Final Erosion Bundle Update -

"Erosion Cube, April 30th 2011"
manipulated digital photographs by Mick Mather
- click image to view full size -

It's finally time to take down Erosion Cube and move it along to the next step. The final reveal scheduled in Kris Henderson's The Erosion Bundle Project is due August first and the final destination for this sculpture is a piece-of-paper. As you can see, the last 30-days were less than kind to the cube and I have serious doubts about the size and quality of the planned outcome of this project. Be that as it may, the remains are steeping in a water-filled blender to soften and break down the various elements gently. Later, everything will be tossed into a boiling pot before being returned to the blender for beating and chopping. After that, into the deckle and frame ... stay tuned.

Eye of the beholder -

"A Mysterious Sculpture at the Art Park"
digital collage by Mick Mather

"... moonlight is sculpture ..."
- Nathaniel Hawthorne

Return to productive use -

"The Sculpture Studio I"
digital collage by Mick Mather

When traveling, be it near or far, around my own home or in other cities, I'm always looking at old buildings. I see them as live/work spaces and always imagine myself building sculptures inside them. At the same time, I see them as sculptures unto themselves.

NEW from The Trinity Series -

"Trinity #18 - Warners Road Readymade, Post Documentation Study I"
manipulated digital photograph by Mick Mather

In the short weeks ahead I'll be making a proposal for a public artwork that, if selected, will be another major public sculpture in downtown Syracuse, New York. Also during this time my collaborator, Mark Moncavage, will be replanting and shaping the topiary sculpture, Trinity #2, that was installed last year at the Inner Harbor. Thus begins the season for site specific sculpture, land art and walking art projects of which today's post is the first documentation of a realized, readymade. In the footsteps of Marcel Duchamp and that dadaist tradition, I post this study ... more to come.

Another stimulus package?

"Stimulus Package II (Circle IV)"
manipulated digital photograph by Mick Mather

I'm already hard at work on the sequel to Seth Apter's project, Disintegration Collaboration, with a series of digital prints. These will come into existence as manipulations of a series of photographs I took of the only bit that remained from Stimulus Package I, a piece of string. You can see the original photograph at my other blog, No Matter What Shape-The Archive. I've also begun toying about with the idea of creating a sculpture that will use the string as a foundation, coating it with plaster and shaping it as I go along. Then what? Out into the wild again for further disintegration? ... and he scratches his head!

Installation day -

"Everson Unwrapped Tree, Under Construction"
stacked glass sculpture by Mick Mather

Today's post is one of the documentation photographs taken while I was creating this piece for the Everson Unwrapped event that opens on Thursday, December 4th. The piece is just about 25" tall - go here for complete information - and I'll be installing this very, very soon. When I have the final documentation photographs of the finished installation I'll be sharing it right here.

Stretching the limits?

"Disappearing Into A Gridded Landscape"
digital collage by Mick Mather

Today's post is tied to some of the research I've been doing for months and, more specifically, this past week at the blog, Walking Art. The land art movement, with roots all the way back to the 1960's, is exploding as social issues such as sustainability, recycling, the environment, rural and urban planning begin to settle out from the radical activist fringe. Grass-roots organizing on the local level is slowly replacing the hippy dippy junk-science-based paradigm with better informed models, experiments and projects that place all of these important issues back within the realm of good stewardship, where they belong. The better news here is that individual ideas of art, public art and land use interpretation is shattering the elitist viewpoint and returning art to the masses. At the same time, the individual is empowered to redefine certain forms of conceptual art for himself by simply taking a walk. With digital cameras, video and other emerging technologies new methods of creating and documenting en plein air art are added to traditional forms of painting, drawing or sculpture. There's much more to say but, not having the room in this forum, I'll do what I can to reveal those areas where I'm in concert with some of the new directions and movements that I'm beginning to see.

Green Spaces Grant Project 2008 -

"Post Installation Study I"
manipulated digital photograph by Mick Mather

I spent part of my weekend finishing up the installation of Trinity #2 which, in spite of the weather and other considerations, is currently in place and doing well. The piece as it now stands is a living topiary sculpture that is completely in tune with the intent of this grant and I'm finally able to say that it's an idea that should've been more prominent in my thinking from the beginning. I would've posted the original photograph of the piece but planting arbor vitae bushes this late in the season allows no opportunity for the sort of pruning that my collaborator, Mark Moncavage, and I will do in mid-Spring of 2009. Once the piece has taken firm root and grows a few feet, the shaping will begin and I promise to show those results in about 6 months.

