Extremes

Sometime to straighten out my thinking I read Andy Warhol or about Andy Warhol. Right now I'm reading 'I'll Be Your Mirror, the Selected Andy Warhol Interviews.'
This is from an interview with David Bourdon 1962-63. (p. 7)

B: A few years ago, Meyer Schapiro wrote that paintings and sculptures are the last handmade, personal objects within our culture. Everything else is being mass-produced. He said the object of art, more than ever, was the occasion of spontaneity or intense feeling. It seems to me that your objective is entirely opposite. There is very little that is either personal or spontaneous in your work, hardly anything in fact that testifies to your being present at the creation of your paintings. You appear to be a one-man Rubens-workshop, turning out single-handedly the work of a dozen aprentices.

W: But why should I be original? Why can't I be non-original?

He always reminds me to be just who I am.
And that some days I work with vegetables and somedays are more technical...

Crazy Life

What a week. Major earthquakes, thousands of people dying, tsunamis, tsunamis where I live, part of Pacific Coast Highway 1 falling into the ocean... This stuff paralyzes me. Everything seems so fragile. When you get down to it, we are flying around in space  on this planet, god knows what can happen out there.

We could fall through a black hole!

I start to feel insignificant. My art seems to feel insignificant. How can I do something so insignificant when there are so many scary things going on? But even a better question is how long can I hold on to all of this fear.

My answer is... not very long.

And my insignificant art starts to take on a new meaning. I do it, because not to do it would be insanity. I would get lost in my fear of crashing into a meteorite or California falling into the ocean. I can't live like that. I go into my studio and start to work and I get absorbed, I forget about being afraid, and I play. I do what I can in the world to help and I live my life.

Part of living my life is making art.

Today I got to break out of my fear and do a metal class with 3 almost 9-year old friends who all share the same birthday. We spent a couple of hours in my studio and they made several pendants, played with my dogs, had cupcakes, and French hot chocolate! Fun prevailed and it felt good!





The beginning of some fold form pendants

RAD Returns!! Congratulations to Erin

#365 Erin Austin!!

Just when you thought it was safe to not have to think about a ring a day again... well, Erin Austin (AKA Toopa http://www.flickr.com/photos/82626320@N00/ has just completed her 365th ring!!

It was no small feat completing RAD for any of us, but it did make it a little easier when you had a group of people doing it with you, looking everyday, and commenting regularly. Even though Erin didn't finish all of her rings by December 31, 2010, she continued to make a ring a day and post them to the RAD Flickr group, all alone.
Many of us kept watching her progress and I'll tell you, I feel like an anxious relative waiting for the baby to be born!!

Congratulations, Erin!! I'll start passing out cigars now!!

#362

#335

For more congratulations go to: http://www.metalriot.blogspot.com/