Getting Ready For North On 71

It's almost here.  North On 71 is about to open.  Let's take a look back and see what all was involved in making the show a reality.

There are a lot of moving pieces required to pull off an art show under the best of circumstances with plenty of lead time.  North On 71 has been brought to fruition in under 120 days.  That kind of turn around is only possible with everyone involved moving in the same direction and a ton of hard work.

Right out of the gate Brant Weiland and Tia Calkins took ownership of painting and organizing the pedestals for the show.  It is an easy sentence to say, but just those two tasks took these two many, many hours over the course of several days to complete.  Painting.  Drying.  Sanding.  Painting. Drying.  Sanding.  Stacking.  Organizing.......

......really, I mean organizing......

........and painting........

......and organizing.........

And that was just here at our home base.  We also made several trips down to the venue to build walls,  hang sheet rock, mud, sand, and paint.

Veronica Watkins making sure the new temporary walls are up to snuff.

Bobby Tso and Melody Monroe assembled, organized, and touched up the pedestals (also no small task).

David Harris getting in on the mudding and sanding action too.

The walls are starting to take shape.

Brad Watkins taking a quick break from mudding the walls.

Mr. Mac McClanahan, the gracious owner of the exhibition space (The Art Statuary Building), and a fellow artists/potter/ceramicist using his forklift skills to move a BIG table out of the way.

Mac has been extremely helpful, generous, and good-natured about this whole process.  A thousand 'thank yous' don't begin to do the job of conveying our gratitude to him.

A panoramic shot of the space as it starts to take shape.

.....mmmmmmm, more mudding.......

With the space nearly ready, it is time to start placing work.

The work is almost set.  We hope to see you at North On 71!

North On 71: Artist Profile -Kwok Pong "Bobby" Tso

Another artist participating in North On 71 is Kwok Pong "Bobby" Tso.  Bobby teaches all levels of ceramics at Northwest Missouri State University and is quite the slip casting guru.  His mixed media and ceramic sculptures are a real treat to ponder.

Clean lines, smooth surfaces, and mysterious functions.  Visually, they read as both elaborate contraptions and modernist architecture.

Here's a shot of Bobby Tso and Melody Monroe getting pedestals ready for North On 71!

So when Bobby isn't getting things ready for North On 71, he is organizing/curating a whole extra show called: From There To Here at The Marietta Chair Building (2020 Baltimore Avenue.  Kansas City, Missouri. March 15th-March 19th).  The opening reception is THURSDAY MARCH 17th from 7-9pm.  The image below is a picture of Bobby getting a pedestal ready for From There To Here.

That's not all of the shows Bobby is participating in.  He is also in the Emerging Artist Show at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center.

Be sure to check out the work of Bobby Tso at North On 71 as well as From There To Here, and in the Emerging Artist Show!  You can also check out more of Bobby's work by visiting his website: http://www.bobbytso.com/cermaics/.

Lady Liberty Joins North On 71

Recently I was struck with the desire to make a Statue Of Liberty-esque sculpture.  Not sure why, but then again, I rarely ask why......

I made the crown first.  That would help me determine how large to make the ceramic face.

Constructing the crown was more of a time-consuming process than I had initially anticipated, so what I thought would take most of a day, actually took several days.  On the bright, I only received a couple top-quality hot glue burns.

In addition to the crown, I needed a base.  I saved several of my panels from our collaborative sculpture this past Summer at the Figge Art Museum, called Allinitogether.  Just the right amount of playful goodness to contribute to the feel of the piece.  Here is a shot of the Allinitogether out on the Figge Plaza.......

......and here it is turned into a base.

I primed the crown with a few coats of purple and started working on a face/neck assembly.

While figuring out the positioning and length of the torch-bearing arm, I clamped a long 2"x2" board on to the body.  I have to admit, I was highly intrigued about the exceptionally long arm and conceptually what that might mean holding the torch of liberty so far away..........I may revisit that sometime in the future.

The progress on the head/face was moving along nicely.  It was time to turn my attention to fabricating the body.

Ahhhhh, spray foam and chicken wire.

The ceramic face is now attached and I am building out the body with spray foam, chicken wire, and cardboard.

Building up the layers of cardboard.

At first the spray foam drip leaking out the side of the mask was a visually intriguing happy accident, eventually it grew so large that it had to be removed.

Body and face are coming together.

Time to add the Copper Metallic Surfacer.....

After the Copper Metallic Surfacer has been applied, but before it dries, it is time to add (spray on) the Patina Green Antiquing Solution......

These next few shots were taken about 30 minutes after I applied the Patina Green Antiquing Solution.

60 minutes later..........

Join us for North On 71 to see Lady Liberty in all of her finest.