Off site, On site -

"Visit to the Unfinished Cathedral"
digital collage by Mick Mather

I'm not here today and this post is an old image that I was having some fun fiddling with. In actuality I'm at Syracuse Inner Harbor finishing up the "Green Spaces Grant" with the installation of "Trinity #2" which has become a topiary sculpture more in line with the concept of the grant in the first place. Documentary evidence will be posted at No Matter What Shape - The Archive once things are completed, tidied up and whupped into basic shape.

Back to the cube -

"Post Cube Conceptual Study II"
manipulated digital drawing by Mick Mather

A week or so ago I mentioned that I might be showing another version of this piece and here it is. I'm having a lot of fun with all of the works that continue to pile up as a result of the Kings Court Cube land art sculpture; and, I'm getting closer to putting what I have so far into a catalog or something. I may also have stumbled into an opportunity to create Ice Cube if I can get a proposal together and find the right weather conditions when winter gets here. I'll keep you posted.

Making hay while the sun shines -

"Study #2 for Sky Box I"
digitally manipulated drawing by Mick Mather

I've pressed forward with another land art project called Sky Box I that can currently be seen at No Matter What Shape - The Archive, my other blog. I've mentioned it briefly here as well, along with another study for the documentation; but, things have changed a little bit. For one thing, it's completed and, for another, the longevity of this 1-foot square box is suspect. Be that as it may, Sky Box II is already being planned and, in the spring, I believe that Flower Box will be added to my list. This 1-inch square box, as yet an indistinct plan, is expected to surround a wildflower next May. This doesn't presuppose the building of Ice Box and/or Snow Cube should proper conditions occur this winter. Hmm, busy, busy me!

Land Art Project -

"Kings Court Cube"

land art sculpture by Mick Mather

I finished the project today. If you want to see the daily progress of this land art construction, you'll find it here at No Matter What Shape - The Archive. I took some documentary video footage again but, dang! ... it came out worse than the original one! If I can carve out a little time to do some editing, I might come up with another short movie to post, eventually. I had to cut back on the original concept of filling the cube with colorful leaves but I have another idea if the structure of stacked and woven twigs and branches survives the winter. There's a bit of work involved and, for now, I'm all in with no thoughts of continuing this project for a while. I'll create Sky Box before the weather turns too miserable and then tackle those parts of the new idea that can be done, left to winter over with final considerations and further work in the spring. For now, enjoy this if you can.

Another beautiful day -

"Paige's Bridge"
stacked stone sculpture by Mick Mather

Today was tree planting for the the "Green Spaces Grant" that was awarded this summer to landscape designer, Mark Moncavage and I. As I may have mentioned before, my sculpture, Trinity #2, is scheduled for installation amid 5 flowering crabapple trees on the Creek Walk at Inner Harbor in Syracuse, New York. As soon as the piece is approved by the Public Art Commission and accepted by the Syracuse Common Council, Steve Cooper, my fabricator, will proceed to build and install it ... but, that's another story. My beautiful granddaughters, Leighlund and Paige, came to the planting and had quite good time. Later in the day the three of us went down the other creek - the little stream near Leighlund's house - to inspect "Leighlund's Cairn". Having suffered some bit of damage since I was there last, it had to be completely rebuilt. I'll be showing the new piece very soon, but here in today's post we have a little stone bridge that was suggested by Paige and constructed by all three of us as a team. I seem to have a pair of budding land art sculptors growing on the vine here and there's more to show you. Stay tuned!

NEW from The Selfportrait Series -

"Selfportrait of the Artist as a Silhouette"
digitally manipulated photograph by Mick Mather

It's been a while since posting an image from this series and you may recall hearing similar sentiments on Saturday when speaking of the dry spell between images in The Mister Existence Series. I have another one ready too, but will wait until a day when I need to go to the well. I'm a bit tired and short on time since construction of the Kings Court Cube began today. You can have a sneak peek at the effort at No Matter What Shape.

