50 Years Ago Today Was a Friday Too

Hard to believe it's been this long. Fifty years ago today it was another normal Friday in third grade at Linwood Elementary in Oklahoma City, OK. Little did I know that about 200 miles to my south, John F. Kennedy had just been assassinated.

I've don't remember most of what happened that day but I DO remember our teacher, whose name I have since forgotten, broke down in tears at her desk at some point and left the classroom. We were on our own for a few minutes until the Principal arrived to tell us that Miss ________ had to go home and that something tragic for our country had happened and that we should ask our parents to tell us more about it all.

We all went home and watched TV constantly. I still vividly remember watching Jack Ruby kill Oswald on national TV. I still remember adults crying openly on street corners, at the grocery store, at church, etc. I still remember the horse-drawn caisson and John-John saluting.

I wonder now if we'll ever recover in some ways and if we already know the truth or if it's still hidden to us. Hmmmmm...

New Black Diamond Sign Close to Completion

I've been working for the past few weeks (months really, sorry Dennis ;-) on a new sign for Black Diamond, where I've proudly worked for nearly 20 years. Over the years I've done tables, signs, reception desks, etc. for the company and I'm excited to add this latest creation to the mix.

It doesn't look like 35+ hours of work to me but... that wee icon alone has over 43 FEET of welded and ground seams. Just sayin'...

After 2+ hours in the dental chair this morning (yes, I KNOW, nobody's fault but mine!), I got up and with some strong support from Mike, Rick and Juan, we put the new sign in place in its raw steel form, at least for a few minutes. Just had the B and the D in place for scale, today. But rest assured it WILL have the full name when it's done. Grin.

Now that I know it's going to work as intended, that it looks good in its place and that all the bits slide into their receivers easily, it's off to the powder coater on Monday. I'll post another shot here of the finished product in black & silver when it gets installed later this month.

Nick Basbanes at Ken Sanders!

I joined a few dozen lucky book lovers last night at Ken Sanders Rare Books near downtown Salt Lake City to meet and hear a lecture by "bibliophiliac" and well-known author of books on books, Nicholas Basbanes.

He was in town to talk about his newest book, ON PAPER: The Everything of Its Two-thousand Year History.

Nick said himself that he considered this his "best" book so far. Personally, I would put it on even par with his first book, A Gentle Madness, but his 8-year journey of discovery all over the world to research this book and the final results ARE a real tour de force, so he just may be right that it is his best.

Buy it, read it. If you care about paper AT ALL, you will love it.

Anyway, I was honored to meet Nick at Melissa Sanders' lovely shop, Red Queen Book Arts (just around the corner from her dad Ken's store), a few minutes before he was scheduled to begin speaking at Ken Sanders' shop. Nick was gracious to chat a bit and sign my personal copy of On Paper.

Later he gave a spirited, informative and delightful lecture with excellent slides to a rapt audience at Ken's.

Above is a blurry shot I took of the man himself tirelessly signing stacks of books for stacks of people afterward. Well played, sir!

Nuggets from the Analog Blog™ — #3

ADVICE ON MAKING STENCILS, BY BANKSY

• mindless vandalism can take a bit of thought.
• Nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful people with talent, leave the house before you find something worth staying in for.
• Think from outside the box, collapse the box and take a fucking sharp knife to it.
• A regular 400ml can of paint will give you up to 50 A4 sized stencils. This means you can become incredibly famous/unpopular in a small town virtually overnight for approximately ten pounds.
• Try to avoid painting in places where they still point at airplanes.
• Spray the paint sparingly onto the stencils from a distance of 8 inches.
• When explaining yourself to the Police it’s worth being as reasonably as possible. Graffiti writers are not real villains. I’m always reminded of this by real villains who consider the idea of breaking in someplace, not stealing anything and then leaving behind a painting of your name in four foot high letters the most retarded thing they ever heard of.
• Be aware that going on a major mission totally drunk out of your head will result in some truly spectacular artwork and at least one night in the cells.
• The easiest way to become invisible is to wear a day-glo vest and carry a tiny transistor radio playing Heart FM very loudly. If questioned about the legitimacy of your painting silly complain about the hourly rate.
• Crime against property is not real crime. People look at an oil patting and admire the use of brushstrokes to convey meaning. People look at a graffiti painting and admire the use of a drainpipe to gain access.
• The time of getting fame for your name on its own is over. Artwork that is only about wanting to be famous will never make you famous. Fame is a by-product of doing something else. You don’t go to a restaurant and order a meal because you want to have a shit.

