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Sculpting Classes Offered By Carole Murphy

Dec 11th, 2010 by

Short Video Click Here:  Sculpting Classes Portland

This is a video of Sculpting Classes teaching adults how to sculpt from a carvable form

Sculpture by Carole Murphy

Sculpture by Carole Murphy

 of cement. It shows a bit of the process, the students at work and some grand finished sculptures in shows.

Scroll down about 8 blog posts to see a post on Carole’s student art show.

For more class information you can go to: http://www.carolemurphy.com/gallery.htm Art Classes or Sculpture classes available both days and evenings, new classes starting with the new year. http://www.carolemurphy.com/workshop.htm

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How To Digital Image Your Art: Parts 2 & 3

Dec 5th, 2010 by

Contributed by PNWS sculptor and past PNWS President: George Heath

(Part 1 of this article was published on this blog 9/25/2010 and can be found by scrolling down through past posts)

The Fussy Stuff

 Taking pictures is an exercise in compromise.  There are several variables to deal with; exposure time, aperture, film speed (ccd sensitivity), and the size (focal length) of one’s lens (zoomed in or out on a zoom lens). Continue Reading »

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Posted in Techie: Web, Blog, Digital | Comments Off

Puyallup Community Favorite Award: Alisa Looney

Dec 4th, 2010 by

“Heart Connection”, (powder coated steel sculpture) by Alisa Looney of NE Portland  was chosen “Community Favorite 2010″ by public vote and was purchased by Arts Downtown, Puyallup’s Outdoor Gallery. On Saturday, November 6th, 2010, Judy White, Director of Arts Downtown dedicated the brightly colored sculpture to the city

"Heart Connection" by Alisa Looney

of Puyallup WA for their permanent collection. Mayor Kathy Turner spoke to the group of public art enthusiasts and expressed her appreciation that “Heart Connection” was perfect for Pioneer park, which “celebrates family.”

Accepting the award, Artist Alisa Looney said “I am deeply honored and hope this public piece will bring a sense of joy and heart-felt connection to Puyallup residents and visitors for years to come.” She thanked the voters for their support and enthusiasm for the piece. She also thanked Arts Downtown volunteers and the city of Puyallup for partnering to create this opportunity for artists, and for continuing their commitment to provide art for public viewing to increase visual literacy. 

Looney described “Heart Connection” as “portraying the energy between two people, deeply connecting with each other. The spiraling shapes come together to form the shape of a heart, indicating two spirits dancing, merging, yet each person remains separate as an individual. The rich crimson color reflects the deepest love.”
“Heart Connection” is currently located in Pioneer Park, 324 S. Meridian, Puyallup, WA, in front of the Puyallup Public Library.


Posted in Art In Public Places | Comments Off

Culteral Book Box Project

Oct 4th, 2010 by

Contributed by PNWS sculptor Susan Gallacher-Turner 

Over last 15 years, I’ve worked in many schools doing art projects with children.   I’ve taught Art Literacy, mask making, drawing, painting, clay and Dramatic Arts.  I always envisioned combining my love of art and writing in one project that would bring literacy into the classroom in a whole new way and this year, I was fortunate to have a teacher share my vision.  

Farmington Elementary in Hillsboro, 4 classes of students from 4th to 6th grade worked for six weeks on the Cultural Book Box Project.

At Farmington Elementary in Hillsboro, 4 classes of students from 4th to 6th grade worked for six weeks on the Cultural Book Box Project. Funded by a grant from the Hillsboro Education Foundation, I worked with over 120 students to complete this visual and verbal art piece.  Each student picked a boy or girl from around the globe and researched their country and lifestyle.  They gave their boy or girl a name.  Sculpted and painted their faces.  Painted a landscape and the book box in colors and patterns taken from their boy or girl’s country and wrote a short essay about their life.  Continue Reading »

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How To Digital Image Your Art; Part 1

Sep 25th, 2010 by

Contributed by PNWS sculptor and past PNWS President: George Heath

Next to the quality of the work itself nothing is going to do more for one’s career as a sculptor than the quality of the images one uses for submissions or an online web portfolio.  Having submitted images to juries for way too many years, (don’t even ask), and done web based portfolios for the last eight I’ve fallen into just about every pitfall there is.  Perhaps I can save the reader a little head banging and maybe some serious money.  In the coming articles I’ll cover the whole process from setting up a studio to proper submission format for Zapp.  Finally I’ll write a bit about website design.  For the first article I’ll cover the fun part.  That is, buying stuff cheap.