Rain, rain, go away -

"Leighlund's Cairn - Another View"
stacked stone sculpture by Mick Mather

The introduction, "rain, rain, go away", is for Susupetal ... most of us who have the privilege to know her understand that she dislikes the coming of the Finnish Autumn, fraught with fog and gloom and rain. But I digress. We've had an extraordinarily wet, cool summer in this part of the world too. Lately, that fact has included a lot more rain - pushed north and east by the hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico - that filled this little creek next to Leighlund's house. I took my camera over there yesterday to document the possible destruction of the piece but was rewarded with a perfectly brilliant, sunny day with our little cairn proudly standing its ground and diverting the stream. Next step will be to document the winds of autumn and the falling leaves that might just bury this little stand of stone.

Observing nature and a reinterpretation -

"Stream and Stones at High Water"
digitally manipulated fractal collage by Mick Mather

At this time of year, walking outside - or even just looking outside - to experience the air, light, heat, sun, rain and the changing of the season is a nice way to relax. Free flowing thought, influenced by the environment, flashes on and off with a variety of ideas and possibilities that will need to consider the sharp corners of recurring, urgent concepts that insist that I pursue them. For a number of years I've been interested in riparian restoration of a particular creek, my intervention being that of siting sculpture within the creek itself. Not a new idea, certainly, but one that continues to insert itself into my own consciousness. This post was created in response to much of this recent thinking.

NEW from The Trinity Series -

“Working Class Silence and Hope”
(Trinity #13 - Installed)
marble sculpture by Mick Mather

As those of you who have been following along already know, I spent much of this weekend at The Carving Studio & Sculpture Space in West Rutland, Vermont creating "Working Class Silence and Hope" (Trinity #13). This piece will be part of SculptFest08 with an opening Saturday, September 13th and the exhibition continuing through October 26th. This year's theme is "Human Interventions and the Industrial Landscape", curated by Carlos Dorrien, Sculpture Professor at Wellesley College. As can be seen, the piece is dry stacked marble on a large marble plinth. From the bottom of the base to the tallest column the work is 7-feet tall and 7-feet wide. Upon arrival at the site things began to vary a little bit from the original sketch when it became obvious to me that the columns needed to be separated from the industrial dock where the work is sited. The natural marble slab was the answer and this monster weighs in at almost 2 tons. The industrial surroundings, merging sharply with the natural environment along with shape of the plinth, further suggested an alternate arrangement of the columns - each measuring about 15" to 18" inches in diameter. When you consider that better than 60% of the marble pieces needed shaping before placement amid hordes of mosquitoes, black flies, midges, no seeums, bees and wasps, it was a major task of whack & stack to get this erected. While my body is bug-bit, sunburned, muscle and tendon stressed, I'm on the mend. Those physical issues fade in the shadow of accomplishment and, in a heartbeat, I would do this again ... just not for a little while. Okay?

On the Road -

"Trinity #13 - Proposal Study #3"
digitally manipulated drawing by Mick Mather

No sooner am I back from vacation than I'm off again! As you read this I'll be on the road, driving to Vermont to The Carving Studio & Sculpture Center, where my proposal for "Trinity #13" has been accepted for exhibit in SculptFest08. I will be constructing this work from 'found' materials on-site over the weekend. "Labor Day" takes on a whole new meaning for me this year I think. In any case, no Illustration Friday for me this week and apologies, again, in advance for the short shrift given the pre-scheduled posts through Monday. More documentation of the piece upon my return and, until then, please have a glass of red wine with me in celebration.

Payback is a ... well, you know -

"Yellow Rose"
manipulated digital drawing & collage by Mick Mather

You know what they say, "No good deed goes unpunished." Such is the case with my return to the office that, despite my absence, managed to accumulate 2-weeks worth of work for me to attend to. On the bright side, the upcoming long weekend has a sculpture commission to be constructed - a very exciting prospect (more later) - so I'm going to have to rely on pre-posting images again as I'll be away from the computer from late Thursday evening thru Labor Day ... and the world keeps goin' 'round.

Thursday Challenge: Photography -

"Watching the Detectives"
digital collage by Mick Mather

This week, Thursday Challenge offers us the theme of photography. Not long ago I was working with a terrific group of teenagers on a public art project who managed to design, assemble and site a sculpture in less than 3 weeks time. Part of that effort required documenting as much activity as possible and there were multiple cameras in operation during each creative session. Coleen, a professional photographer with a studio at The Gear Factory where all of this was taking place, appeared one day and offered to shoot a few rolls of film with her big, honkin' rig. Tonight's post is based on two of the photo's I managed to take of her at work after collaging, manipulating and layering as I am wont to do. You can see the sculpture here at No Matter What Shape - The Archive.