Scala Parallela is SOLD!

A nice surprise was waiting for me when I got home after a fortnight and a half. Josh at Urban Vintage had sold another piece of mine, Scala Parallela. This is one of my recent faves, so I was both happy and sad to see it go. Ironic, eh?

Big thanks to Josh for continuing to provide me with the opportunity to show (and sell) my steel sculpture in his amazing store.

Homage to Nicholas Roerich is still for sale (the smaller piece on the left) as are a couple of other pieces... (FYI, it's more than a dollar...)

Road Trip!

Hurtling north on Highway 550

Well, for any of you that missed me... I'm back! I'm now home from a three-week road trip for Thanksgiving. Twenty days, nearly 4,000 miles, four cities, lots of good friends and family and a TON of art. Just what the doctor ordered...

And yes, as you can see above, the light in New Mexico is NOT over hyped...

More art-related nuggets from the trip soon!

Timothy C. Ely's New Show, THE IMPOSSIBLE LANDSCAPE, is a MUST SEE!

Ironically (and astutely), it was Tim himself who suggested that I show ONLY my work and process on this blog. I have largely taken his excellent advice to heart recently. That's why you'll see much less about making art in general, other artists, favorite things from the interwebs, etc.

BUT... since Tim is a great friend and mentor to me and an artist of astonishing depth and vision, I simply HAD to break my new-ish rule and put this up! This show features some of his best non-book work (in my not-so-humble opinion) and you can own a small slice of Tim's brilliant mind for a very good price. Strike while the iron's hot!

I'm about 11 days late in getting this posted, but I hope you'll check the show out in person or online (see link below or jump in your car, plane, seacopter, etc.).

Art Spirit Gallery — Timothy C. Ely in Coeur d'Alene, ID...

The work is on display through November 2, 2014 so there's still time.

Everything in this show is quintessential Ely, which in my book (pun intended) adds up to a magical, captivating, compelling, encrusted, patinated, multi-dimensional, mesmerizing and amazing ride.

Your mileage may vary—but I doubt it!

Working on Some New Fixtures for a Store in SoHo...

Here's a teaser... More when I can share it... ;-)

Bifurcation III is SOLD!

Apparently, Bifurcation III is now living a life of being a sculptural addition in a condo show model downtown. I'm still trying to get a photo of it in situ and I'll post that here when I do. The shot above is it pre-sale in the window at Urban Vintage...

And I have a couple of small new pieces available for purchase at Urban Vintage (behind the Green Ant) in downtown SLC. There are also a few Hypercubes and another piece for sale as well, along with tons of cool stuff that Josh has on hand. Check it out!

And no, they're not a dollar. I had taken the shot earlier and put the bill in for scale.

The piece on the left is called Homage to Nicholas Roerich and the one on the right is Scala Parallela. Both are mild steel.

And the Hypercubes look something like this...

Shingu Redux

I thought it might be informative to really see the level of "transformation" that has taken place, so I placed my relatively pristine copy (on the left, eh?) next to the weathered copy. As someone I used to know was fond of saying… the difference is "material."

SHINGU!

For several months now, I've been running an ongoing experiment/art project with my good buddy Gary. The story of the origins of how we got to this point in the Shingu Strategy is long, funny and worth telling, but I'll save that for another time.

What I'll mention now is that I had sent a book about the Japanese sculptor Shingu to Gary to let the elements in Hawaii work their magic. He left it outside in the wet environs of Kauai for many weeks and then sent it to me in Salt Lake City. It was in pretty hammered shape by the time I got it but I took it to the next level.

I don't normally "alter" books but… as I said, this is a spare copy and the back story demanded something be done…

Above, you can see it as it was upon arrival from Hawaii to SLC a few months ago (March of this year), still in it's wrapper from Gary and covered in spring snow.

Once I unwrapped it, I could see that it was slightly moldy, water-logged and a bit worse for wear, but mostly intact and still colorful:

 

 


Let's just say it needed some help. Hydrochloric acid always moves things along nicely:

Not to mention a months-long soak in rusty water and acid in my driveway:

After all of this, plus some quality time on my picnic table on my back deck, we are starting to see some interesting results for sure. Not sure what's next for our buddy Shingu, or how I'll ultimately use it, but… just like in French cooking, nothing will go to waste!

Here is a cool shot of the state of the cover:

And the state of the the few spreads that aren't currently stuck together:

Golden Rectangle with Spiral...

I recently built a small golden rectangle piece that is kind of fun. Not sure if it's finished yet or whether it will maybe be incorporated into another project down the road… Above you can see where I'm cutting pieces of pre-curved steel to fit into each of the internal golden rectangles. Below is the finished (or not?) piece.

And here's a rust on paper deal I did with it before adding the spiral. Nice overlay shadow being cast by the open dodecahedron outside my shop:

Butchgate™… Like Watergate but COMPLETELY Different!

