Spring time is Sculpture moving time. Venues are making ready for their summer seasons. Moving heavy art is not for the feint of heart however. The Impacted Female got a new location this week, and during the installation at the Historical Museum in Tecumseh, MI we had a minor incident that brings a pause.  A truck lurched forward just as the sculpture cradle crested the ramp and it came down in a hurry. Fortunately it was lined up well and no one was hurt and no damage.The mind races for a bit at a time like this and then idols for a long time afterwards on the "could haves" and the dangers of what we are doing. this one went OK but their have been a few that cost me rework.   What if someone got injured? Yikes! Steady boys, don't be nervous, just stead boys.  The mind will idol on that 1/2 second every time I unload now, as it did for the rest of that day and on into the next.
Be careful out there.
Tj

Running the Good Race

Art-Competition: It is almost an oxymoron. Who does an artist compete against besides himself? Maybe those that are technique driven or a few anal detail chasers view others as competitors, but the endeavor of making art is inherently not about one person pitted against another. Yet, striving for a prize is the driver, and the public vote determines the winners in the ArtPrize.

An interesting dilemma comes. I have been told by some pretty fine artists that I should not speak so much about my work. It should be interpreted by each viewer and the mysteries within it should remain to be discovered. But what about those who haven't a handle on art in general and are desperately seeking clues so they can apply their minds to what is in front of them?
For these masses of folks I talked incessantly until I had it honed to a 15 second elevator speech. The relief and delight espoused continuously from the viewers encouraged me to do more for them.
And I think a decent composition prompted them to ask and the cliff notes helped them vote. I stayed in the top 25 from the beginning of the tally. It is an honor to talk art with the public and, even more so, to be acknowledged by them for a creation.
The Artprize folks will not reveal how close I came to the top 10. Was I #11 by 2 votes? Or #25 removed by hundreds from #24? I guess I’ll never know. But like the apostle Paul I hope I ran the race with integrity, pressing toward the mark with all diligence.
Like Love- better to have tried and lost than never to have tried at all. But also like love- Why not me? Am I bad? Not desirable? Silly? Nah, just an artist pitted against himself. I’ll get em next time.

Final Round

Yesterday was a beautiful cool sunny fall day and the traffic at the BOB was steady. Fans came dragging their friends to see my piece. Many were trying to see the whole show before issuing their votes. We had 1000 cards printed initially and then put the number on the back with a sticker, they were gone in the first 2 days. I estimate we had printed another 2000 little slips with the shot of the piece and the number to make it easy for them to vote. People shot pics like paparatzi. Friends in clumps, families, kids with the artist, you name it. This piece is now all over facebook. "Hey, worth a pic it's worth a vote!" I'd quip handing them a slip. On the third day I called home and said "Print more and get them down here, I'll be out by 3". Some were chopped funny and I stuffed these in a different pocket, trying to only issue the best ones. My printer is now blinking error notes and needs a hundred bucks worth of cyan powder. By last night at 9:30 I had handed out every slip of paper I had,(even the funny ones) and was down to left over stickers with only the number on it. They went on peoples jackets, coffee cups, and other artists cards. About 50 voters took them.

My videographer came by and we got some fantastic night time footage. I rolled home at 1AM thrilled with the news that I was in the top 25.


Today it is a press barrage. We set up interviews with radio and news papers and a photo session with the piece. As it happens a news team had come by documenting childrens' reactions to the show while I was fixing the bugs. They did an up close personal interview and it was apparently used on TV. Link

The announcement is tonight in GR and we are all going. What big fun to compete and try to show the public my work.
Thanks for dropping by! Vote Car Chase. "Oh Yea, sure, it's made of foam with my own formula of polymer modified concrete .... bla bla Bla...."
Tj

Installed !

I’m sitting on a folding chair in the parking lot next to the Car Chase installation. I’ve been remiss in my writing because I’ve had a solid two weeks of non stop finishing, packing, hauling, unloading, installing and general figuring out how to do this. The results are gratifying though. Lots of thumbs up comments on the work. Old guys remember their dad having a Hudson, kids love the cartoonish car, curious ladies see the figures in the waves and exclaim. And everyone has a question. What year is that? How long did it take? What is it made of? How did you come up with this idea.

I re itterate my thesis on the impact of the auto on our society over and over as they ask. It is a lot of fun to work the crowd.

Will it be worth the effort? Some how it already is. This event has forced me to finish a major composition.

Come on down and Vote 24611!

See you at the BOB,

Tj

www.Sculpturebytj.com

Art Openings in West Michigan May28th and May 29th

I stumbled on a couple of regional competitions so I went ahead and entered some pieces recently. I was Juried into both shows, and you can see works any time this summer. First was the Muskegan Art Museum West Mi show. My piece “Impacted Male” is now there along with a lot of great work. The folks in Muskegan have a great “salon” that is an open event to the public on Thursdays each month. This corresponded with the drop off date for show entries , so I went. What a great party, and lots of work of all sorts to look at. My hat is off to this organization they really do a great job in the visual arts.
The festival group in Grand Rapids does a competition at the old museum that the GRAM moved out of, as well as a tent full of booths. I did a booth last year to raise awareness in the region. This year four of my works will be shown in the Museum show. The “Impacted Female” model and “Harbinger” are life sized studies from my “Major Impact” installation. A new piece, which I’m personally pleased with, “Portrait of Sarah”: is in as well. This is a super casting in polymer modified cement that has very nice color, all in the cement and not on it. The 4th piece is the Road Rocket bronze casting. It is nice to have the local representation At this writing I have almost all my pieces on display in 5 shows in 4 cities in 3 states. Just a little hectic! But the big news is the ArtPrize competition in Grand Rapids. More about this whopping opportunity next time.
For all the news check my web site SculpyureByTj.com
Thanks
Tj<

Installing Public Art

The art of installing art in public is a challenge. There are all the potential dangers of abuse, vandalism, injury and of course accompanying law suits. I was recently invited to show works in the City of Troy Ohio. Some truly unabashed American doers in that town with a down to earth, get it done attitude. My trip to Troy, Ohio to put three pieces on their streets was refreshing. I left in the we hours of Saturday morning and arrived before ten. T-The city crew and I labored to mount my works on big concrete blocks and slabs that they had prepared. Then we transported these to the city square where other works were waiting for an evening reception. The Mayor spoke, and recognition was paid and a good time was had by all. But then came the surprise activity that I was amazed at.
Their plan was to distribute the 30 pieces around town on Saturday Night so they would all be ready for viewing Sunday morning for the church goers. The town has a round about at the center with a fountain and lots of traffic going through the intersection. The crew started at dark picking up each sculpture with a HiLow and cruising through the Saturday night traffic to the installation locations! A great big Bug bouncing down the road with headlights flashing all around is a thing to behold! And riding a HiLow to do this is even better!

The guys did a great job and by morning all the works were out there, with the stanchion chains, in front of many businesses.
Hats off to the City of Troy- an Supporters of sculpture and get it done people!