Postcards

As promised in yesterday's post, more on the postcards.


You saw the video.  Here is a still photo of the hot iron still smoldering on the cement.  I printed the photo and cut it up into 4 x 1.5 inch segments and then, glued these to the rusted paper.  The result is a combination of the photo of the event that created the objects used to mark the postcards with rust.  A bit convoluted, but it all ties together.

After the performance...

Yesterday's video worked!  One more step in the technology learning curve.

After the performance, which involved pouring hot iron on paper covered, wet cement, and after the iron had cooled, I collected a few of the pieces.   They are below.  Lots of biomorphic shapes with long tendrils.  One of them reminds me of a gecko.

  I then used them to create rust marks on paper by soaking the paper in water with the iron pieces on top.  The resulting marks and shapes reflect the iron pieces, but have their own character.  I have used rust in my recent art work so this is an extension of that inquiry.

There is one more step in the process.  You will have to stay tuned for the result.  I will post it tomorrow.



Below are four 4 x 6 inch postcards to be.

I have been sending (and receiving) artist postcards for the last three years to (and from) my critique group.  We are 5 artists who have been meeting for 15 years. The group has been active that long, but  some members joined after the group first formed.

Ring of Fire--Performance

More hot iron

This is the ladle just after pouring hot iron into the molds.

Iron Pour at Haystack

For the last few years one of the highlights of the MassArt Alumni Retreat has been an iron pour.  Josh Dow and Lauren Holmgren of the Green Foundry in Eliot, Maine and Laurie Carmen organized the effort.  All are MassArt Alums and members of the Iron Guild.  The Iron Guild does performances in New England and New York.  We were treated to a performance on Saturday Night.

Josh instructing the troops

My husband, Doug, filling his ladle with hot iron

Pouring iron into molds

We prepared a sand mold using found objects or by scratching into the sand.  Into the mold, molten iron would be poured creating an iron tile with a low relief image on it.  Many hands helped stoke the fire and ladle the hot iron into the molds.





The iron pour is a favorite with everyone--how can you not like fire and molten metal.  It is a finely timed and choreographed event.  Sparks fly, iron flows reminding us of our primal and elemental beginnings.

More Haystack

The weather held for the cyanotype workshop.  The process uses sunlight to expose the prints.  The first step is to coat the paper with an emulsion, dry it and then put it outside in the sun.  The areas exposed to UV light (sunlight) turn blue, those not exposed will be the color of the paper or fabric substrate.  The attached image is a photogram.  I used actual objects to block the light.  Photographic negatives can be used, too.  I often print one of my digital images onto transparency film and use it as my negative.

Haystack Bound

 Tomorrow we leave for Haystack Mountain School of Art in Deer Isle, Maine.  It is a Massachusetts College of Art Alumni (and friends) retreat and I will be teaching cyanotype and monoprinting workshops.  It is my 5th year attending.  I love it there.

Haystack is a very special place.  It sits amid trees and rocks right on the ocean.  The architecture won many awards as it uses the landscape as a integral part of the design.  The studios and cabins radiate off a central staircase.  The photo on the left is the staircase looking up toward the dining hall and central meeting place.  Below is the view to the sea from the same point on the stairs.  So called "Faculty Row" is very close to the shore.  Good views on the one hand, but many stairs to climb on the other.  It is probably a good thing since the food is so good--a few stairs may help keep extra pounds from accumulating...

Vietnam calligraphy

This is Nguyen Quang Thang, a Vietnamese artist, scholar and calligrapher who visited Mass College of Art this past week.  He showed us several types of old style Vietnamese calligraphy.  The character based writing of Vietnam was romanized during the French colonial period.  His study has helped preserve the calligraphy and at the same time modernized it.

He is creating an image of my name--or an iteration of my name.  Gail=gale=wind.

Our future travel plans include a trip to Vietnam.
More on that later...