Ahhh!  It is good to be back in the studio (finally).  It isn’t that I don’t have anything to write about – I actually have quite a bit going on.  I’m just not finding the time to get around to blabbing about it.

Not complaining – just explaining..

Anyway, as I just tweeted about I am heading down to the Massachusetts Transportation building tomorrow to uninstall two of my pieces and a couple for other members of NESA that can’t make it there.  If you didn’t get a chance to see the exhibit in person it was very nice looking.  There were around 4o pieces distributed around the second floor of, 10 Park Plaza – right outside of the Emerson College Administration office.  I don’t have any photos of the exhibit yet, but I will post as soon as I do.

Another recent tweet mentions the upcoming Lowell Open Studios.  Here is a link to an article about that -

http://www.lowell.com/news/2009/lowell-open-studios-2736.php

And, I am being featured in a group show up in Newburyport, MA on Oct. 17 – Nov 14 -

http://thewalsinghamgallery.com/dw/calendar_details.jsp?id=1585

I just finished updating my website image gallery, so check that out too.  The link to my main page is in my Blogroll, but here is a direct link:

sculpturebyspitzer.com/Images

I am just about moved back into Hillside Sculpture Studio (HSS) after a little over a month.  The Loveland Sculpture in the Park show was a worthwhile venture.  I made a sale, the small bronze piece that I donated to the event for the silent auction received bids / was sold.  It was successful from the vantage point of exposure and I also made several new contacts, met gallery curators and enjoyed talking with lots of other artists.

The event itself was amazing from start to finish.  After 26 years, the board members and volunteers really know have things organized down to a tee.  Here are a few shots of from installation through breaking down.

Once the show was over and I returned to Massachusetts I barely had more than a few hours to do some swapping around with pieces in The Walsingham Gallery up in Newburyport for two that were accepted into the latest New England Sculptors Assocation (NESA) exhibit.  This exhibit started on 8/21 and runs through 9/20:

I got back to Denver several days ago and started the final sanding (and sanding, & sanding – and sanding!) of the piece that I finished at Marble / marble this year.

I am going to be able to show it at the Loveland – Sculpture in the Park this year after all.  Really good news.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any recent pictures of this piece yet – but, I do have a close up of a bronze copy of the clay model I used.  I also have a few process photos from my carving site up at Marble.  I’m calling it, Reclining Torso.

Primary cut

High points

Initial shaping

The first shot shows how I was able to split a larger block in two using a 9 inch diamond blade and some flat chisels (not to mention the bedding plane).  The next couple of images give some idea as to how additional cuts were made and shaping begins.

This is sort of what I’m shooting for:

The marble I selected this year is amazing.  There is a color range across the piece from grayish purple to green, white in the middle and then I ended up with a touch of gray bedding plane again on the front portion – in some very interesting places.  At this point, I have completed sanding over 90% of it with 320 grit wet paper.  I still have a few scratches to chase, etc.  But, it is going to be a remarkable piece.

You will have to stop in at, Sculpture in the Park in Loveland, CO to get a look at the final product.

My latest piece of Yule marble is coming along nicely, but I haven’t gotten any new image for a while.  So, I thought I would show a few (very few, uploading images here is not easy) from the Redstone gallery opening a few nights ago.

Enjoy!

I started feeling more relaxed as soon as I began dropping into the  Vail valley.  I knew that both mountain passes were behind me and the only major obstacle left to keep me from making it to my destination was the canyon leading to Glenwood Springs.  It has been sunny since I got here and everyone is making noise and dust – and, lots of it.

Everyone seems to be making good progress.  Last night was the annual slide show where everyone shows what they have been working on.  This is done in the middle of one of the dirt access roads between the camping area and the carving area.  I don’t know which was more impressive – the show or the incredible number of stars we could see after we finished.

Tomorrow night is opening for the annual Redstone Gallery sculpture exhibit and I hope to get some images online after that.

I am pulling my hair out trying to get everything packed and ready to roll.  I am taking several stone and cast metal works with me along with most of my tools.  My first destination is Denver to drop off the sculpture.  Then, I am continuing on to Marble, CO to attend the marble carving symposium, completing a new piece and returning to the Loveland Invitational portion of Sculpture in the Park.

I thought I would also take this opportunity to showcase a couple of my finished MassArt cast metal works.  Complete with patinas and bases.  I was able to achieve quite a nice range using Birchwood-Casey M20 for everything but the Cicada piece.  For that I experimented with Ferric Nitrate.

Cicada, Bronze, 2"x2"x8"

Pirouette Macquette, Bronze with compressed paper base, 4"x2"x5"

Twister Macquette, Aluminum, 3"x4"x8"

Bird Macquette, Aluminum with compressed paper base, 3"x3"x8"

Stretch, Aluminum relief, 4"x 7"

Stretch II, Aluminum, 4"x7"

The larger models and reliefs shown here are aluminum with a graphite and wax patina.

All images Copyright ©2009 – Greg Spitzer

The pours are coming so fast now, I am having trouble keeping up..

