December HITS

Hello Everyone and Happy New Year!



This month felt hectic and I'm scrambling to recap December as to the artistic things that I partook, along with reviewing 2009 and making plans for 2010. As always, I want things to be perfect, but this isn't going to happen for this Happenings in the Studio.

Before I get started on my artistic endeavors, my brother had some art done to his body. He got a tattoo of his favorite hockey team - the Colorado Avalanche. He loves it!!! I wish I had a photo, it looks pretty cool.



Homemade Christmas Presents



For the first time in my adult life, I actually made all of my Christmas presents and finished them before Christmas Eve. You will see photos of some of the presents in the link at the end of this post, like the Shadow box for my brother of the the original Nintendo games that we played with as kids.

Two of the Christmas presents I made are yet to be photographed, and they are particularly unusual; one is a hat/scarf (which in need of a better name). It is a knit hat that is sewn onto a matching teal scarf, that way you can't misplace the hat. The other present was a store bought photo album with an old map of the world on the cover. I altered it into a treasure book. It was for my cousin to put her photos, stories, flattened flowers, and anything else that could fit in the plastic sleeves.


Monthly Artists' Date
It all started in November when a couple of us sculptors got together and played with wax and dye. We're trying to meet up every month, but it's a bit of a trick given work schedules and that they live in the San Francisco Bay Area and I live in Sacramento. Never the less, I was able to meet up with one of the artists and scrounged around SCRAP and Urban Ore, which are great places to find used art supplies. I found fishing poles with beautiful handles, that I am going to chop off and make into handles for juggling clubs. I've literally been looking for these for 15 months. I got them for $2 a pole!

In December we were going to head up to Sonoma to check out the Di Rosa Preserve, which is the equivalent to a wildlife preserve for outdoor art. It was WAY TOO COLD to consider going, so we'll save that field trip for a future date.

I'm hoping in January the three of us can meet up: Rohan, Celeste and me and talk about art, make something or go some place inspiring. Spending time with Celeste and Rohan makes me motivated to art, since they are such ambitious and talented artists. Next time I need to take some photos. :-)



Portfolio Website Under Construction
The website elizabethsymington.com is almost ready from being transformed from a wordpress template to a custom design. It will be a ton less wordy, easier to navigate and be up-to-date with my latest art. I try not to think about how excited I am to have it finished. I've felt lost without having it up. Dork, I know.



Andrew's Mandala Mobile


I'm still in the design phase for the hanging art installation that will go over my friend Andrew's bed. As far as I know, it's going to be made out of suspended bouncy balls in the shape of a mandala. To follow the progress read the following posts:
Part 1: Inspiration for my Current Commission
Part 2: Inspiration for my Current Commission
Part 3: Inspiration for my Current Commission
Human Slinky

I also entered my design into a contest hosted by the fun theory, where the challenge is to alter human behavior by making the action fun.


Created an Early New Years Resolution
At the beginning of the month I decided to make myself get my art out there by monthly entering a contest, call for entries, find a place to show my art... I was going to submit to a local gallery called Tangent, which has a call for entries every month for a particular theme. What happened was that the theme was changed last minute, from "coloring books" to a private show. I thought it would be too much fun to make a coloring book for the visually impaired, but that idea will have to wait.

Instead I entered the mandala mobile and started on a Polaroid project that is explained more in the photo album at the end of this post.



Sculpture Principals apply to decorating the Christmas Tree


Here's a great example of how an artist thinks. While decorating a Christmas tree with some friends and my mom, I kept seeing the connections between sculpting and hanging ornaments. The steps and the questions you ask yourself are basically the same: when sculpting you work big then focus on details, and when which ornament to hang first, you put up the largest and fill it the rest with little decorations. It's important to step back often for the work to be able to see the whole picture. Then is something is not working, fix it before moving on, otherwise it could negatively effect your next decision.

It's realizations like this that make me confident in calling myself an artist and not a sculptor. I do sculpt, but I'm not limited to it. That is the problem with labels. They can confine. I can use art principals in many outlets: stop motion animation, picture framing, 3D modeling...



