Category: Art

South Carolina Highlights–Motoi Yamamoto

South Carolina Highlights–Motoi Yamamoto

I visited the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art to take in the installation Return to the Sea: Saltworks by Motoi Yamamoto.

I was excited to see how Yamamoto used salt in an installation format. The simplicity of the process–a squeeze bottle, a brush, and an idea–wowed me and the work was beautiful.

Yamamoto Salt Demo Set up

When I view work I typically do not like to read or hear much about it. I want to experience the work on my own. Well, can I ever really be on my own considering that all of the stuff that I have seen and experienced comes along with me.

Yamamoto Detail

When I first saw the work I felt an overwhelming calm. Living on the California Central Coast I first thought there was reference to the patterns left on the sand by the tide. I heard a few folks talking about hurricanes and storms. I didn’t see that. The work was too elegant and repetitive for me to think storm and violence.

What was I missing? After I viewed the work from the floor and platform, I watched the two videos connected with the artist and his work. The hurricane reference was there in the form of the satellite images of storms. The exhibition also had several of Yamamoto’s prints that made the storm reference clear.

What does Return to the Sea mean? Actually just that. At the end of the exhibition the folks are invited to help dismantle the piece. The idea is that they will take a bit of the sculpture with them and literally return the salt to the sea. The ritual nature of the process is evocative.

I have used salt in my work for a variety of reasons–reference to preservation, currency, good luck, and as a surface effect to grow crystals on works, and patination. While I was at the exhibition I found out that in Japan salt is used not only to attract good luck but to ward off evil. More reason to continue to use salt in my work with reference to evil.

South Carolina Highlights–The Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden

I recently spent three weeks in South Carolina and had the pleasure of visiting
The Pearl Fryar Topiary Garden.

Garden View 1

While there I heard Pearl speaking to a group. He is a lovely man and a great story teller.

Pearl Talking to Group

Pearl makes a wonderfully welcoming environment for all who visit his garden. He talked about the importance of encouraging students. My niece who is in third grade, went to meet Pearl as part of a presentation she is to give on a person she admires.

Garden View 2

Garden View 3

Pearl was kind and generous with his time, even giving her a packet of materials to use. The packet was put together by Pearl’s wife. When my sister called to try to set up a meeting with Pearl, she spoke with Pearl’s wife who was kind and welcoming.

Garden View 4

Garden View 6

There is a great documentary about Pearl that I rented a few years back, A Man Named Pearl. After viewing the video I added visiting Pearl’s garden to my wish list of very cool things to do.

I had an opportunity to talk with him a bit about his metal sculptures constructed from recycled materials. Very Cool.

The garden is amazing in so many ways– the scale of it, the aesthetic and organization of it, the collaboration with nature, and the enormous amount of work to develop and maintain it.

Garden View 5

A few details of some of Pearl’s work–

Topiary Detail

Cool Knobs

Sculpture Detail

If you are ever near Bishopville, SC spend a couple of hours or more taking in Pearl’s garden.

But is it art?

Holey Tree

This is a tree in the backyard of where I am staying in South Carolina. When I first saw the tree I thought the depth and regularity of the holes were made by a person. And if they were made by a person, does that make it art?

Holey Tree Detail

The holes were made by a woodpecker.

I think the surface is beautiful. It brought to mind images of coins inserted into the bark of wishing trees and the story of pigs teeth inserted in a tree in the film Howards End.

Pink Rabbit

I went to grad school at WSU in Pullman, Washington. One of the first people I met was
Tim Timmerman. We became friends right off, and still are after 20 some years.

While I was cleaning and clearing, I ran across the pink rabbit Tim used as a model for one of the pieces in his grad show. I liked the piece quite a lot. I asked if I could have only the bit with the rabbit painting. The piece was quite large and I didn’t have a place for it. One day a print of the rabbit bit arrived. What a great and thoughtful gift.

There is a tad more to the pink rabbit story. Tim and I would go junking together and on one of our excursions, Tim found the pink rabbit. It was such an enjoyable day.

While removing some of the chaos of possessions from my life, I packed up almost all of the bunny items that I have collected over the years. Couldn’t pack up the pink rabbit. So, I gave him a shelf under the print of the painting.

Pink Rabbit

I was so delighted to find a very cool sketch of a bunny on Tim’s website.

Tim’s Rabbit Sketch

Cleaning, Clearing, and Great Finds

I recently wrote a post about finding Casemaking Moths in my studio. Finding the moths was rather perfect timing. I had planned to eliminate some of my stuff. I knew that would be a difficult task because I have the habit of collecting loads of “potential” art materials for “someday.”

