Field Work

Go see my friend Ellie's show. Field Work: A Traveling Exhibition at the Harry Wood Gallery from
January 24th – February 4th 2011!
Master of Fine Arts candidate Ellie Richards presents her Thesis Project as a whimsical campsite filled with curious objects, material, and structures. The exhibit is made up of knock down furniture, stackable boxes and take apart structures all of which will travel in and out of the gallery on a 4x8 trailer – visit more than once to see the gallery in various states of construction!

Harry Wood Gallery
ASU Art Building
More Info: www.playbuildmake.blogspot.com

Event Image:
Campaign Table 1/10 - detail
18’x18’x3’

Blacksmithing

Last semester I took Blacksmithing at ASU from Tedd McDonah.

(On a side note, its going to be hard for me to adjust to life outside of semesters and summer break...)

Honestly, I thought I would hate blacksmithing. I mean, really, it didn't look like much fun to me...lighting coke forges, getting disgustingly filthy (they call it blacksmithing for a reason!), standing over a 1500+ degree forge in 100 degree weather, pounding on huge steel bar that is red hot with really heavy hammers...didn't much sound like my kind of party. Well, it ended up being one of my favorite classes...ever. I LOVED blacksmithing. I loved lighting the old coke forges, using the hand crank blower, pounding red hot steel, learning to manipulate the metal...it was really fun. Really. I wish I had taken it sooner...there were so many things I wanted to make that I didn't end up having time for (or the biceps for). Anyway, here are some pictures of what I ended up doing in blacksmithing. I also made a ton of samples, some little steel hooks that I have hanging around my studio now, and my own pair of blacksmithing tongs...which was really hard, but I felt so hardcore when I finished!
(Click on any of the images to view larger)The picture above is what I made for the candleholder assignment. Its about 14" round. The welding is BAD, but we didn't cover welding in the class...just blacksmithing. Im going to have to take a welding class one of these days.This is what I made for the fork, knife and spoon project. Yeah...didn't feel like making a knife so I sort of ignored that part of the assignment. I loved making the spoon, but I should have started with thicker bar because I didnt have enough material to get a very big spoon bowl. They are about 9" long each...not super functional.The pieces that took up the rest of my time in blacksmithing were these chains I made for my thesis show. There are 4 different chains, made from steel, sterling silver, and antique chandelier crystals. I included a couple of model shots (on my beautiful friend Julie Mikelson) to give you an idea of the scale.
Hopefully in the future I will get to do more blacksmithing! I'd really like to do in on a slightly smaller scale for jewelry applications.
All for now...thanks for reading!

I will miss this place. A lot.

Well, its official. I am done at ASU. I turned all my keys in yesterday. I spent the last 7 years working in this studio. I will miss every single crowded dirty dusty nook and cranny. I will miss always having people around when I am working.I will miss bumping my hips into anvils and always having mystery bruises because we have so much packed into such a tight space:)

I will miss teaching.
I'll miss the Yuma trophies that ASU Metals has won over the years.

I will miss Dave's presence in the studio.

I will miss the tools!
I will miss Sir Sucksalot (our beadblaster).
I will miss the stakes (not that I did a huge amount of forming or raising).
I will miss the big annealing torches.

And I hate to admit it because it drove me crazy most of the time, but I will miss the belt sander!
I'll miss the casting room, even though I almost never used it.
I will definitely miss the draw bench and the stomp shear.
I will miss the enameling/acid etching room a ton!
I will miss my flawless big huge anvil.

And all the pretty hammers.

I will miss the history embedded in that studio. Like this little piece of wood on the underside of my bench that was marked with the initials of grads who were there before me (Becky Chader McDonah, Lauren McAdams, and Eric Burris)

And maybe more than anything I will miss my professor Tedd leaving me notes directly on my bench with a sharpie (instead of just leaving a note on a piece of paper!!!)

Oh man am I going to miss that place.

Inflatable Sculptures

Here is another project I did with my 3D students this semester. Inflatable sculptures. We used clear plastic sheeting and clear packing tape. This project is really great for teaching them how to work large scale. Also, I always time the project during the nicest part of the year (March and October) so we get to work outside in the beautiful Arizona weather! Wiener Dog!
Waterfall from the second story of the art building.And, a VW Bus.

Oh, and we always have a pizza party for critique. I love my job! (Most of the time:)!!