Finished a gate for my buddy Butch Adams recently. Mostly his design with some input from me and then we worked together to finish it. Came out pretty well (IMNSHO) and looks really good in place at his place.

By the way, if you need a VERY experienced and talented photographer for anything, Butch is your man! You can find out more about his photography work HERE.

End of an Era… July 10, 2014

'Nuff said…

Bifurcation III Is Now in Place and Available (GYSOT!)

Looking east through the shop and Bifurcation III.

Next time you're downtown in SLC, stop by Josh Wheatly's new location (formerly Urban Vintage on Broadway) just behind the Green Ant. In his window on 200 East, you can see Bifurcation III in all it's glory. I've got a few other pieces for sale there as well (thanks, Josh!) and so does HE ;-). As I've mentioned before—a beautiful space with amazing objects to embellish and enrich your life.

Once you visit Josh and Ron, drop over to Ken Sanders for some rare book action and then I recommend a brat and fries at Ty Burrell's (and others') BEER BAR on 200 South. Brendan Kawakami is a miracle worker! Check out this REVIEW from the City Home Collective crew. Couldn't have said it any better myself. My favorite fries in UT (except for maybe the fries at the Wasatch State Park Golf Course clubhouse grill …).

"Bifurcation III" Is Almost Done!

The shadow knows it's bifurcated, eh? (Josh, no peeking!)

This is Bifurcation III in its pre-rusted state, casting a long shadow in the driveway of Compound II. It has been a fair amount of work and I'm glad the grind of grinding/sanding is finally done!

Obviously, it's the third in a series of similar pieces. Bifurcation I was in the first show I was ever in, The Heavy Metal Show at the now extinct Unknown Gallery. Bifurcation II is weathering proudly in a good friend's girlfriend's back yard. SUPER proud to have it there. Number III has a plan which will be revealed after it has come to fruition.

Anyway, here are a few more detail shots, including the rusting underway…

New Climbing Gym = New Counter Tops!

A week ago today, Jim Knight and I installed the new counter tops at Momentum Millcreek. The new gym is slated to open on April 15th so we got them installed just under the wire. It took about twice as long as expected to edge-treat, darken, surface treat and glue down all six pieces (7 hours or so), but the results were well worth it. (As my Mom joked, I suspect they'll last until the next millennium, at least in some form…)

I've been working with Jeff Pedersen (and Jim) for nearly 15 years now… from The Quarry to Momentum I to Momentum II. It's been an honor and a pleasure to be involved all this time and to see he and his business partners continue to expand and grow. This new gym is going to ROCK (pun intended… maybe I should've said it's going to PLASTIC!).

By the way, I want to give a big shout-out to Jim at Wasatch Laser Processing for doing such beautiful laser cutting and getting great steel to cut in the first place. BEST laser work I've seen in the SLC area in my many years of doing this kind of work (Critical Laser in Linden is also very good but a bit too far away for regular work). Anyway, everything was perfect and the price was right.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BK!

Just want to send a very Happy Birthday shout-out to my friend Bill. He should be spinning some bluegrass tunes on KRCL (90.9 FM, SLC) around the time this entry is posted. Tune in and check his show out. ALWAYS high value, whether you're a bluegrass fanatic or just like good music and some mighty fine DJing…

The photo above was taken at the Utah Arts Festival on August 7, 2012. We were eagerly waiting for MR. James McMurtry and band to hit the stage. Good times with a good friend. Perfect.

Yeeeee!

PS Ostensibly, James has a new album on the way later this year. YES! Again I say, if you're not familiar with his music I recommend that you get on the stick and get some!

Chop 'em if You've Got 'em!

Photo by Gary S.

As much as I LOVE my new shop, I still have pangs of nostalgia for the old shop, especially when I run into pics like this one taken a couple of years ago by my good buddy Gary, who was in town for a few days. 

I've been working with steel since 1997 and rarely get to see myself or my tools in action. As a result, shots like these are quite compelling for me and really capture the essence of the experience. Thanks, Gary…

The old shop served me very well from July of '97 until about May of '13. Roughly 16 years of creative output from a small garage. Now it is returning to a less creative state as it will be used solely for parking once again. So it goes… 

COOL TOOLS!

I recently picked up Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. What a great compendium of well researched and recommended tools of all kinds. Already ordered KROIL, which I had NO idea even existed. There is a lot to dive into here. Really took me back to those feelings when I was 15 and looking through the first Whole Earth Catalog. Magical. Much the same but in full color and with QR codes. Check it out.

The Latest BD Sign Is Done and Installed!

Photo Courtesy of Sandra Salvas

The Monday before Thanksgiving last year (meaning 2013 since I haven't posted since November of last year), I installed (with plenty of help) the new BD sign. I'm quite happy with how it turned out… and how it looked in the snow in early December. My legacy of slowly adding my touch to the BD campus continues to grow. I couldn't be prouder.

And on January 10, 2014, I celebrated my 20th anniversary at Black Diamond. Proud of that too! It's been a great couple of decades with my BD family and I look forward to more…