Alec Von Bargen

Its Good To Be Back.

The generous people at Ondarte International Artist Residency have been good enough to invite me back for a second month, and have also provided tools and materials.  I think that almost counts as a grant.  (Should probably talk to someone about that, and scoop some resume cred.)

Ali Goodwin

This month

there are

strange types

here.

So it is back to stone and steel, my familiar ground.  I’ve been drilling and glueing steel rods into stones, then welding them into a single piece.  What piece, you ask?  Well I’m glad you did.

“A Good Egg”

Alec Von Barge

is the name of the work.  It will be a nine-foot

sphere.  A hybrid, with “exoskeletal” steel rods

holding up the lower half, and internal steel hosting the top.

The piece is intended as a gift from the Ondarte Residency to

the turtle population of Akumal.  Wish you had heard me trying

to explain how futile gestures are the most sacred ones at the

artists talk.  It was pretty much a futile gesture.

No, the turtles will not “get it”. But making the piece for them

will matter, in some magical land where futile gestures are

stored and counted and saved and treasured.

Alec Von Bargen

Jacks Cole

Work has been fun

and so far, wrinkle free,

as long as you don’t

count the wrinkles.

Progress as of a few days ago…

Ryan Walter Wagner

“Turning Point” is a large piece I made recently.  I’m going through some major changes in my home life, and built this arch/gateway piece as an exploration of transition.

It took forever to build.

Taking it apart, and laying the columns down for transportation, scared the hell out of me.  They are seriously heavy.

At the gallery, it was time for a bigger piece of equipment.  My friend Todd has a logging truck which, with his hand, can place a piece to within an inch of the target.

Last minute adjustments with my old hockey stick.

photos by Sweeney Research  http://www.sweeneyresearch.com/

http://www.harborarts.net/au_team.html have landed some of the best real estate in town

for large scale outdoor sculpture.  Randi Hopkins at the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art

presided over the jury for the show, and the work is directly across the bay from that revered

institution.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Contemporary_Art,_Boston

It all started with a hoist.

Can I mention here that the gantry crane I built is the only one in existence with custom hardware and winches allowing it to hoist it’s own beam! Yeah, I said it, I invented that.  And if you are really into homespun custom fabrication, check out these two ramp rods above, which let the beam ride up to it’s platform without any help from below.  Doubtless way more than you want to know, but it lights up my evenings.

Self-hoisting gantry crane beam.

Once the piece was up, it was time to cut away the old foundation.  A careless crane maneuver on the last installation had all taken a toll on it.

The mighty Minx

Minx the cat was unimpressed throughout the proceedings, but that is her way.

At Boston Harbor

Unstrapping the rascal.

Mark the crane operator is a genius at the controls.  Below, you can see the spot where its usually

tough going.  This guy nailed it by going slow, and knowing his machine perfectly.  Love that!

Steve Israel, the generous and gifted sculptor behind Harbor Arts.  Steve not only brought in sculptors from three continents for this show, but he is using the shipyard and his considerable social capital to seed environmental awareness. Not a bad bone in his body.

Ball in Flight.

New home, with a view.

Phew!  Onto the next one… the Arch for Morgan Lehman Gallery.

Yesterday and today have found me in the studio, making an arch for Morgan Lehman Gallery,

and experiencing very briefly what is known in my tribe as “checkbook serenity”.  

I’d like to be a lot less dependent on cash and money flow, and am working toward that, but at present, this grant lands like a hot air balloon full of love.

Photo by Peninsula School of Art.

Josh Barash is a photographer with a particularly strong eye for capturing sculpture.  The City of West Hollywood Urban Art Program hired him recently to shoot the tree form I made for them last year.

I thought I would choose one or two images to post here, as I watch leaves sprouting everywhere here in New England.  It’s going to be tough to keep it down to two.

Sharn Ure and company at Katherine Spitz Associates

http://www.katherinespitzassociates.com/index_ksa_about.php

did an amazing job making this park into a distinct, beautiful environment.

I think the tree is happy there!  I love how this image captures the lines.  I hope some pedestrians stop, lay down, and grok this.  Might be a bit much to ask.

This amazingly intricate array of welded bronze can almost vanish, depending on where you stand as you look.

Seen from up close in a field of sky, you could never miss it.

I think it works.

Many thanks to:

Beatrix Barker, Art Advisor

The City of West Hollywood.

Andrew Campbell, cultural affairs administrator

Sharn Ure, KSA Landscape Architecture

Samantha Saliter, installation Goddess

http://www.asianculturalcouncil.org/

the home of my dear friends Diane and Joel.  Diane is a potter of some renown, Joel an excellent painter and sculptor.

We had a fun time loading the home.  It is one of two, and at 3x5x4, together they contain a cord of wood.

Here’s what she said:

“Not to be missed is “Ground of Being”, a primal, evocative stone piece by Karl Saliter of Cornwall, CT, whose work appears in galleries and sculpture gardens worldwide.  Something about this piece just makes you smile.  Nearly 100 steel rods reach skyward from a base of stone to a height of three or more feet, with most well over seven feet high.  Every one of them “blooms” with a large, flat rock the size of a pancake at their apex.  To add to the whimsical presentation, in a breeze they sway lazily, calling us to enjoy the day.  While Saliter appreciates the playful quality of (some of) his works, he describes his relationship to stones as reverential.  As he creates these pieces that connote growth or motion, he sees himself as serving the stones.”

Bravo to Artscope, and many thanks to Mill Brook Gallery, and Linda Chestney!  

Wrapping it up in the studio yesterday, almost ready for a lift.

First Backhoe arrives to save the day, before being sent home: sculpture apparently too heavy. It was kind of fun watching the backhoe lifting itself up onto three wheels, trying to grab the piece.

Second backhoe, stronger, arrived shortly after.

Also got spanked.

Crane time.

I love cranes.  I love cranes and Bobcats.  Leaving from my beautiful temporary studio to the site:

Nice Site!  To flip the piece, it became important to balance it on its nose.

I hadn’t thought to build for that contingency: glad it held.

Time to head home.