eames, oranges, and degree show looming

I'm trying to get back to the kind of directness I worked with last year, before reviews and graduate school have made me think too much before acting.

Arranging objects in space.
Forming unusual and awkward connections.
Blurring the lines between image and object.

model for gigantic sculpture

I am back at school after a long, relaxing, and productive winter break. I can already tell that this, my final semester at Cranbrook, is going to be FAST and full of excitement. There is alot of work that needs to be done, and I can't wait to get in to it. Our CNC machine is just days away from being fully operational, and I am completely overwhelmed with ideas for new work.


After digesting the feedback I got from the faculty at reviews in December, I've realized a few things... the first of which being that my paintings need to get lot bigger, and a bit less tasteful, or "polite" as Beverly might say. Also, the response I've been receiving about the architectural-looking wooden support systems has been pointing me towards the direction of furniture making. I've been getting homesick for Lancaster and looking through books about antique Pennsylvania Dutch pine furniture. I guess it's just one of those things that you don't fully appreciate until you get away with it for awhile...


Expect more updates soon. The studio is a flurry of activity... and Bloomfield Hills is so covered in snow that I can't do anything besides make work!

launch

I finally got my website online, and I got Anna's up while I was at it.
Check them both out, won't you?

Reviews

3rd semester reviews are a big event here at Cranbrook. It serves as our last formal critique with faculty from across the Academy before the Degree show in May. I chose to use a space in an auxilliary studio building called "the hangar" which is below one of the dormitories. This dormitory happens to have a leaky pipe which has been seeping through the floor and the ceiling of the hangar. This has been a nuisance to the people who use the building, and has caused the space to be more or less neglected this semester.





Three slipcast porcelain sinks derived from a thermoformed plastic mold catch the drips from the celiing and the water collects in the plumbing between them. The tabletop is made up of laminated plywood with the end grain facing up. The surface was then covered in graphite, and buffed down until it became reflective. Besides the rather dirty water, bits of the ceiling fell in the sinks and on the table over the few days it was installed.

Big week

This week was fantastic. All free work time, with no critiques or department obligations. In turn, I was able to get quite a bit of work done. I have been working on a lot of 3-d modeling on Vectorworks and CAD software recently, and I've been exploring some of those languages in the recent paintings. I'm especially interested in the locus point, the 3-pronged object that determines the intersection point of the X,Y, and Z axes. It's thorugh this locus point that 2-d linework can be visualized as a virtual 3-D form.


The way that these objects used to be visualized in older versions of AutoCAD wasn't very visually enticing, but new programs like Rhinoceros and Google's Sketchup have stylized 3-D modeling in a very interesting way. These new paintings are blending my naive understanding of technical drafting with my interests in design, ornament and systematic organization.



acrylic, graphite, colored pencil
28" x 28" x 4"



18" x 24" x 4"
acrylic, graphite, colored pencil



12" x 12" x 4"
acrylic, graphite, colored pencil



24" x 24" x 4"
acrylic, graphite, colored pencil

2 new pieces ,and 2 revisions...

acrylic on panel
8" x 13" x 4"



acrylic, colored pencil, ink on panel
13" x 13" x 4"



acrylic and ink on panel
9" x 9" x 4"

acrylic, ink, colored pencil on panel
13" x 13" x 4"

New Work

acrylic, colored pencil and graphite on panel
24" x 24" X 4"



acrylic, colored pencil and graphite on panel
24" x 24" X 4"



acrylic, colored pencil, graphite, hydrocal, wood
site-sympathetic installation
96" x 48" x 48"

New Paintings

Causal Loop Diagram

A new piece I just finished, included in a drawing show here at Cranbrook. Mixed media on panels and a plaster cast from one of my thermo-formed plastic molds.

Cranbrook 2.0

Well, it's September and I am back at school! After a long summer in Lancaster, I am back in my studio making work. This is my 2nd and final year at Cranbrook and I'm trying to make the most of every minute. Here is some work in progress:

Reviews

Renderings

The profile of a simple vase is drawn, and extruded along itself. The resulting piece has a footprint which is the same is it's cross-section

Dinner for Ari & Jeannine

Since yesterday was Valentine's day, I decided to put together a special meal for some special friends. Here's what was left after the smoke cleared:

Maple poached tofu, tuna bacon.
The picture doesn't do this justice... it was actually quite good, I swear

Cream of white asparagus & shallot

Apple, manchego, honey

A variation of a Korean ssam bap; baby bok choy, rice, omelette, toasted nori, gochujang

Flatbread, tomato fennel puree, mozzarella, homegrown micro greens

Pan-seared tilapia, mango jalapeno slaw, Chalula mayonnaise

Lemon sorbet, blood orange reduction, fennel whipped cream, candied ginger