Odds and Ends

• working on a commissioned cat magnet

• taking Maya lessons via web cam to learn how to sculpt in 3D

• for 2 days, I got to help animate plastic bottle caps for a friend's stop motion film

• passed the TB test, so I get to listen to 2nd graders practice their reading. I did t
  

• won the star of the week at work. Not sure if it's for the bookkeeping that I do or the custom framing, but either way, the star is going on my apron.

December 2009 Photos - click Here


When I get everything together I'll be sharing my New Years resolutions since I'm an avid believer in having a plan, so I can get to where I want to be. Thanks for reading and your comments this year. Have a happy new year!

HITS Table of Contents

Spot the Differences between the Photos

It's amazing what a pillow held in front of a light can do to eliminate glare!

For Christmas mom made my life easier by giving me a reflector. It works on the same principal as a pillow in front of a light, except it is more portable and friendlier to work with. Plus on one side it is gold to bounce color and warmth onto the scene. Thank you mom!

Motorized Swinging Bed

Mexican Swinging Bed


My favorite place to sleep is outside. Second best is being rocked in a hammock. The downside to a hammock is not having the support of a mattress and box spring and having to rock yourself.

I propose making myself (eventually) a motorized swinging bed, with a headboard designed for reading comfortably in bed, plus a colorful art installation on the ceiling. Once I have an apartment and know the height of the ceiling, I can decide if the bed will hang or if it will have the supports on the floor.



Here's the inspiration for my future customized bed:
















Freestanding Swinging Bed
I like it that the wires are minimal and don't make it feel like a claustrophobic swinging tent, like so many other designs.






















Electrically Operated Swing
There's no way I'd make a swinging bed and rock myself- we're talking a pimped out motorized cradle!!!





















Bed on Pulleys
I love the idea of having it hoisted up out of the way, creating floor space for yoga.


















How I'd get down from my elevated swinging bed...via slide of course! I'd have a spiral slide if I had high ceilings.



I can't imaging living a "normal" life, in a "typical" apartment. Perhaps being abnormal is what draws me to being a fine artist. The field is not commercial driven (thankfully), and art patrons no longer provide full support for artists (unfortunately) making this career path feel uncharted for the 21st century. The question is, "How do fine artists make a living wage doing what they love?" As an artist I can modify and alter my career to my liking. It's mysterious, romantic, super challenging, frustrating but rewarding.

Mandala Mobile

Today I entered a contest through the fun theory, where the challenge was to alter human behavior by making the action fun. I submitted the Mandala Mobile, a sunrise alarm clock, making it easier and more enjoyable to get out of bed. Click here to check out the other entries and vote for your favorite.

The winner of the fun theory contest gets of course cash, the money to make and install the art, but I am most interested in getting my name out there by being on the fun theory website. I am already making this particular mobile for a commission, so I won't be super disappointed if I don't win the contest.

This is still in the early design stage, but this is the essence of the project:





















The Mandala Mobile simulates a colorful sunrise using lights, along with peaceful music and a fan/space heater set to a timer, to eliminate the excuses that it’s too cold or dark to get out of bed.

The suspended Mandala Mobile is a meditative pattern of bouncy balls and slinkys. The toys are of various sizes and vivid colors give a playful and nostalgic feeling. Like a kaleidoscope that is always morphing, the fan/space heater will gently move the bouncy balls and slinkys, making them calming to watch.

Another changeable aspect is the programmable lights, going from a vivid sunrise, full light for reading, a colorful sunset and a night setting mimicking the aura borealis using black lights.
Once you have the Mandala Mobile hanging over your bed, your new problem will be going to sleep!




















By now I bet the random posts about slinkys and bouncy balls are making more sense. :-) I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions for this sunrise alarm clock.

Part 3: Inspsiration for my current project

Slinkys


















Do you have any idea how hard it is to untangle a Slinky ?























Slinky dog









































Quietly Oscillating, 2005; Slinkys, speakers, amplifier, CD player, CD with sound by David Moreno; installation adaptable to site; unique piece















hanging slinky
I am not sure what material was used to hang this slinky (it might even be elastic), but I imagine fishing line would be practically invisible, making for an even cooler effect.






















Public art
I like the idea of running an object through the slinky for an armature, instead of the pain stacking task of hanging multiple lines of fishing line from the slinky.



