Art Blog » November 2006

Digital Fish Begun

I started the digital fish last week! I’m calling it digital, because I expect to do the whole thing out of 1″ x 1″ squares. Last week, I welded together the first 174 squares. Yesterday I added 70 more squares. The bar there is just a visual guide; when finished, the fish will be composed of only squares (and weld detritus).

Here’s a gallery of what I’ve got so far.

Recorders for NB

This piece was commissioned for someone who loves music and loves the recorder. Her initials anchor the center.

See the complete recorder wheel here.
 
 

Leafy Windows

This papercut has 6 layers of paper: three greens for the leaves, black for the window frame, grey for the background, and the window panes are cut from vellum. Planning out this piece was really fun, but required a lot of very careful attention so that everything would line up correctly. I’m quite pleased with the result, especially the slight three-dimensional quality, from the many layers of paper.

See the whole thing here.

New Project

I’m not sure what I’m going to make yet, but I have already decided how. In the past I have started by making a framework/skeleton out of small bars, then continued by forging arbitrarily-shaped pieces onto the frame, conforming them as I go. What I’m going to do next is start with a whole pile of 1″x1″ squares (1/8th” thick) and just weld them together to create a surface. No forging, no framework. I’ve cut over 300 squares already.

Shayna Micha

I created this piece on commission for someone who wanted to give a lovely personalized piece of art to a new baby. Shayna Micah will be able to have this piece with her always, her name bound up in the vines of the tree of life, with pomegranates, flowers, and birds to keep her company.

Here’s the complete papercut.

Black African Crowned Crane

This crane (Balearica pavonia) is widely distributed in Africa. They have an average wingspan of 6 feet and have this decorative headdress including a fan of bristle-like feathers. This one was captured on film by Mary Schwalm, and then inspired this papercut.

Here a link to the whole papercut.

Peace

I did this peacock and peace papercut with a kind of art nouveau flair.

See the whole piece here.
 
 

Calling Giraffe

Another giraffe in the series! Inspired by a photograph of Mary Schwalm The orange glow is from light reflecting off of my thermal orange bodysuit, which I was wearing that day due to coldness and lack of heat in my apartment!