Then, I got a call from Misty, a journalism student who had seen my show back in February and liked it. She wanted to do a documentary on me and the philosophy of the project. She wanted to film me creating a piece start to finish.

O. my. God.

I told her I would do it.

And that forced me back into the studio.

And I did it.

I was working with different materials. Similar materials, but different than the ones I used in the first series of this project. There was a learning curve.

And I pulled it off. I got in there and created. I took new photographs of a new (gorgeous) model and played around with cutting those up and collaging those in a fashion. I figured out how to display the work that uses flimsy metal as its canvas, and cranked out nine new pieces in a little over three months.

It was highly rewarding, very exhausting and truly cleansing for me and for the people who contributed letters to the project. The resulting show, The Leaving and the Left – Teardrop on the Fire, opened August 7th.

And now I think that I’m finished with it. I don’t know. I said that if the donated love letters and post breakup emails didn’t come in, the project would die. And the letters and emails aren’t really coming in. I’ve tried a donation center at the show, I’ve tried Craigslist postings, I’ve Facebooked it and Twittered about it trying to solicit letters for the project. All failed.

So I think it’s over. I really enjoy working in this medium, and I want to continue in this vein, but I don’t know what direction to take it. There are still some behind the scenes things I’d like to accomplish with this project, and there are other (more glorious) reasons that I may abandon it.

People who want to see me continuing on with this project, though, need to submit some letters. Send yours, or tell your friends to submit theirs. Spread the word.

If you haven’t seen the new show, and you live in Missoula, you only have three more days to check it out. It’s at Noteworthy* Paper&Press (near The Wilma, on Higgins) until Thursday afternoon.

Steampunk Drone

Growing up in the rust belt, I’ve always been fascinated with dilapidated things, worn out parts, rust and decay.  I could never figure out how to paint like that, and I’ve always wanted to.

Sunday, I attended Michael deMang‘s The Island of deMented Toys workshop at the ZACC in which we destroyed old toys and created new ones, and, in the process, painted them to make them look old.  It was a whole lot of fun.  I learned techniques that I know I can use in future projects, though I know I probably won’t spend a huge amount of time ripping apart dolls and other old toys.

The process was a fun one, and I’m beginning to figure out which colors to use and how to layer them.

All of the participants will be showing their toys at Tsunami on February 6th, 2009.  That’s this coming First Friday.  Be sure to pop over to Tsunami after you’ve had a chance to see my solo show over at Noteworthy.

Steampunk Drone (detail)

Decayed Screws

Originally uploaded by love not fear

I used muriatic acid to rust the screws. Once I got them to rust the way I wanted them, I coated them with an acrylic finish to prevent further rusting.

I tested them, and they are still strong enough to hold things together, the acid did not compromise their integrity.

I’ve abandoned the practice of poking holes in the metal with an awl.  I’ve found it’s much faster to drill the holes.

Muriatic acid, I’ve found, is much like the Wu Tang Clan — it ain’t nothin’ to mess with.

Metal Sheet 1 (opposite side)

Originally uploaded by love not fear

Got the metal cut, and a camera to record the results. Am going through letters again. Scanning the letters I rip up. Not sure how I feel about this yet. Cleaning glass, cutting wire, hammering holes with the awl, affixing glass to metal. Playing with the paints, too. As well as experiments with other rusty things.

Leaving and the Left Prototype 2

Originally uploaded by love not fear

The Original Gimp was over at my house the other night as I was completing another prototype. At his suggestion, I made one without wood, but instead used metal. His reasoning for the switch is that wood is too warm, but metal is cold, and the pieces seem to have a cold theme. I don’t think the theme is cold. Rational, yes. Clinical, maybe. While all loves are different, looking back with a clear and rational head into past relationships to learn what worked and what didn’t is a positive way to both honor what went before while building towards a successful and long-lasting relationship.

The process lends itself to asking questions like, I wonder what she’s up to now? Asking the questions is fine, but making the call, dropping the email or doing a Google stalk is not and would probably be perceived as disruptive.

I’m still trying to figure out how to apply all of these ideas to the actual finished artwork. I’ve figured out that I want to use metal as the background, and I think I also want to use wire to attach the glass to the metal, as showing in the new prototype. A problem that I tackled while making this prototype is how to attach the glass sandwiches to each other. I want the binding method to be transparent — no glue showing. I tried doing this by spreading the Superglue evenly across the glass, but it still dried somewhat opaquely. I know that Superglue makes a glue specifically for glass, so I need to go pick me up some of that.

Todos

Get glass bonding Superglue
Get metal scraps
Cut metal scraps
Read new email and letters

Oh, right. That reminds me. I found a new folder of letters and also figured out how to import all of my archived .mbox emails into a local mail client.

Prototype Leaving and the Left 1

Originally uploaded by love not fear

I finished the prototype last night. I’ve never approached making art in this way — making a prototype. Typically I go with first draft=final draft. But this series is important enough to play around a bit and figure out what works and what doesn’t. I’ll explore below what I’ve learned logistically during the process thus far.

I generally like the way it turned out, but there are some obvious imperfections. I’m anxious to make another prototype to see how what I’ve learned from this one can be applied.

Visually it looks good. I know I need to do a few things:

• Spread the superglue evenly on the glass so that the sticking points are not visible
• Go back into the electronic communique and even out the way text is distributed
• Mix the colors more evenly before applying them to the glass — I wanted to see if the paint organically blended
• More sandwiching of glass

I’ll learn more about the process as I do it, I’m sure.

A few questions I’m asking myself need to be worked out.

Should I quarantine each person’s sentiments per piece? For this one, I mixed letters from two different individuals with the idea that these types of emotions are universal. I’m thinking that maybe it doesn’t work within the piece, and that I should isolate feelings from individual writers. Still include both love and loss in one piece, just keep it focused on one person per piece. That will mean making more than one piece per person.

The inclusion of paint comes from a suggestion that another artist gave me as I explained the idea to him, and I like the idea.

Leaving and the Left - Love That is Shared Between Us

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