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Alisa Looney Exhibits in ALCHEMY 6 – International Enameling Biennial

Two works by Alisa Looney are currently exhibiting in ALCHEMY 6, the 18th Biennial – International Juried Enamel Exhibition in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The exhibition, sponsored by The Enamelist Society, is intended to highlight the best in contemporary enamels, showcasing the work of enamelists that demonstrate aesthetic and technical expertise. The Jurors Ana Lopez, Amy Roper Lyons, and Jan Smith selected the following two enamel on steel works by Alisa Looney to be among the 72 artists represented.

Humility Rising

Vitreous Enamel on Hammered and Welded Steel, 6.5 x 6.5 x 4.5 inches Artist Statement: Humility Rising symbolizes our collective humility as a species, grappling with climate change and what we have created. The base is a symbol of a hurricane, nature’s powerful response. The humble stature of the body has one wing down in humility and one wing reaching for the strength to fly. The image of many eyes, one on each feather indicates hope that we are waking up, looking in all directions, listening to nature and finding answers on how to best respond.

May We All Fully Know Love

Vitreous Enamel on Re-Enamelware, Platter, .8125 h x 13.25 w x 13.25 d inches Artist Statement: This is my wish for the world. It is my hope that We All Fully Know Love, so the world will be a peaceful, hopeful and caring place. The truth of love calls us to feel deeply, to face challenges with kindness and care for one another.

The Alchemy 6 Exhibition will travel to three cities in 2022 & 2023:

August 2 – September 2, 2022 – Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, with the opening reception Aug 5, in conjunction with the Enamelist Sociey Conference.

September 2022 – October 2022 – University of Arkansas, Little Rock

February 1, 2023 – April 15, 2023 – Ohio Craft Museum, Columbus, OH

Two Online Enameling Courses offered by Alisa Looney

Alisa Looney is offering two consecutive online enamel on steel workshops through Pocosin Arts this Fall. Take either as a stand-alone course, or take both as they can build on each other!

Registration and Details for both courses

Part 1 – Explore New Ground – Enamel on Steel Forms

Thursdays, September 15, 22 & 29 from 4 – 6:30 pm ET

Have a hankering to enamel on steel? Learn to design, cut, and hammer varied gauges into 3D forms, and apply ground coat for strong yet lightweight structure. Both low cost and professional methods covered for applying liquid enamel with granular spray for smooth consistent textures, gradations and stencils. Experience incredible control when you sgraffito varied line thicknesses in abstract patterns or detailed drawings. Fire to desired finish from sugar to gloss, creating forms with an ideal surface for layering liquid and transparent enamels. Take as stand-alone course or follow with Part 2 – Mastering Watercolor Enamels and Lusters.

Part 2 – Master Watercolor Enamels and Lusters

Saturdays, October 22 & 29 from 3 – 6 pm ET.

Create depth, shading and detail by blending and layering Watercolor enamels. Work over a pre-fired granular spray or solid white. This method of alternating painting and sgraffito techniques, allows you to add and subtract enamel to build complex illustrations, bold abstractions and colorful textures. Apply lusters just where you want glitz, or brush freely over dark backgrounds. These combined techniques open avenues for surface treatments on 2D and 3D forms, inviting experimentation while enhancing your own unique style. Take as a stand-alone course or add to the granular spray and sgraffito covered in Part 1 – Enamel on Steel Forms.

Both courses open to all levels of enameling experience. Students will need a kiln for firing. Let Alisa know if you have any questions about either course by emailing her at alisa@alooney.com.