See original Nuggets from the Analog Blog™ — #1 for a explanation of the origin of these nuggets.

The Daily Grind

And we're not talking about 10 hours at the office or a cup of coffee. Fortunately it's not REALLY a daily occurrence. One secret they don't let you in on when you decide to work in steel as an artistic expression is the amount of grinding involved. If you're doing fabrication or 3D volumes, it goes up even more.

Having just finished a new sign for BD this weekend that took about 100 sanding discs and 15 hours of grinding (more on this project soon!), I thought this photo summed up the past few weekends AND steelwork in general. The photo is by my good buddy Gary who was visiting in 2012.

Old Sidewalk Cement + Rusty Steel + HDR = This!

Just ran into this shot from the summer of 2012. I had been rusting a few 1/4" thick steel OM symbols for a local client, Turiya's Gifts. (I think they still have one or two for sale.)

Anyway, with my trusty iPhone app Camera +, I was able to bring out the nuances in the cement that were essentially invisible to the naked eye.

Good stuff...

Here's a shot with the lovely Kristen Dalzen at Turiya's with one of the OMs in situ to the right. Further right you can see one of Dean Petaja's great outdoor screens.

An Emergent Property...

This is just one (incredible) example of what can happen randomly in a multi-acre junk yard. There are many others to be found but this is one my friend Catherine found for me a few months ago. I did a post in 2012 about Smith & Edwards and that is where this found collection of detritus came from.

Catherine pulled on the larger metal piece and all of these rusty nails, washers, bolts, wire nuts, etc. came with it. She somehow managed to get to back to me in one piece and I was so taken by its beauty and the fact that it probably shouldn't even exist that I built a custom enclosure for it.

Anyway, this is a close-up of the found piece itself, carefully ensconced in its new steel and glass carapace. Amazing! Thanks, RG...

And here it is in its custom container with built-in light:

He's Back!

Photo courtesy of the awesome Sandra Salvas

This triumphant return to blogging after a 10+ month hiatus (some might even call it an interregnum…) is brought to you by my new "manly" sponsors… Grin.

After nearly 20 years, I have moved from Compound I to Compound II (a small portion of which is visible in the background of the picture above). A LOT of work but well worth it. More on all of that at some later date.

In the meantime, I want to assure BOTH of my loyal readers that I will be blogging much more regularly again moving forward.

Nuggets from the Analog Blog™ — #2

John Cage lecturing at Harvard, 1970. Photo: Betty Freeman.

John Cage: Some Rules for Students and Teachers

RULE ONE: Find a place you trust, and then try trusting it for a while.

RULE TWO: General duties of a student – pull everything out of your teacher; pull everything out of your fellow students.

RULE THREE: General duties of a teacher – pull everything out of your students.

RULE FOUR: Consider everything an experiment.

RULE FIVE: be self-disciplined – this means finding someone wise or smart and choosing to follow them. To be disciplined is to follow in a good way. To be self-disciplined is to follow in a better way.

RULE SIX: Nothing is a mistake. There’s no win and no fail, there’s only make.

RULE SEVEN: The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something. It’s the people who do all of the work all of the time who eventually catch on to things.

RULE EIGHT: Don’t try to create and analyze at the same time. They’re different processes.

RULE NINE: Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It’s lighter than you think.

RULE TEN: “We’re breaking all the rules. Even our own rules. And how do we do that? By leaving plenty of room for X quantities.”

HINTS: Always be around. Come or go to everything. Always go to classes. Read anything you can get your hands on. Look at movies carefully, often. Save everything—it might come in handy later.

See original Nuggets from the Analog Blog™ — #1 for a explanation of the origin of these nuggets.

MAKE. ART. NOW.

Well, it's been 26 daze since my last confession... Lot's of excuses, a few legit reasons, etc. Be that as it may, I'm BACK!

I recently posted about Neil Gaiman's MAKE. GOOD. ART. Reminds me of the phrase my good buddy Mike Tea likes to put out there in various guises. Words of wisdom indeed and less limiting than Neil's. Grin. So, even if you're not really that "good," I urge you (and so does Mike) to MAKE. ART. NOW. If not now, when? If not you, who?