After reading several posts about lessening chaos and removing clutter on Zenhabits and Discardia, I liked the idea of photographing unused or sentimental items and then discarding them. That was until I began looking through and touching the past.

I was able to remove 17 boxes of books from my shelves. The shelves didn’t stay empty. I now have a clean place to store some of my small completed pieces.

I found a folder of newspaper articles that was labeled, “Odd.” The first article had the headline, Chicken With Prosthetic Legs Mauled by Dog. The other headlines were just as unusual, hence “Odd.”

There was a folder of items about artists. I made a pile of articles on artists that I liked quite a lot to google. A couple of favorite artists–

Marsha Pels’ Solstice still excites the heck out of me.

Marsha Pels Solstice 1993

The article about Kate Hunt’s work had an image of Marriage (For Todd) Torrington dated 1997. She made newspaper and bailing twine into something beautiful. When I visited her website I found Trophy.

Kate Hunt’s Trophy

The piece has the addition of steel, encaustic, and boat building epoxy. I wonder how it smells?

Back to cleaning and clearing–an interesting thing occurred. I am from the generation when you had stacks of slides to document your work. What should I do with all of the slides that I haven’t digitized? I am thinking that it would be a waste of time to digitize most of the really old work. Potential art materials?

I have always been a compulsive note taker. I have all of my notes from all of my art classes that I took and taught. Whenever I start a new series I spend a great deal of time researching. I have binders full of notes.

I use composition books for sketchbooks and go through them rather quickly. I always index the books but trying to find a particular sketch or code takes some time. I thought about scanning the sketchbooks and notes, but thought better of it.

Pretty sure that I am going to set up a camera and shoot them. That would be just like how folks of my generation shot images from books to use in class and for papers.

A Perfect Environment for Moths

I suspected that at some point, I would create the perfect environment for some type of insect. When you have loads of dried plant materials and fiber it is rather likely some critters will move in.

Moth 1

This is a detail of a work in progress. It would have been a cup made of wool and rayon that I just couldn’t manage to finish. The head of a straight pin is in the upper left of the photo, and the tip of a pin is next to the casemaking moth.

How Did I Find Moths?

I read an article that stated empty birds’ nests should be removed from around your house because casemaking moths might take up residence. I had a collection of nests containing little vignettes in my studio. When I checked them, I found casemaking moths. After the shock wore off, and the sinking feeling that everything in my studio might be destroyed; I methodically started the hunt for the critters. I discarded materials and several works in progress.

I did a test to see if I can save a piece if it is found to have moths. I soaked some works in progress that had been attacked by moths in vinegar for a couple of days, rinsed in water, and laid them in the sun. My hope is that if there were eggs, they were killed.

The vinegar soaking changed the appearance of the pieces. I bind fiber onto washers for use as coding components. The bottom row was soaked in vinegar. The washers are not the same type, but they have a similar composition. The fiber is wool that sustained a color change due to the oxidation of the metal. The change in color of the cream wool is not to my liking, so the solution would be to age the washers, then bind them.

washers

If the same or similar result occurs the next time I use a vinegar bath, I’m pretty sure that I will use the technique in the future to age some pieces. It is simple and non-toxic.

I found the casemaker moths–

  • on the back of a framed piece
  • on older books, the bits facing the wall
  • in the bottom of a bowl that contained components for projects
  • in baskets of materials
  • on woven pieces
  • around baseboards
  • behind doors
  • under furniture
  • even inside a spare pair of work shoes

Some insects are attracted to a particular color, fragrance or pheromone, or a location. I did not find a pattern or consistency in where they made their homes.

Moth 2

And it does not seem to matter if the fiber was impregnated with wax or shellac. It may be too early to tell, but I do not think that they took up residence in or on any of my work that was treated with salt.

This is the edge of a piece of foam core that I used for a photo set-up.
Moth 3

For More Information From Reliable Sources–

Casemaking Clothes Moth AgriLife Extension Texas A&M

Clothes Moths by Mike Potter, Extension Entomologist, University of Kentucky, College of Agriculture

Clothes Moths University of California Agriculture & Natural Resources, Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program

My “Real” First Comment

I received my first real comment on one of my blog posts from Dinah at Discardia.

Yesterday I spent the better part of the day cleaning my studio space because of the moth scare. I decided to clear out the truly unneccesary “potential” art materials. Throughout the day I kept asking myself, “What would Dinah do?” At the end of the day, there was her comment.

Serendipitous.

Uncertainty about my choices faded; I felt validated.

I did have a weak moment, one in which I felt a bit overwhelmed with the task at hand. To calm my mind I typically do one of two things–read or bake. I opted for baking chocolate chocolate-chip cupcakes with chocolate frosting.