Wander/Wonder: A Sculptured Dance Happening at Price Sculpture Forest

You are invited to a Sculpture Forest first: an immersive professional dance performance interacting with sculptures along our Forest trails. We are honored that famed choreographer Eva Stone selected the Sculpture Forest to create “Wander/Wonder: A Sculptured Dance Happening” and present it for the public with a professional dance troupe. The dancers are national caliber professional dancers who perform at venues such as McCaw Hall, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and now at the Sculpture Forest, too! Each short performance is directly related to and inspired by the art and environment that surrounds it. The movement-artist dancers include Leah Terada, Mary Sigward, Zsilas Michael Hughes, Hannah Simmons, Joh Morrill, Julia Y. James, Hutch Hagendorf, Emily Schoen Branch, Kaelyn Lefferts, and Ivana Lin.

This event will occur Saturday August 27 from 1:00-3:00pm. You can arrive anytime during then since the dancers will be repeating their short sculptural interplays at each selected sculpture throughout the two hours, and you can walk from one to the other. We recommend showing up between 1:00-2:00 so you have enough time to see them all in action. Overflow parking will be provided at a generous supporter’s property across the street. A $20 donation is suggested, with proceeds to benefit the Good Cheer Food Bank and the Sculpture Forest, though it is also pay what you can and everyone is encouraged to come regardless of ability to pay.

Come and join us for a whole new experience Where Dance Enhances Sculpture and Nature.

www.facebook.com/events/378934390971174

www.SculptureForest.org

Dancer Julia James for Wander/Wonder: A Sculptured Dance Happening at Price Sculpture Forest

Francie Allen and Alisa Looney Collaborate

Me and my shadow dancing. Francie creating a partner for Alisa’s welded red male dancer.

The partnership between the red man and the wire woman didn’t work so I resculpted her in paper pulp. That didn’t work either.

My figure overwhelmed and distracted from the essence and brilliance of Alisa’s red man. Collaboration is a challenge! Now I’m sending my paper pulp figure to Alisa and she is going to create a sculpture with it using foraged wood. I’ll continue on with her red man and try something different. We’ll end up with two collaborative sculptures.

Oregon Potters Association show visit

I attended the Oregon Potters Association show on Sunday, May 7^th, in the afternoon. This was the first since the wave of COVID washed over everyone. The show was in the same space as I remember last time yet seemed smaller as the other guilds did not have as much representation.

There were many of the traditional items one would expect at a ceramic show and much more. I managed to take over 100 pictures some of which I will share below.

Check out more of Ms. Wocasek’s work at
@littletailceramics • Instagram photos and videos

You can see more of his work at
Kendall Jones (kendalljonesartist.com)

The Return of the Salmon Child
Michael Simmons

“Photosynthesis #2”
See more of her work at
Kirsten Page Bennett (@kirstenpagebennett) • Instagram photos and videos

Babette Harvey
Check out more of her work at
www.babetteharvey.com

These are just a few of the marvelous works presented. If you have not attended this show then I strongly recommend you plan to do so next year. Even I found something to purchase

Nancy Yturriaga Adams
Home | Nancy Yturriaga Adams Clay Artist (nancyadams.net)

Augmented Reality Exhibition Opportunity for Your Real-World Physical Sculpture in Public Sculpture Park

You have the opportunity to participate in a cutting-edge sculpture exhibition that is anticipated to be the first of its kind in the world: An Augmented Reality exhibition of real-world sculptures that will be virtually displayed via an app onto a real-world outdoor pedestal in a beautiful forested public sculpture park setting. Your preparation steps can be done simply and remotely from your studio or wherever your physical sculpture is currently located, with no requirements for travel or onsite installation. This unique ongoing show comes with many artist benefits including public exhibition at a popular sculpture park, association with a whole new way of experiencing sculpture, marketing of you, zero commission on sales (100% to artist), and no additional costs beyond the entry fee. We seek unique, exciting artistic visions that will enthrall viewers through both your original sculpture and this new interactive way of experiencing your art. Sculptures will be exhibited in small groups and rotated over time, with the possibility of making repeat appearances.

Up to 10 selected artists will each be paid a $500 honorarium for your participation. As an added bonus, only Pacific Northwest Sculptors members will receive a 50% discount on the entry fee. Follow the entry instructions, just pay $15 ($30 for non-members), and include a note that you are a PNWS member.

