Opening Exhibition 08.07.09 • Noteworthy* Paper&Press

The Leaving and the Left - Teardrop on the Fire opens August 7th, 2009 at Noteworthy* in Missoula

Tender, Laughing and Lovely

Originally uploaded by love not fear

I used this photo in this piece. The only work I did on it in the digital darkroom was to adjust levels, contrast & brightness. The distressed effect of the photo in the final piece is from the glue that I used to apply it to the glass.

Magic Love

Originally uploaded by love not fear

Finished another one. Learning a lot about love, myself, relationships in this process.

The love I have now is real, true, and lasting. I am so happy.

Also learning much about the logistical process of putting these pieces together. One major struggle I’m having is that the metal upon which I’m mounting everything is so thin, I’m having to mount the metal itself onto a piece of wood & hanging it with wire means it pulls away from the wall quite a bit.

Using the “teeth” style hooks may be an option, but there is so little control with those, I think. That, plus pounding them into the wood may break the glass in the artwork.

I may just be having to figure out how to cut my own metal and tack weld a box frame fro these pieces. If I pay Bitterroot Welding to do the same thing, it’s $60 a pop. Worth it, but I don’t have that kind of money for the amount of work I’m planning to produce with this series.

One of my Favorite Days Ever

Originally uploaded by love not fear

Back in the studio after what seems to me like a long abscence. Completed four new pieces. Will write more about the process soon.

Metal Sheet 1 (opposite side)

Originally uploaded by love not fear

Got the metal cut, and a camera to record the results. Am going through letters again. Scanning the letters I rip up. Not sure how I feel about this yet. Cleaning glass, cutting wire, hammering holes with the awl, affixing glass to metal. Playing with the paints, too. As well as experiments with other rusty things.

Leaving and the Left Prototype 2

Originally uploaded by love not fear

The Original Gimp was over at my house the other night as I was completing another prototype. At his suggestion, I made one without wood, but instead used metal. His reasoning for the switch is that wood is too warm, but metal is cold, and the pieces seem to have a cold theme. I don’t think the theme is cold. Rational, yes. Clinical, maybe. While all loves are different, looking back with a clear and rational head into past relationships to learn what worked and what didn’t is a positive way to both honor what went before while building towards a successful and long-lasting relationship.

The process lends itself to asking questions like, I wonder what she’s up to now? Asking the questions is fine, but making the call, dropping the email or doing a Google stalk is not and would probably be perceived as disruptive.

I’m still trying to figure out how to apply all of these ideas to the actual finished artwork. I’ve figured out that I want to use metal as the background, and I think I also want to use wire to attach the glass to the metal, as showing in the new prototype. A problem that I tackled while making this prototype is how to attach the glass sandwiches to each other. I want the binding method to be transparent — no glue showing. I tried doing this by spreading the Superglue evenly across the glass, but it still dried somewhat opaquely. I know that Superglue makes a glue specifically for glass, so I need to go pick me up some of that.

Todos

Get glass bonding Superglue
Get metal scraps
Cut metal scraps
Read new email and letters

Oh, right. That reminds me. I found a new folder of letters and also figured out how to import all of my archived .mbox emails into a local mail client.