The Equipment

Professional photographers earn every penny.  It is a highly skilled occupation with an insanely high equipment budget.  For your premier pieces the professional is a great idea.  $90 an hour is not unreasonable.  You can also take excellent photos on your own with little if any pain to your pocketbook.  In fact a complete photo studio, (assuming you have a computer already) need not set you back more than $200, and that includes a good camera. 

The bare bones 'get it done' set-up is possible for less than $200

The bare bones 'get it done' set-up is possible for less than $200

The Camera 

You will want a decent digital camera.  It should have a good sharp zoom lens and manual settings.  A new one will have a 10 megapixel ccd and set you back $200 to $500.  Here’s the neat thing though, 3 or 4 megapixels is ample for web work or for submitting images to a jury.  Find a good candidate on Craigslist and then Google the model number and read the reviews.  Continue Reading »

Posted in Techie: Web, Blog, Digital | Comments Off

Time Lapse SteamPunk Machine

Sep 15th, 2010 by

Contributed by Pacific Northwest sculptor Ken Patton

I thought it would be fun to make time-lapse videos of the processes of creating art.  A potential buyer could view the video on YouTube showing the actual piece they are interested in during its creative processes. 

I investigated my cameras and found that none of them had a time lapse feature and after checking on the internet I found that almost no digital camera has the feature.  So I invented a device to attach to any digital camera to do it.

Time Lapse SteamPunk Machine intalled on Ken's digital camera

Time Lapse SteamPunk Machine intalled on Ken's digital camera

Click here Time Lapse Machine  to see what I designed and built and also watch me build it at time-lapse speed.     Please be patient with the intro, it doesn’t last that long and then the process begins.

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7th Century Buddhist Flame Design (on time and in budget)

Sep 13th, 2010 by

Contributed by PNWS sculptor Patrick Gracewood

Creating commercial sculpture means making art that works within the requirements, deadlines and budget of your client.

 I was approached by the Oregon Association of Nuseries to work with landscape designer Iftikhar Ahmed to create two large relief sculpture for the Farwest Show.  

The relief panels needed to be large scale, reinforce the Asian theme of the display, and be easy to install and remove.  Ransacking my library for patterns, we decided use a 7th century Buddhist flame design to accompany a large ceramic statue of the Buddha. 

I was initially going to carve AAC blocks and fit them into the frame. A BAD idea as it would be this sculptor’s nightmare of heavy AND fragile AND dangerous! That and moving the artwork to and from a three-day show, with a miniscule budget, quickly brought me back to reality. Plywood was the only way to proceed.

First I glued down a full-scale pattern onto luan plywood. Easiest glue in my shop is a 10-year-old bucket of wallpaper

Full scale pattern transfered to 3/8 plywood

 paste. It lasts forever and never goes bad or dries up. Then using my old trusty scroll saw, I cut out the stencil. I used the stencil and spray paint to transfer the pattern onto the full scale plywood. The notch at the bottom and top is to insure correct registration. I align it onto the centerline. Here’s the full-scale design on 3/8th plywood ready for cutting. 

Once the pattern was completely transferred to the plywood, I began by drilling many holes so I could use my scroll-saw.  I changed bit sizes to match the tightest curves of the pattern. The drill automatically cuts a round hole, cutting that with a scroll saw is much more tedious.

The wonderful thing about creating sculpture under a deadline is how many ways it teaches you to be practical AND efficient. Continue Reading »

Posted in Art & Processes, Uncategorized | Comments Off

A Learning Experience At Maiden Foundry Portland

Aug 11th, 2010 by

The Maiden Foundry had quite a challenge last year fabricating 4 huge umbrellas for Providence Hospital in Portland

Providence Hospital in Portland

 Oregon. The proposed Umbrellas were to be 10 feet in diameter and over 12 feet high. The idea was to be simple, just weld together the eight pedals and form an Umbrella canopy from sheet bronze. Then ad a bronze pole and all the bronze mechanism underneath that makes an umbrella. The Foundry worked over the year to discover just how to create the complex form of an Umbrella from flat sheet bronze.

