Since I never know what I am going to run into when working in borrowed print studios, I always love the little discoveries that come with printing on the fly on borrowed equipment. The great discovery at Coastal’s print studio was a huge cache of silver metallic etching ink. I had already been thinking about making these new sleeve prints  in a reddish color, and thus 2012’s first editions became metallic pink java jacket prints. Rather than make fixed collagraph plates like previous sleeve prints, I played a little bit with the patterning and arrangement of these. Although not a big shift, these sleeves are the ones I have been using to build the sleeve sculptures, and not the corrugated ones I have been printing with.  These same sleeves, along with the leftovers from Richmond, will be used again next month when I visit Columbia College. It is nice to be fully on the downhill of this gig, but still energized towards the massive print undertakings ahead in February with the Columbia College crew. In contrast to the tremendous site-work here, Columbia College’s show will focus on an as yet unrealized set of prints, paired with previously un-exhibited works on paper. For the sculptural form running through the gallery’s airspace I will try and make a much bigger sleeve construction than I have yet.  My hope is that with the lessons learned here and the discoveries yet to be had at Columbia College I will be able to develop some new variations for the show in June at Flanders Gallery. Following the Flanders show I hope to use my time as the Summer Artist in Residence at Artspace Raleigh to introduce and combine elements from my different works together in one site/project. Currently I am picturing a summer spent pushing fortunes, sleeves, video, percussion, sticks, metal, rust, vibrating coffee cups, sound and drawings together in the gallery/workspace like a blender, could be a mess but should be fun either way. In my mind I am calling that one the “Kitchen Sink project”, but that could change.

For the Rebecca Randall Bryan Gallery at Coastal Carolina University I created an installation whose title is the instructions for creating the work found within the gallery. The show is a continuation of my explorations of materials found within the contemporary coffee shop merged with the processes of British nature based works of the 70’s and 80’s. Wooden coffee stir sticks woven in place with tension, coffee cup sleeves stacked inside of one another and coffee grounds pressed into the wall combine to create a series of compositional elements designed to activate the entire gallery space. As with all the works in my “Have Sticks Will travel Series” everything is created in situ so that the gallery becomes the studio and exhibition site for the work. In this way the physical work itself is merely a record of  time spent with the materials selected in response to a given space. This show is part of a suite of  South Carolina installations along with “Fine Lines, Found Textures, and First Impressions” at Columbia College in February 2012

Works

The Conway Piece, 2012

50,000 wooden coffee stir sticks woven in place and held by tension

Suspended sleeve structure, 2012

5,200 coffee cup sleeves stacked one inside of another

Grounds for removal, 2012

Espresso dust and water rubbed into the wall

Press

“Local Living” WMBF NBC affiliate

“Brilliant Works of Art” Grand Strand Magazine

“Brilliant Exhibition opens at Coastal Carolina in January” Times and Democrat

“Charleston Installation Artist visits CCU” Digitel Myrtle Beach

I  spent today and Yesterday resolving the stick form physically and laying in the final bits of “mud” on the wall. After a string of 12hour days, the ten hours today almost seemed like a break. I can tell I am on the downhill of this one as my punch list now consists of clean up, stick touch up, lighting and documentation. Assuming I can finish all those between tonight and tomorrow I may just get to make some sort of edition, maybe I’ll even have some fun with the in house vinyl cutter.

I was able to get the first pass of the coffee stain on the wall. Next I will keep layering up the pattern a little bit to build up the swirls, after that I will remove the tape and complete the pattern.

I’ve been thinking about the process with this piece as my Richard Long moment. Although my artistic interests are diverse in terms of what I find inspiring as a viewer, the works that inspire me to create seem to remain in the British realm.

The stick form is beginning to resolve itself structurally and visually, now if I just  keep up this clip through Wednesday I may get to indulge in a little print mayhem while I’m here. Oh and did I mention the Kiss Coffee house, I am also due a visit there.

Spent Most of the day fleshing out the woven form, now looking forward to tackling some more of the stain.

I managed to continue laying in some of the outer edges, and started the wall staining. There was something very satisfying about mixing espresso dust and water to make my paste/mud for the wall. It kind of reminded me of my first british inspired works scattering espresso dust in 2005. I’ve now crossed the half way point of my install cycle, six work days left until the opening. Hopefully I can finish in time to tackle some renegade printmaking while I’m here too.

I started to lay in the outer edges of the woven form, and work on the areas where it will overlap the sleeve sculpture. Looking forward to starting fresh in the morning and tackling more of the sticks, and maybe finish taping off the coffee stain wall if I remember. 3 days down, one week to go, the clock is officially running, and so am I.

Day two saw the laying in of all three elements and the beginning of the great buildout. It took most of the day to get the first edge of the sticks set, as well as a marathon series up and down the ladders elevating the sleeve line into its resting place. I am also working slowly on the final taping of the coffee ground wall drawing and hope to start staining that by the end of the week. Tomorrow should be pretty straightforward as I try and make headway on the stick structure.

Weaving. Stacking, and Staining opens on the 19th. Like the title suggests my ten days in Myrtle Beach will be consumed with said activities. but before that I will be measuring, taping, prepping and pacing. Maybe sleeping too before i hit the gallery again tomorrow.

I am always careful to not plan much more than the final gestalt of an installation. I have found that attempts to overplan the physical form beyond the amount space it will occupy can be stifling for me. I prefer to let the space dictate the particulars of a given work. In the case of each of these installations I have dummied up some photoshop “collages” using clippings of elements from previous installations I hope to expand on for these shows. The two shows have been titled and organized around three elements each. For Coastal Carolina the show is ” Weaving, Stacking, and Staining”. The title in this case describes the three main processes I will apply to the three materials for that show. The three materials will be coffee cup sleeves, coffee grounds, and of course wooden sticks. While working on the Richmond show and the Grand Rapids show I always had in the back of my mind that I wanted to expand and elevate the coffee cup sleeves. In previous installations the sleeves have been floor based or pinned as columns between the floor and ceiling. I finally allowed myself to use them as the great drawing tool that they are. Where the sticks provide my cross hatching, the sleeves provide me a gesture. For Coastal I will be making an elevated sleeve line and then weaving sticks through that form. On the wall I will be attempting a large coffee stained  mandala. After the great success of the small coffee rectangle in Richmond I knew right away that I wanted to devour a wall with this element.

The show at Columbia College is currently titled “Fine Lines, Found Textures and First Impressions” Where the three elements in this show will be a large linear sleeve sculpture, some large and small rust on paper works, and a new series of sleeve and other found material collagraphs printed in the Columbia College printshop. I have left Columbia College’s plan open enough that I can use it to process what I will do at Coastal, but also because the space there really provides the chance to play. I hope to create  a large abstract line drawing in space and pair it with related works on paper. When I first laid eyes on the goodall gallery at Columbia College I was immediately seduced by the large amount of vertical space, and the extremely high walls on one side. I immediately envisioned a simple network of linear sculptures running through the space. After I thought some more about it I also felt it would be challenging and interesting to create a multipanel print sized to fit the wall of the gallery. There is something kind of appealing about a show that will require adjusting one’s vision upwards to digest. As with all my best laid plans though time, energy, and practicality will become the most crucial factor once I am on site.