From wood to bronze

The artstream is now flowing in this direction. The wood mask below, 22"x 21", is an iconic image of the moon. It was hanging on the wall in my house where I was able to observe and appreciate it's subtle qualities. Usually my artwork is private commission and does not hang on my wall for very long. After a time it came to me that this piece would be the ideal model for a bronze artwork. I had been searching for the right branch of the stream for inspiration. Not sure when it came to me but at last I had a creative direction to move towards. I took the wooden model to the bronze foundry and used the wax to make the halo. The halo depicts the herring spawning when the moon is full. I am in the process of making several different halos for the moon mask.
This moon mask is made of local Alder wood. Carved when green and seasoned properly before finishing. Alder is a great local wood resource for carving a wood project such as this.
The wood must be carved to a roughed out stage when it is green and fresh. It can then be left to slowly dry in order to prevent cracking. This process takes from several months to years if cared for using the proper conditions. I have kept alder wood carvings for years in this roughed out stage awaiting the finishing process.

Old and New

I like this old world style of design and artwork for several reasons. In todays world you will rarely see this kind of decoration on the exterior of architecture. And it has several meanings. The images actually have specific meaning. Some of the design is just purely decoration but some of it is directly related to the people and activities that have created this edifice. One of my favorite aspects of design like this is that it may look like some kind of bird with a beak, claws and feathers but if you look closely it will change into a type of feature that is not animate, or any recognizable part of a bird or creature. This is typical of alot of European architectural design of this period. Like a family crest or coat of arms. It is a type of of scrollwork that starts out looking like an animal but the body is just this type of inanimate scrollwork. Very graceful with double meaning.
My work with the NW Coastal Art also has this double meaning characteristic within the scrollwork, emblem, family crest, coat of arms, totem.

Recap

Now if I could just learn how to use this blogspot as well as I can create artwork all would be well. My last post was not organized very well. I think the next icon I will move onto will be the "bird" design. The four of my main icons for this project will be Fish, Bird, Beast, Spirit. I will create designs for several different types of objects as I have for the Fish.






















I have really enjoyed and learned alot from my voyage down this artstream. This bronze has a different patina that is the most recent edition. As you you can see the coloration is in relationship to the iconic design. I have been exploring the "fish" designs for awhile now and I think I am ready to move on to the next icon. I plan on creating a series of other iconic designs similar to this one.

Into The Bronze Age

I have now taken the best examples of my designs that are blasted into stone and have had them reproduced in bronze. I wanted to be able to have multiple productions using molds and lost wax process. There is a wide variety of patinas available with bronze for color. The stone surface texture translates well in bronze and the weight is satisfying.



This piece shows the use of the border edge around the central design. Each piece is different and I create this effect on each one to make it unique.
This last series is a good example of the bronze work I have done with these latest Iconic designs. I would like to do more work in bronze as I progress along my new artstream. The new work is now flowing nicely and I will be going to the bronze foundry again this spring. Looking forward to sharing here soon on my artstream blog.



This is one of my favorite pieces. Small and simple. There is no border relief around the design. On most of the larger designs I use a border around the design. The effect here is the design sits up on the surface and gives it a nice dimension.

Original Design Review

These are a few of the artstream designs that I feel are the most successful. Over the last several years I have made slight refinements to the original designs. I could post many more images but I will keep the examples to a choice few.


One of the things I like about these original stone pieces is the textural quality each one has. These natural stone examples have a quality that creates a primal resonance for me. Takes me back to my tribal origins.

This particular stone came from the banks of the Columbia River Gorge. It is very hard, heavy, and dark in color. The design is very clean and smooth.

Most of these original stones have a character, more of a grainy, personality. Each one is different and unique.

Stone age to Bronze age

I started out creating these designs on rock and stone collected from rivers and beaches around the state. I will display some of the originals on the next posting. I really like the somewhat rough texture of each rock. Some are quite porous and soft while others are smooth and hard. The bronze translates these qualities in different ways with each type of patina. I've used some really rough textured stone all the way to a polished , smooth surface. Having molds is a great advantage when trying different surface and design applications. Using patinas is a really fun way to create a different effect with color. More examples will follow...............

My Bronze Age

So here is another example translating my design in a different media. This has always been key for me as an artist. Experimenting with different media to see how the design changes. Does it improve? Does it excite? Is it worth pursuing? Am I inspired to explore this new artstream? We shall see as I bring forth more of this new work.