Author Topic: My art was accepted for the Festival! (Read 5725 times)

Sunbeam56 · « **on:** September 23, 2009, 05:44:05 PM »

Houston has a Bayou Arts Festival in downtown on October 10th and 11th. I got a wild hair and entered a sketch for the "Art on Water" exhibit.
The old city hall has a reflecting pol in front of it. Probably 70 feet long and about 20 feet wide. Very shallow. They were soliciting ideas for floating objects.
So I got totally wild and submitted.

And I got accepted.

Oh goodness! Now I'm going to have to build the thing.... eek!!!

emm · « **Reply #1 on:** September 23, 2009, 06:12:49 PM »

Congratulations! Not much time to get it done. Hope it goes together smoothly.

emm

Esther · « **Reply #2 on:** September 23, 2009, 08:09:31 PM »

Be sure to document every part of the project.

Jerry · « **Reply #3 on:** September 23, 2009, 10:28:49 PM »

You can do it girl!

jw · « **Reply #4 on:** September 23, 2009, 11:44:52 PM »

Go sista, Go sista you will do just fine

Joyce · « **Reply #5 on:** September 24, 2009, 04:46:08 AM »

Please take pix! I would love to see it!

Jonna · « **Reply #6 on:** September 24, 2009, 08:59:19 AM »

Yes please, take pics through the whole project of building it as well and then after it is in place. I would love to see it. Congratulations!

Julles · « **Reply #7 on:** September 24, 2009, 02:53:58 PM »

Savannah - that is SUPER WONDERFUL!! That art festival is a juried show, and it truely is only the cream of the crop who is allowed to participate.

AND I THINK I AM GOING TO BE OUT OF TOWN - RATS RATS RATS!!!

I will be coming back from the State Fair that weekend... maybe can make it on Sunday. Just where is your piece to be displayed? I am not familiar with the lay out of the downtown festival. (I usually go in April, to the one in Memorial Park.)

Sunbeam56 · « **Reply #8 on:** October 03, 2009, 06:37:35 PM »

So yeah!
We got the styro block on Thursday. 4 foot x 4 foot x 8 foot. We had them cut it in half. Which I am now thinking was a mistake.

Today, Saturday, Roark built a hot wire 40 inches long for me, and I started cutting. We took photos and I will post them, but wait until its closer to being finished.

It looks like a horse, but there are some issues with it.

Weighs about 35 pounds. But a single person can't lift it - takes a married guy. Yuk, yuk. No seriously, its an awkward shape, and it take two people to lift.

The hot wire works really well, when I'm not breaking it. I;ve gone through 3 wires so far. And caught the horse on fire four times. But each time it went out because it was raining.

Hint to anyone else working with styrofoam... its NOT a good idea to work with a welder powered hot wire in the rain.
Tends to electrocute anyone who is not wearing boots. And the metal splatters when the wire gets hit with water.

So far, so good.

Bullfrog · « **Reply #9 on:** October 03, 2009, 07:00:47 PM »

Way to go! This is great. Dare to dream...

You know a dream is like a river
Ever changin' as it flows
And a dreamer's just a vessel
That must follow where it goes
Trying to learn from what's behind you
And never knowing what's in store
Makes each day a constant battle
Just to stay between the shores...and

I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry
Like a bird upon the wind
These waters are my sky
I'll never reach my destination
If I never try
So I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry

Too many times we stand aside
And let the waters slip away
'Til what we put off 'til tomorrow
Has now become today
So don't you sit upon the shoreline
And say you're satisfied
Choose to chance the rapids
And dare to dance the tide...yes

I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry
Like a bird upon the wind
These waters are my sky
I'll never reach my destination
If I never try
So I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry

There's bound to be rough waters
And I know I'll take some falls
But with the good Lord as my captain
I can make it through them all...yes

I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry
Like a bird upon the wind
These waters are my sky
I'll never reach my destination
If I never try
So I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry

Yes, I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry
'Til the river runs dry

Garth Brooks.

emm · « **Reply #10 on:** October 04, 2009, 07:14:01 PM »

Yikes, sounds dangerous! Glad it is working out well so far.

emm

Sunbeam56 · « **Reply #11 on:** October 05, 2009, 09:36:09 AM »

This is two days of interrupted work. Still a long way to go.
First - the model. Annie Mae.
She's a suffolk punch. Rare breed, but she's not registered. Completely true to the type, no question, but they are fussy about registration.

