On another note...

In the lull, awaiting answers from the Habitat people... I have been working on other things.

I am confidant  that sometime in the next year I will get to exhibit the Ophelia Project, and installation and performance.  I brought in the pink rattan furniture from the garage and built in the DVD player that will play "Gentleman Prefer Blonds."  I LOVE building stuff!

When I was designing the Habitat Scrapbook, I also designed the book for "I Dwell in Possibility."

This is a project my son and I collaborated on.  I was just post surgery and pretty out of it when we did the shoot.  I love the outcome!

It is a 12 image suite of prints.  The first 2 images are at the printer  and I really look forward to getting them!  But, good grief!  Look what I did on the cover!!!!  I typo-ed our names!  On 2 copies, no less!
Oh well, the books were not being sent out anywhere.  I will order again, with the "L's"  in the right place.

A few delays...but still working

There have been some delays on the Habitat front due to their move into the new building.  The grant writer and the architect did a studio visit to day to consider the size of the piece versus its designated location.  I hope to have it installed in a couple of weeks.  Tomorrow I will measure the metal rails and the eye bolt locations for the architect.

Part of my proposal was the making of an artists book for the Habitat Library, documenting the people and the process.  That was delivered today.  It really is cool.  It's an Apple book, printed from iPhoto.  The colors are rich and lovely.

And the people are glorious!  

BUT...see the next post for the other book I ordered and continuing work on other art!

Here's the thing...

Bad weather abounds....although the sun is shining pretty fiercely.  Marcus, my wonderful helper, only has to commute across the alley.  So, 10 inches of snow only delayed things long enough to clear driveways and clear out cars.

We plugged away on catty-wampus modules today.  Crimping here, cutting away there.  They seem to get up to mischief in the night!

But today!  against all odds, we moved both halves across the room and hung them from my tin ceiling.  They match!  We measured well!  We will now let it rest until Monday.  Hopefully the little houses will get all their partying done by then;-)

We have just moved part one across  the room after 2 full days of wire adjustment

Now part 2 is joining Part 1

Marcus getting ready to move the cousins closer together.

It is too large to fit in the photograph.  Some modules still need adjusting, but HERE IT IS!  Largely finished!

Mining the floor for treasure

I have been crimping away on the second panel for over a week.  My helpers all got sick or injured, so I was on my own for a while.  I just plodded on with lots of breaks and some icing of my still recovering shoulder and forearm.  Snips and glimmers litter the floor beneath the work area.  Often I do not need to cut wire from the large spool.  I just look to the floor and see what has fallen.

All but the last few upper wires have been strung and crimped.  That is not to say that there is little left to do.  There is always trimming, adjusting and nattering around.  When you adjust one connection it affects at least four more connections!  But we are definitely in the final leg and well into the home stretch of this project.  Marcus and I will go over to the building tomorrow to meet with the architect and see where and how it will hang.

We are officially AIRBORNE!

The first half of the project. sometimes thought of as the bigger half, is off the wall and hanging free in the studio.  It was so exciting to see it in mid air.  While there is still tweaking to do, probably mostly on site, it is pretty much how I imagined it could be.

Here are the exciting videos of Marcus and John moving the work off the wall and pivoting it into storage position.  

"Storage position?" you ask.  The piece will cover 16 linear feet when it is completed.  I do not have 16 linear feet of wall with sufficient height to make this piece.  So, we decided to pivot at a 90 degree angle to the pinwall so we can compose in relation to the existing panel.

 Here's the view of the hanging from the sewing area.  And then, a photo of the layout of the second half beginning.
None of this would be possible without the help of my assistants:       Dale Kennedy who has worked with me on and off for years.  He helps me figure out the logistics of putting things together.          Marcus Larson, neighbor, friend, tall, master gardener and artist .          John Mitchell, neighbor, friend, tall and kind.There is a theme here...I like to hire kind, tall men to climb tall ladders;-)

 

Getting pretty wired...

We tightened up the design today and began wiring it up!!!! It is so exciting!  That is Dale, manning the grommeting machine and Marcus is pinning the design more accurately.

We loosely wired one section and removed it from the wall to see how it moved and how the light passed through.  It moved way better than I expected and I love seeing through it to other "stuff."

This Marcus, my neighbor, a member of my dog's "most favorite human" club, a master gardener, an artist in his own right.  AND, he is TALL!  He can reach even farther than Dale can, and we have always teased Dale about his "freakishly" long arms.  We haven't needed to climb the ladder today.  But by tomorrow we will need to climd I am sure.

Here is a photoshopped version of the design at the end of this workday.  The left side of the photo is actually on the wall, the right side is virtual, as I hope you can tell.  Otherwise my wall sure is odd!