Price Sculpture Forest (www.SculptureForest.org) is Where Art Enhances Nature and Nature Enhances Art. We are a 501c3 nonprofit public sculpture park and nature preserve set within a mature native Pacific Northwest habitat north of Seattle, Washington. Visitor and media reception to the sculpture experience has been terrific and is continually growing, with art lovers strolling among the exhibited sculptures and walking paths throughout the year.

Your real-world physical sculpture will be digitally transformed for onsite display by a technology startup company we are partnering with. A custom Augmented Reality phone app has already been created specifically for this exhibition at Price Sculpture Forest. Visitors will download the app onsite (free WiFi is provided) and be able to view your sculpture via a QR code on your sculpture plaque that shows your name and sculpture title. The visitors can then see your high-resolution sculpture on the pedestal seamlessly placed within the visual context of the entire area, background, and people there. They can walk around your sculpture to see it from all angles and view it up close or from a distance. They can even stand by your sculpture and take a picture with it. The app will include artist information about you plus links to your website and social media for additional information, contact, and sales inquiries.

The behind-the-scenes technology we have developed for digitizing your sculpture is complex, yet the steps needed from you have been optimized to be both quick and simple. We will provide straightforward step-by-step instructions plus be available to help by phone or email, if needed. You basically just need a good quality high resolution video camera (most modern smartphones will work), good even lighting all around your sculpture if possible, and the ability to upload a large video file to a website. We handle everything else for you from there.

We are looking for sculptures that represent either of two specific themes, Nature Nurtured and Whimsy Way, as described in the prospectus. Go to https://SculptureForest.org/ARExhibition for more information and to apply.

Claudia Star Carter

Our newly found friend and fellow sculptor, Claudia Carter passed last week. She was a self taught artist who found her passion for sculpting clay later in life and produced the bulk of her work through the art facility at Clark College. We became friends and when the college was shuttered during Covid, I offered her the use of my kiln and our connection and mutual admiration grew. The community has lost a wonderful kindred spirit, an advocate for the promotion of diversity and a historian of local black history. You can view an interview she did with Chas Martin last year to get a sense of who this wonderful person was.

See an interview with Claudia recorded on International Sculpture Day 2020.

Service for Claudia will be at 3:00pm Monday at Evergreen Memorial Gardens 1101 NE 112th ave, Vancouver, WA

Golden Connections

Dave Frei and I recently installed our latest public artwork, Golden Connections, in Ashland, Oregon. The theme of the project was to highlight the significance the railroad made to the transformation of Ashland in the late 1800’s when Southern Pacific chose the town as a main stop between Portland and San Francisco, as well as a full-service maintenance yard. When the final track was laid in Ashland after completing the railway over the winding Siskiyou Mountains, it marked the completion of the railroad around the entire country. A big golden spike moment!

Along with celebrating this transformative time in Ashland’s history, we also chose to use the sculpture to honor the Chinese men who did the backbreaking work to build these tracks despite discrimination and without recognition. Portland Chinese scholar, Professor Jiyu Yang, painted seven Chinese calligraphy characters that we then traced and put into digital form to be laser cut into the spike. The seven characters translate to “Today, with regret, we offer our belated gratitude.”

We worked with several people in the Chinese American community as well as people who have devoted their lives to the understanding the history and stories of Chinese immigrants — historians, archeologists, anthropologists, professors, authors, etc. Their insights helped ensure we developed a respectful and truly meaningful message. We are deeply grateful for everyone’s openness and generosity in sharing their knowledge and stories. Most notably, we collaborated with Ashland resident Meiwen Richards who told us many stories about the Chinese railroad worker experience, the language, culture, and history.

A dedication is being held noon on April 23rd at the sculpture site, Railroad Park in Ashland. All are invited. Make a road trip and come join us!

Dave Frei will follow up with a future post detailing his process of building this sculpture. Stay tuned.