Sunbeam56 · « **Reply #12 on:** October 05, 2009, 09:36:56 AM »

Thursday, we brought the blocks home, but didn't have time to work on it.
And, AHEM, the tools to work the blocks hadn't been built, yet.

Sunbeam56 · « **Reply #13 on:** October 05, 2009, 09:41:09 AM »

Saturday, started carving.
If these photos make me look fat and old, its only because I'm fat and old.

The tools were new, and it took awhile to get used to it.
This is the first time I've worked with styrofoam. It catches on fire if the wire is too hot. The wire breaks if you move it too fast. The styrofoam is very brittle, and breaks off.
As you will see, the head is too small because I learned all those lessons too late.

Sunbeam56 · « **Reply #14 on:** October 05, 2009, 09:42:19 AM »

Sunday it rained. Shocking a couple of times. When the water hits the wire, the rain steams and the metal splatters. It gets very hot.
Roark put up a tent for me to work under.

Esther · « **Reply #15 on:** October 05, 2009, 09:52:02 AM »

OH WOW, I am amazed. Have you sculpted before. I bet you have to know you have the eye for it. You have a great start. You may not know it but ----- I am no artist. I'm crafty though. Anyway, I hope you are successful on the completed project. Good luck. I think you have a great start.

As for fat and old, you need to put a new definition of fat and old in your mental Webster. I'll show you fat and old.

Jonna · « **Reply #16 on:** October 05, 2009, 11:13:44 AM »

That is incredible! You are bringing life and shape from a hunk of styrofoam, to me who can't even draw more than a stick figure, that is amazing!

I'm with Esther, I can show you fat and old but you are not either of those.

Roark · « **Reply #17 on:** October 05, 2009, 01:43:13 PM »

The following placard goes on display with Savannah's MerMare:

"Mermare"

About the Sculpture
Modeled as a cubist-style draft horse, the sculpture is designed to evoke a sense of transition as the Mermare erupts from her native undersea habitat. Our Mermare has emerged from the depths during the peak of a winter storm, as evidenced by the folded mane, her angled head, and the flattened whitecaps surrounding her. Small fish, disturbed by the might of her passing, take to the air in all directions. Escaping the pressure of the deep, she emerges into a tempest.

"Mermare" is minimally constructed of two monolithic blocks of expanded bead styrene (styrofoam) trimmed with a hotknife by the artist. A plywood backplane provides structural rigidity and allows for the mounting of the various pumps and automata necessary to drive the sculptures kinetic effects. "Mermare’s" time to completion was 3 days.

About the Artist
Savannah Robinson hails from Danbury, TX (pop. 1611) located in the heart of Brazoria County. A veteran trial & appellate attorney by trade, she occasionally dabbles in folk and kinetic art, "to stay balanced". "Mermare" is her first public installation, and her first attempt at foam-modeled sculpture. She enjoys purple hats. "I have enjoyed the Bayou Arts Festival for many years, and wanted to participate. I volunteered but couldn't uphold the time commitment. This is my way of participating."

About the Model
Mermare’s was loosely modeled after "AnnieMae", a 1600 lb Suffolk Punch draft horse who stood patiently at attention for several seconds during the artist’s body/motion study. AnnieMae is unsure what all this artsy-fuss is about, but she was perfectly happy to oblige those silly humans for the price of some alfalfa, carrots, apples, corn, shredded wheat, popcorn, and hay. She enjoys eating purple hats.

About the Hydraulics Guy
Roark wishes to remain anonymous except to say "never again" to hydraulic sculptures and "hubba-hubba" to any passing redheads. Roark considers purple hats to be a warning label. Particularly unhinged by this effort, he was last seen looking for a bottle of tequila on horseback.

Mikey · « **Reply #18 on:** October 05, 2009, 04:35:28 PM »

Fascinating!

jw · « **Reply #19 on:** October 05, 2009, 04:41:51 PM »

Simply marvelous...............and thank you to Roark for filling us in on the details and about the hiding hydraulics hubba, hubba kinda guy he is

.

Jonna · « **Reply #20 on:** October 05, 2009, 04:42:28 PM »

I want to know about the kinetic effects??