The first failed attempt was the brilliant idea of scanning a real umbrella and trusting that CAD software could flatten out the scan revealing what shape to be cut out of sheet bronze. After all it was 2009, and with all the high tech computer gear available, this would be easy. It turned out that this was so complex that the computer froze up trying to describe the shape of one umbrella pedal. At best it looked like a section of an orange peel that was mashed flat. Cutting that shape out of bronze sheet would waste a huge amounts of very expensive material. Then it really wasn’t that clear to see how we could bend that abstract shape back in to an Umbrella pedal. Continue Reading »

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Carole Murphy And Students At Onda Gallery

Jul 31st, 2010 by

Sculpture by Carole Murphy

Sculpture by Carole Murphy

This show highlights some of Carole’s newest works along with the sculptures of 12 of her students!   The show runs through the month of August with the opening reception on the ‘Last Thursday’, July 29th, 6pm, 2215 NE Alberta St. 503 493 1909  

All sculptures are created from a “green” building material that is even better put to work as a sculpture medium, aerated cement.

This is a unique opportunity to view a teachers art juxaposed with her students works and to see the diversity of form  available in aerated cement. 

Visit Carole’s web site to see more of her art at: http://carolemurphy.com/

Artist’s Showing will be (in no particular order):Denice Miller, Carol Baker, Jamie Rogers, Willy Paul, Kris Paul, Eileen Holzman, Janice L. Leader, Mark McGrath,  Melissa Burke, Kevin Poe, Jenny Stoffel and Judy Ilg.

Sculpture by Willy Paul

Sculpture by Willy Paul

 

Sculpture by Mark Mcgrath

Sculpture by Mark Mcgrath

 

Sculpture by Eileen Holzman

Sculpture by Eileen Holzman

 

Sculpture by Judy Ilg

Sculpture by Judy Ilg

 

Scultpure by Jenny Stoffel

Scultpure by Jenny Stoffel

Posted in Shows & Exhibitions | Comments Off

Sculpting On A Sunny Day At Evergreen Aviation

Jul 12th, 2010 by

Sculpting on a sunny day at Evergreen Aviation

Contributed by Susan Gallacher-Turner

Torches were lit. Cement dust was flying. Wax was melting on the pancake griddle. Glue was drying and screening was bent into shape as seven members of the guild demonstrated their work at Evergreen Aviation on Saturday, July 10th.

Carole Murphy worked on her cement sculpture and encouraged visitors to try their hand at sculpting this unique material.

Carole Murphy at Evergreen Aviation

Carole Murphy at Evergreen Aviation

Rick Gregg and Lyn Simon shared torches under one tent.  Rick Gregg demonstrated his sculptural metal welding while Lyn Simon showed all the different patina colorations on steel and copper.   

Rick Gregg at Evergreen Aviation

Rick Gregg at Evergreen Aviation

 

Lyn Simon at Evergreen Aviation

In another tent, Renee Oberdorf melted different colors of wax on a pancake griddle, and then painted in layers on a wood background demonstrating the sculptural qualities of encaustic. 

Renee Oberdorf at Evergreen Aviation

Renee Oberdorf at Evergreen Aviation

Fortunato Ramirez dipped paper in glue and placed it in layers on large glass circles which he uses as molds for his paper mache’ sculptures. 

Fortunato Ramirez and Carole Murhpy

Fortunato Ramirez and Carole Murhpy

Susan Gallacher-Turner bent screening and pushed into copper sheeting to demonstrate her sculptural mask making and copper repousse’ work.  Inside the IMAX building, Stephan Seable set up a children’s clay area, where he worked with young visitors introducing them to his favorite sculpture medium. 

Susan Gallacher-Turner at Evergreen Aviation

Susan Gallacher-Turner at Evergreen Aviation

It was a sunny Saturday, a little windy, a little warm, but still good weather for demonstrating. If you’ve never done a demonstration before, give it a try next time the chance comes up.  It’s a great way to show and tell people about your work, get to know other artists in the guild and learn some new techniques, too. The demos were done in conjunction with the PNWS group show at Evergreen Aviation IMAX building.  The show runs through July 19th on the second floor and is open during IMAX hours.  And it’s free.

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