A Little Bit Of Upchurchian Lovin'

Remember this guy?

No? Here's another peek......

That's right! Ben 'Brawny Man' Upchurch.  I first met Ben Upchurch while helping install the Landscape show at the Figge Art Museum back in 2014 (for a look at the posts regarding that show installation process, click Handle With Care Part I and Handle With Care Part II).

Anyway, I was helping out at the Figge recently when I saw the new exhibition mounted by the University of Iowa Museum of Art called Clay: Traditions in Shards.  In that show are works from several noteworthy ceramicists such as Jun Kaneko, Robert Arneson, and Benjamin Upchurch.  Wait?!? Ben Upchurch?  That's right kids, Ben Upchurch.

Feast your eyes.......

Here's a sneak peek at some of the other works in the show.

Clay: Traditions in Shards runs through October 30, 2016 at The Figge Art Museum.  You should make a point to go check it out (it's on the 2nd floor).

Congratulations Ben!

Newmaguma 2-maguma

A few more images of some my upcoming ceramic projects.....

.....and, I'm also starting a series of wire drawings to go with my 'in-progress' sculptures.

Currently Undesignated Jen Evans Collaboration

While all of this Suriname/Gala/Cello/Beehive activity occupied a large portion of my attention this past Summer, I was also working on a couple of collaborative pieces with Jen Evans for a show called Shared Creations at the Bridgeport Art Center (check out the Bridgeport Art Center by clicking HERE) .

Let's take a peek.  This is one of the two pieces she gave me to complete.

Jen incorporated both a coral texture and a beehive texture into the first piece she gave me to finish.  The coral shapes reminded me of a sketch I had made a while back from the packaging off of a microwave popcorn bag.  The beehive shapes got me thinking about geometric order and not questioning one's place in the universe.  Time to draw some suburbs.....

The popcorn shapes.

The beginning of the suburbs.

Now it's time for color.

My time was limited to get a frame carved and painted and in Jen's possession before I left for Suriname.  I had a few weeks earlier determined that although she brought me two pieces to complete, I had no chance of actually finishing them both, so I just focused my attention on one.

I carved furiously to try to complete everything before the exchange.......

-even leaving a small mountain of sawdust on my carving table.

In the end, the frame was only 90% completed when I passed it off to Jen Evans.  Here is what she was able to do with it come show time.

As it turned out, Jen was also only able to finish one of the two starts I gave her back in late Spring.  I've included a small picture of it here, but if you want to see noticeably superior images of it, check out Jen Evans' blog by clicking HERE!

She titled this one 'The Worst Year Of My Life'.  I'm hoping the title is not a reference to the experience of working on one of my paintings........

Now it's time to dive into this other work.

I have some line work down on the piece and now I want to start pondering the frame.......

I have a ways to go before this one gets completed, but it now has some momentum.