PAINTS art auction

Daniel and I attended the Bird House Gala and Auction on May 28th in Piedmont, CA.

It was a fundraiser for arts education in Piedmont which we donated our "Cat Ate Bird" piece (Collab 1) to.

Brennan Popovic and Ari Oppenheimer

A possible material choice?

Since my work is slowing down to be a stop because I have no malleable traffic signs for Chair 3, I've decided to share some other excellent high school artists' work with you.

Sometimes, I see art that must be recognized. Talent that must be introduced to others. Today, I want to feature two friends of mine-- Brennan Popovic and Ari Oppenheimer. Both are sculptors whose work is precocious and refined.

Brennan's work uses organic forms, abstract imagery, layered clay, and vibrant glazes to produce visually complex and compelling sculptures. Here are three of his pieces (the image quality isn't top notch as I'm using an Iphone, but you should the idea for how impressive his work is).

I haven't seen much of Ari Oppenheimer's work, as he's a relatively new student in ceramics. Here's one of his pieces, which I fondled intently as I shifted it around in my hand. The smooth and round contours of the lower segment of the piece contrast nicely with the spiny protrusion that sprouts out of the top.

Hope you enjoyed!

D

Chair 3, Post 8 and Wall pieces!

The past few days have been quite hectic, but here I am on a Friday writing in about my trials and tribulations this week!

I've made some progress on Chair 3-- the frame is all together and ready to be upholstered with traffic signs. Unfortunately, I don't have the traffic signs that will work yet. I'm working on it as we speak.

Chair 3 frame (now with two additional cross pieces)

I took a "checkout" test at the Crucible, where I plan on working for 5 weeks this summer through a program that lends out tools and the facilities to students. The tests were simple, yet difficult. The MIG and TIG welding tests required me to completely set up a welding station and weld. The Fabrication test (cold tools) required me to explain the use of each tool and the procedure for using it. The grinding tool required me to completely assemble an angle grinder...and I don't know what else I have to do because I failed that first component! =/

I failed both the TIG and the grinding tests because I couldn't SET UP the tools. I am proficient in using them, but the studio manager was checking for correct setup and safety. I passed the MIG and Fabrication checkouts, which wasn't all the easy either. Ultimately, it was a blow to my ego-- a good thing because it will push me to learn all of the tool setups.

In other news, Daniel and I have completed our first collaboration piece, which can be seen at his blog. We're donating that piece to an auction that will raise money for arts education. We hope it will be a successful item in the bidding process.

I'm so excited about the result of the first "collab" that I made two other wall-pieces to pass on to Daniel. Here's one of them.

I cut the hole in the middle using a cut saw--

The piece:

Leaving my mark in the grinding room:

A really sweet weld:

Classmates' Chairs

Hey All,

I wasn't able to work in the shops today due to an AP Calculus test and an architecture project. Even though it's second semester senior year, I'm keeping up my work ethnic!

I was able to snap a few pictures of some of my metal classmates' projects though. I would go so far as to say this year's crop of designers and their designs were the best I've seen in my four years at Lick. Maybe I'm getting sentimental here, but it really was a good group of kids.

Hansoo Song is a sophomore. His chair is a kind of cocoon, which envelops the user from three sides. It tilts back with ease and is padded with sound proofing, which makes it an extremely comfortable chair. The sound proofing also makes it an enjoyable place to listen to music, so Hansoo placed two speakers on the top of the interior. Mr.Clifford astutely pointed out, "It feels like the music is in my head."

Kayla Abe is a junior. She was voted most fashionable in the Chronicles of Shop Fashion post. Her chair used recycled wood, which is splayed out to form the chair backing. A velvet red cushion was beautifully upholstered onto a stainless steel seat. My favorite elements are the two curved metal pieces, which act as structural elements but add to the composition of the chair as well.

Olivia Burr is a sophomore. This chair is very cute, and I love the asymmetrical backing.

Mike, a senior, took a very technical approach to his chair-- it reclines via a system he developed.
Hope you enjoyed! Please comment!

Chair 3, Post 7

First, I want to say sorry for failing to post for the past week. I had my reasons, one of them being a three day trip to Princeton University for a symposium on race relations.

Today, I was back in the metal shop, working at full force. I cleaned welds on each side of the frame in preparation for welding together the two halves.

I learned the hard way today that grinding can be dangerous. I was using a very precise grinding tool that hooks up to compressed air and small pieces of the weld I grinded were sticking to my arm. It was a similar sensation to get a wood splinter, but they were much smaller and in much greater numbers. My arm developed a small rash from all the places the metal imbedded (lightly) into my skin. Here's a look:

I also learned that the Scotch-Brite pad (at right) evens out the surface of the metal around the weld with more precision than the sand paper (at left). Good to know for the future!

Finally, to update you on the Daniel-David collab, Daniel is working away at the sculpture portion. Here is his progress:

--David Joseph Goteiner