Cheers for the purple hat ladies!

karen J · « **Reply #21 on:** October 05, 2009, 05:33:44 PM »

Quote from: Sunbeam56 on October 05, 2009, 09:41:09 AM

If these photos make me look fat and old, its only because I'm fat and old.

[snip]
As you will see, the head is too small because I learned all those lessons too late.

Ditto that fat and old thing.

I think your endeavor is totally cool! I also painfully understand what happens when the lessons are learned too late. Are you making the body smaller to compensate? Or just going with the flow?

One word of warning- don't try to compensate too much. I've been there many times before. I try to adjust the one half because I made a mistake, then over do it. So then have to make the other half smaller. Repeat until there is nothing left! Ouch, that hurts.

Sunbeam56 · « **Reply #22 on:** October 05, 2009, 07:27:12 PM »

We're going with the smaller head. I'm thinking most city folk won't really notice.
And its going to have to remain an abstract piece anyway. No time to smooth it out and go for perfect realism. So the smaller head exaggerates the movement.
And the planes of the wire cut exaggerate the wind.

Kittyzee · « **Reply #23 on:** October 05, 2009, 07:30:03 PM »

That's why it's called artwork--ART IS WORK! My stuff hardly ever ends up the way I originally intended it to. It morphs and unfolds into something else, almost like it has a life of its own. And that's the part I like best!

Julles · « **Reply #24 on:** October 05, 2009, 07:48:04 PM »

sunbeam, that is amazing, to see how flat surfaces become 3D! The piece is fabulous! I love the crafty write-up, too - really cleaver. It will fit in well with the artsy bunch at the festival. Wish I could go!!!

Be sure to take pics there, too.

Julles · « **Reply #25 on:** October 05, 2009, 07:49:10 PM »

I can't believe you're doing that mere DAYS before the festival!!

Roark · « **Reply #26 on:** October 05, 2009, 09:05:18 PM »

Julles: It's going to be a real push to get it done and transported up to Houston in time. It's got to be installed Thursday afternoon for the press event. With some luck we'll test-splash it tomorrow afternoon and see what the balance equasion looks like.

I'm REALLY sweating the flotation and balance calcs right now. Savannah decided to add another two-feet of foam yesterday, and today she added a tail. (!!!). Originally our "spec" (yeah-right... we're talking Savannah here. tehehe!) was for *one* block of foam and not *three*. Fortunately styrofoam isn't heavy, but it upsets the weight distribution something fierce. But I've learned to anticipate these things.

The base (currently off-gassing a fresh coat of styrene resin in my garage) now weighs a bit over 200 lbs. When combined with the sculpture itself, it should tick the scales at 245 lbs. I engineered it with *just* enough excess bouyancy to make sit flat in the water and be stable. Any less, and it would sink. Any more, and the entire sculpture would rise out of the water and become unstable.

The base contains three Group 29 marine deep-cycle batteries and 4 DC pumps pushing 4800 gph total flow, which is why it's so danged heavy. This thing has to run for 4 days without assistance, which explains why we have enough stored juice for a moon-shot.

Giggle: I was testing the amp draw of the pumps this PM (in the bathtub... where else!), when my son walks-in. Impressed by the rapids roaring in the tub, he asks how much thrust it made. So we measured it. 9 lbs of thrust. It's a good thing he asked because I had missed the implication: Our anchors are going to need to be bigger!

Roark

jw · « **Reply #27 on:** October 06, 2009, 08:50:26 AM »

Wow this is really a complicated venture and I'm glad to be able to witness it................I hope all goes wonderfully as it's supposed to and you win the grand prize

Sunbeam56 · « **Reply #28 on:** October 06, 2009, 07:23:10 PM »

So... pins and needles here. Slow motion drama
Today Roark tested the floatation of his techno bit. It was prefect - duh!

And I carved the tail.
And we are trying to keep from damaging the efforts we have made so far. Its not as easy as it sounds. Every time you approach the piece with a knife, there is the possibility of collateral damage.

But, so far, no irretrievable mistakes. (eeek)

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #29 on:** October 07, 2009, 08:51:14 AM »

Fabulous creation by Savannah and great commentary by Roark. What a challenge and engineering feat! Waiting for photos of the final product at the fair!