know to come down unless they had received some sort of mailing from me, or read about it in the Independent (our weekly newspaper in town). I’ll have another chance at a better turnout when they have a Grand Opening to reflect the new direction they’re taking towards towards green building. Overall, it was a great show. I sold two pieces on opening night, and hope to be selling more as the month progresses, especially on August 23rd when they have their grand opening reception. More on that here as I get details.
Preparing for the opening of my current art exhibition this time around has been one hell of a challenge. Past exhibitions occurred during a time in my life that I was either unemployed, or worked a t a job that facilitated me leaving to work on art stuff when I needed to. I was able to dedicate the majority of my time to creating art and preparing for the exhibition opening. Recently, however, I joined a landscaping crew. We’ve been working 9 and 10 hour days in 100º weather, and by the time beer-thirty rolls around, I’m pretty tired. Still, I managed to accomplish most of the things on my todo list, or was able to outsource some of them anyway:
I think that’s an exhaustive list. I still have some work to do. Hopefully, I can accomplish most of it this evening before heading out to see the very last International Playboys show. Tomorrow: taking the day off work to play catch-up and treat myself to a Bikram’s class. See you all at the opening tomorrow at CTA Architects, Engineers.
In coordination with CTA Architects Engineers, I am proud to announce the opening of my newest art show, Old Favorites, New Loves. As the title suggests, you’ll see some familiar work as well as some new canvases that I’m pretty excited about. Throw in a couple of never-before-displayed publicly collages and there’s a lot to see (and buy!). The fun starts at six PM and runs until eight. We’ll have some light refreshments, including beer and wine (I’m told). The music is sure to be great, as local musician Damon Vold will be on hand to embrace our ears with his drumming. He said he’s got some surprises up his sleeve too, so I’m looking forward to seeing what that means. As you’re out and about during First Friday Art Walk tomorrow, be certain to swing by CTA Architects Engineers over on Railroad Street, above the Orange Street underpass, across from the old Montana Hotel.
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