Mandalas

"Mandala is a Sanskrit word, which means, “Circle”. This hallowed diagram or meditation symbol is normally round and is a symbolic representation of the cosmos and its energy. It is utilized in Eastern and Native American medicine for curing body, soul, and spirit. Meditative reflection of the mandala can bring the internal light of the soul to awareness, trigger secret powers of the mind and open the heart chakra to the therapeutic power of absolute love..." Click to read more about the mandala and it's uses.

I was introduced to them in painting class in college where the assignment was to make my own. Being the rebel that I am, I refused to make a traditional painting, but instead made a moving sculpture. I painted on several boards of heavy bristol paper, cut them out, and stacked them on top of a clock motor. That way the layers moved slightly with every tick.






















a more traditional mandala




















Spiral Mandala






















7 foot in diameter animal mandala






















purple mandala

















galactic mandala

















Celtic spiral














tshirt manada print
















Chihuly inspired mandala



















mandala sculpture
I love how the center is sunken in, drawing you to the middle.




















metal mandala














I'm still giggling to myself and muttering "WOW!" Click here and you'll understand. Now picture a bright colored mandala hanging from the ceiling. hmmmm.....


Other Ideas:
headdress mandala out of paint chip samples (for a future project)

Create more variety and increase density at center of mandala and get loose and painterly when radiating from the center.


















Spiral Galaxy
Maybe incorporate a black light or glow in the dark objects.

Part 2: inspiration for my current commission

Sunrise clocks already on the market have these features:

• timer set to simulate sunrise and sunset using lights
  
• beeping alarm
• digital clock
• white noise
• light used for ambiance or reading
• $80-150 each
  
• LCD screen that dims when it's time to sleep
• moon and star globe
• backup battery in case of power outage
• nature sounds. FM radio
• iPod/iPhone doc
• looks like it would be easy enough to make it a full spectrum lighting to defer the effects of SAD
  
• all of them are silver and white, super boring, and very pricey
  
• translucent, frosted globe for soothing glow
• 1 black model- bed shaker, audio alarm (music or beep) and light alarm. Snooze button and have light turn on when you are on vacation.
  

flying alarm clock

clocks with wheels that require you to chase after them to shut them off.

These last 2 options dont have lights, making them cheaper ($50 or so)

Using 1 material and pushing it to a new level

Peel and stick flooring (for a future project)

Embroidery Hoop Mobile

Most mobiles I've seen online are all Calder knock-offs, where as this one is fresh and exciting. I can see modifying this idea and using colorful, etched glass cylinders, staggered at different heights with lights inside.

Adult Bed tent

Have peep holes or have round green windows like at herbivore in Berkeley.

Canopy Bed

I'm thinking of something more playful, colorful, asymmetrical and hanging from the ceiling. Possibly suggest the tent using translucent objects instead of fabric.

Overriding Microsoft Word's Auto formating - tables

Overriding Microsoft Word's Auto formating - tables

Problem:

When manually trying to line up two columns of information, even if each line has the same number of spaces, they don’t always line up vertically. In this case blogger won't even let me spacebar over the states and country, so just pretend they are lined up, but a little off skew:

Sacramento California

London England

Denver Colorado

Portland Oregon

Solution:

To make the columns line up perfectly, you can do create a table and then change the lines to white to hide the table.

First - draw a table. In Microsoft Vista you got o Insert – table.

Second – type in your information. It should look something like this: (The vertical line all the way to the left should appear, but for some weird reason here in blogger it is not. Just use your imagination.)

Sacramento	California
London	England
Denver	Colorado
Portland	Oregon

Third - click on the lines and move them closer to the words. Mess around with the table options; you can do all sorts of things like alter the line spacing.

Sacramento	California
London	England
Denver	Colorado
Portland	Oregon

Forth- Right click and go to “boarders and shading”

Change the color to white and you should end up with a list that is perfectly spaced:

Sacramento	California
London	England
Denver	Colorado
Portland	Oregon

Hint – you can use this same technique of changing text or lines to white to control formatting. If you have a line of text that is magically locked in place and won’t let you indent, tab or bullet, type in any letter, hit tab to make the spacing the way you want it, and then change the random letter to white- problem solved!