Travelling solo in a van around the US and Canada
Philosopher and author, Alva Noe, characterizes my work well:
” The very project, then, is a social experiment; the artist works with rock and carving, but he also works with this more immaterial material of delicate social relations and community. This is no less the stuff of his art.”
Read more about it here :
http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2016/04/23/474717276/making-art-from-life
This carving features a working cowboy, Morris Ware, from the community around the carving, Jerry Brown had invited some funeral directors out to Ingomar to stay at the Bunk n’ Biscuit, ride horses and push cows during the day, and hang out at the Jersey Lily at night. I tagged along one day while they pushed cows closer to the ranch for the fall roundup.
The best part of the day was lunch at the Newman’s ranch.
This carving was made for Bettina Hubby’s “Eagle Rock – Rock N Eagle Shop”. It was carved at the terminus of the a limestone quarry in New Hope, PA. The fissures in the rock made it a challenge, but the piece is sheltered and well protected.
All around the carving I made pictographs of concentric circles and emblems. The patron of the piece *did not like* the pictographs, but they are my favorite part of the piece, so we compromised and most remain.
After seeing my Fish Petroglyph at the Grand Rapids Public Museum, during ArtPrize 2014,this is a piece commissioned by the Community Development Foundation of St. Clair County in Port Huron, MI. The piece is along the Blue Water River Walk.
The St. Clair River as it pours out of the south end of Lake Huron is a unique color of cerulean blue, and the snorkeling around the barge dock next to the rock is some of the best ever: big cat fish, giant schools of minnows, musky, bass, big carp, and more. The community engagement facet of this piece was unique since it is intended to honor the history of the Native Americans and First Nations of the area.
In the Berkeley Petroglyph, I used triangles as compositional devices to unify the top and bottom of the frieze. The top panel was aerospace images and the lower frieze was a view of the Bay from the rock. This sailboat is the apex of the bottom triangle which is formed by three sailboats. This was a vintage racing boat. The purple rain color is residue from the printmaking process.
Where wayfaring robots go to be killed.
Memorial weekend Kenmare got 4 inches of rain, and I got stuck. I took some pine boughs put them under the back wheels, said to myself, “Sudeith, don’t make a small problem a big problem”. I got behind the wheel, put it in low, gave it some gas (too much?), got it going, the motor quits and a puff of black smoke is emitted from the dashboard. Two days later, Tuesday, the AAA tow truck arrives driven by a 17 year old kid (girlfriend along for the ride) who says, “Sounds like the motor”, and he was correct. Long story short, it was cheaper to buy a new van, my time excluded.
In October 2009 I got the idea of spending some time travelling to make petroglyphs. By Thanksgiving 2009 I began to float the idea of going walkabout to my friends and family, who were mostly lukewarm (at best) to the idea. By New Years 2010 I began to plan wholeheartedly, and as the plan evolved, my friends became more supportive of the idea of an extended trip to make petroglyphs. The plan by mid January was to move out of my apartment April 1, with May 1 as a fallback, and hit the road. . February and March I worked tnthusiastically to temporarily close Warrug.com and move all of my shamefully coupious personal property (a.k.a. junk) into storage while feverishly planning my trip:locations to work, routes, tools, campng gear, van transformation. At this point my friends had become enthusiastically supportive while I had begun to think the whole idea might be… a little drastic.
March 23 the truck arrived, six hours late, to pick up my personal property. April 1 I vacated my beautiful apartment. April 10 I left New York City. I spent a couple of weeks prepping and staging in Minnesota, and on May 1 I left for locations westward. Today, May 20, I find myself in a cafe in Stanley, ND working on preparatory drawing for my first major carving of the trip.
This blog will serve as journal of my trip and work.
I will go back a while and recount my planning, preparations, and departure, but first, here is the first carving I’ve made geared to the specific local in which I am working. Its a contemporary tractor used in the wheat farms around Kenmare where I find myself.
First of all, the most important stuff: fishing tackle. I planned to bring a freshwater rod and reel, a saltwater rod and reel, and fly fishing gear. While packing I found my fly tying stuff and thought, “Am I going to bring this TOO?” when it occurred to me, I could bring just fly fishing tackle AND fly tying stuff and fish anywhere. Wishful thinking, I know.
Next most imporatant is computer / telephony stuff.
After electronics, shelter is most important.
What am i going to read while at repose in my tent? (Someone on FaceBook kindly informed me that Into the Wild is not a “how to” book.)
Miscellaneous camping truck:
Here’s the kitchen.
With electronics, shelter, cooking and reading sorted, I suppose I should bring some art supplies
.
My dad taught me to use a tool only for its proper function, so I’d better bring some tools.
Hmmmm….What am I forgetting? The potentially most crucial bit of stuff – the First Aid kit. I made three First Aid kits: van kit, camp kit, and day Kit. The van kit was most extensive with stuff for making casts, reattaching fingers, major stuff. The camp kit was pretty extensive too: one cast kit, ace bandages, some suture kits, gauze, rubbery bandage stuff, various OTC meds, Epy Pen, instant ice packs, ointments, etc. The day pack kit is meant to carry with me on day trips and patch myself back together well enought to get back to camp or van.