Quite a cache of goods!  And, this isn’t even all of it.  When I took this shot, I still had a couple of small pieces to retrieve from the Mass Art foundry.   I had written off four of them (two small models and two aluminum reliefs) after the pour a couple of weeks ago.  All of the ceramics had cracks that were patched on the fly using green patch.  However, a couple of them had crumbled into several pieces.  I didn’t really even look twice at the broken shards, but Mr. Gabbard suggested that we try to recover the parts, glue them back together and try again during last Monday’s pour.  That worked and we also came up with the idea of using the bronze reliefs in sand castings to recover the aluminum copies that I wanted to try.  Those came out perfect.  So, all my work actually made it.  Eleven pieces total.  Amazing.

I am now in the process of finishing them up.  Quite a bit of grinding, sanding, polishing and evetually patinas to come.  But, I am very happy to be this busy.  I have already finished three of the aluminum castings (two large model pieces and one of the reliefs).  I am amazed at how good the butchers wax / graphite combo looks.

Here are a few additional images from the last pour.  I only got shots of the  aluminum action, I was a bit too busy during the bronze portion.  I was on the dumb end of one of the larger crucibles and it decided to crack open just after we got it filled.  About 120 pounds of molten metal emptied onto the shop floor in a matter of seconds.  Everything worked out though, all of the students work had already been poured at that point.  So, it was just a matter of a little bit of clean up.

Mr. Gabbard pouring aluminum into ceramic shells.

Christine & Mr. Gabbard

I am happy to report that the Mass Art Foundry is back online.  There are still a few bugs to work out, but for the most part it was an enormous success.  I did lose a couple of pieces to stress cracks, but they weren’t total losses thanks to Mr. Gabbard.  We are going to try those again in a two weeks during the next pour.

In all of the excitement I ended up on the working end of the aluminum crucible.  After my 10 second training session I was terrified but diligently pouring from the crucible into small [test] cups held by Zach’s TAs.  Unfortunately, with all of the activity (including accidentally spilling a small amount of hot metal onto the glove of one of my instructors) – I did not get any shots of the action.

So, I have included some new images from the Hillside Sculpture Studios bronze pour earlier in the day.

Two pours in one day!  Amazing!  I have to say that HSS was a bit more organized, but Mass Art had all the flash – the new kiln and both the bronze and aluminum furnaces running full tilt.  Glorious!

I am very disappointed to be making this entry.  You may have noticed the total lack of posts / images related to the course I have been taking (Foundry Process in Sculpture).  Initially, I could not have been more psyched about this course.  The instructor of this continuing ed course is extremely knowledgeable, open to new ideas – and very innovative.  The shop is outfitted with virtually every metal working tool known to man…

The big BUT is, that after our initial – labor intensive – sand casting & metal pour night there has not been another one like it.  Actually, we have not been able to pour any metal (aluminum or bronze) because their most awesome new burn-out kiln – is still not working.

So, we have all been busy making wax models and coating them with investment.  All the while being told that everything would work out and we would get to finish our work.

You might remember a similar situation in the movie, Money Pit.  Every time Tom Hanks or Shelley Long ask when their house re-build is going to be finished – the answer is always the same – 2 weeks!

Well, the last night of this 9 week course was this past Monday and no kiln.  It is surprising to me that the class was ever even offered for the Spring semester.  I found out the first night of class during our tour that the replacement was in progress (it was pretty obvious since there was a huge hole in the wall and the entire basement floor was just above freezing at the time).

Something must have gone wrong somewhere on the drawing board because even though this project started along with the semester, rumor has it that the required inspections are what is holding up completion.

And that is just the inspections.  The kiln needs to be run through a couple of test runs and burn in.  After that, a trial run with actual ceramic invested wax objects (hopefully, not mine) since this particular arrangement has not been used within the facility.  The old system was tried and true, but the new manner of supporting the ceramic shells may present some challenges.

You might be asking yourself – what does a burn-out kiln have to do with pouring molten metal?  Well, since the kiln relies on the same systems (electric, HVAC, gas, etc.) as the rest of the equipment – it had to all be shut down.  The old kiln was removed in pieces, so no falling back on that as a last resort either.

I wish I could tell you that it is just a matter of time before things are back in full working order.  The only feedback I have gotten to my recent inquiries is a link to a questionnaire that might lead to a focus group forum invitation (perhaps on my second try?  I did not hear anything after submitting the same form a couple of weeks ago).

Not sure how the regular day crowd is dealing with this situation, but if you are planning on taking any continuing education courses…  I wish that I had asked a few more questions.  Although, it’s probably just a matter of another – 2 weeks!

If you didn’t make it down for the show, you’ll just have to wait for next year I guess.  Although, nothing is a sure thing – David & Charles didn’t even participate for the past two years.

Anyway, I posted an album on my Facebook account for a virtual tour.  Here’s the link: http://preview.tinyurl.com/m79xam

Enjoy!