Vegan of course.

The recipes are based on Jennifer McCann’s book, Vegan Lunch Box–Triple Chocolate Cupcakes and Chocolate Vegan Buttercream.

After a cupcake I went back to my studio refreshed and ready for the task. I needed to stop addressing the cleaning and clearing in a random, willy nilly way. I needed to be methodical.

I started with the first set of shelves where loads of small open containers of bits are stored. Interesting that the boxes of jars that I was keeping for someday came in handy.

Box of Jars

Yeah, I am pretty sure that I am not going to make snow globes.

And lids will keep out unwanted critters.

Stuff in Jars

Nathanael “Big Baby” and “Queen” Nora appreciated your comments too.

Big BabyNora


Tinea pellionella

The past weekend I found some fiber looking somethings near the baseboard in the family room. On closer inspection and after a google search I found out the terrible news. They are Tinea pellionella, casemaking moths.

They are known as casemaking moths because according to the Statewide Integrated Pest Management site of University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, “…always carry a silken case with them as they feed. They never leave this silken tube, but enlarge it as they grow.” Apparently the case is supposed to be the color of the fabric they have eaten. Most of the critters I found on the gray-green wool carpet are rather tan.

So here is the thing, if they stay in their silken vessel and it grows with them, and they are rather small when I find them, two questions come to mind.

How long have I not seen them?

And how many are there that I can not yet see?

Totally creeps me out.

Apparently, the female can lay “an average of 40 to 50 eggs…” but I was unable to find out how many of those eggs will be viable.

Most of the information I found indicated that pyrethrin was the solution. I do not want to use dangerous chemicals. We share our home with house rabbits who frequent the space. Any chemical residue could end up on their fur which could be potentially dangerous when they groom themselves or each other. Actually if there are fumes, respiratory problems could occur as well.

I emailed my friend at the UC Botanical Garden to find out how to handle the situation. After talking with him, I pretty much decided that I would give the carpets a good cleaning and then probably try an application of Diatomaceous earth. Unless I opt for the new information that I found tonight on the Northwest Center for Alternatives to Pesticides site. The article stated that while cold temperatures are not effective, placing a space heater at 120º for 4 hours in the room where the moths have been found can be.

Then the horror of horrors occurred to me. I had read that it is a good idea to remove all bird nests near your house. The moths find nests a great place to thrive. I got a sick feeling when I realized I have nests in my studio. What if the moths have gotten in my studio? I have several pieces in progress, hung, and stored in the space; many have a fiber element. I started on one wall and made my way around the space. And it was confirmed that they really do like nests and even some of the work in progress had been attacked.

This is the interior of a lid that has protea seeds bound to hardware cloth.

Protea Lid

Protea Lid Detail

Some work that is constructed of bound plant material and coated with wax had evidence of moths. There was one bronze and ceramic piece that had a single critter attached to its underside.

I disposed of most of the work. It was amazingly invigorating throwing out stuff. Then I found a ceramic cup bound with wool that had an application of shellac. I placed the piece in a container of vinegar.

Bound Cup

I also had bound some split washers for a code piece and noticed there were a couple of critters in the container so I dumped the lot in vinegar. There is a single floating critter.

Bound Washers

What I do not understand is why they did not attack the larger wool pieces that are in progress, but they did attach themselves to one of my clean work shirts hanging next to them. I’m glad it was the shirt.

Tomorrow I need to do a thorough cleaning of my studio.

Sometimes Forwarded Email Can Be Great

I remember seeing a television program about the Wieliczka Salt Mine on PBS, TLC, or the History Channel. So, when I received an email with images of the mine I was delighted.

Unesco Image of Wieliczka Salt Mine

Then a very cool thing happened. The attached link took me to the UNESCO World Heritage site which has loads of amazing information and images of places of cultural importance categorized by country.

I plan to spend some time on the site in the near future.

Environmental Art

Early on in my education at Ohio State University, I became aware of artists who would go to a site and use the materials present on that site to make a work. Often the work appeared as though it occurred naturally.

I had a romantic notion of visiting the woods near my parents’ home, connect with the site, and make a work. When I attempted it, I realized right off that I wasn’t alone. There were snakes, mosquitos, and ticks, all of which creeped me out.

I recently read about Stuart Wood’s environmental work on the Studio ‘g’ blog. The images of his scorched patterns on trees gave me pause. I like the idea of using a scorching process to alter a material. And that controlling a potentially destructive process can result in something beautiful.

Stuart Wood's Bandelier

When I visited Stuart Wood’s website I found many gorgeous pieces. And I admit that I found myself saying out loud, “…really, seagull feathers.”

Stuart Wood's Alsomitra