OPEN HOUSE

Hey people. Sunday Aug 2nd-- What's going on? That's right-- My studio open house from 10 to 5:00! All the cool kids are coming so, so should you!

Okay, Here's how to get to my place. Oh, and welcome riders who signed onto my list last Sun-- I only live about 3 miles from Hillside, just down the street from McCoy's if anyone wants to stop for a burger and a beer on the way over... Just sayin'... Super close...


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Look for big red letters on the left by my almost hidden driveway that say SUE'S ART.

You may even be allowed to try on my stylin' welder wear...

Come to say hi and hang out and see what miscellaneous odds and ends I have laying around, and what goodies I've come up with in the last few weeks. My neighbor is a well know local potter (Chad Briggs) and will have some of his stuff out too. Stuff will be priced to move. Cash is always appreciated but checks are okay. No credit cards though, sorry. I'm just some girl welding in the woods, not Macy's. :)

Please feel free to pass this along to friends-- forward, email, share on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Pet Project

Hi everyone. This week I was consumed by finishing a client commission (which of course I neglected to get any pics of)-- a small flock of herons. Don't worry-- they aren't the ones I showed you before. I still have those. These were a slightly different style. I've also been working on my latest pet project-- The sculpture for the mountain bike trail. I'm obsessed with her!

Her body will be clad in the cut up parts from an old race car that I'm scavenging from over there. Mysteriously it's buried in the woods, and a couple of big trees have fallen on it over time, so getting more of it out will be a job, but I like how it looks like some kind of racing outfit.

This is the first view people will encounter as they ride across the bridge that is her installation site.

I'm pretty happy with her profile. I have a lot more hair to weld on but you can see her taking shape.

This is the second view they'll get as they ride under the bridge (unless they stop and just check her out 360 as they ride by her- which is unlikely. Zoom!). She'll be perched above them looking down.

I'm pretty into her. I'm undecided about the mask propped up on her head. It actually fits on her face, but I think she's prettier without it. It kind of looks cool up there, like she might put it on later and get up to some adventure or something. Anyone want to weigh in on that? Otherwise she's wearing a crown of bike gears and has antlers.

This is the kind of commission I'd love to get more of-- "Here's a really cool spot we'd like something for, maybe some kind of benevolent figure watching over it-- here's 3 to $5k --go." It's an investment, but I really like being able to just work from my head, and the results are pretty good I think.

Preparations for my Open House Sun Aug 2nd (10 to 5:00) are coming along. I'm kind of frazzled because my sister and her kids are in town and I'm trying to get as much done as I can, but you know how it is when you have out of town guests. (!) I'm hoping to get a lot more turtles made in the coming week, and some other goodies.

Look for a preview and directions next week-- and as always feel free to email this to friends who might be interested, share on facebook, etc etc. Thanks!

Face Value

Hi people. I finished cutting, sanding, & polishing about eighty bajillion bike gear pendants and a couple more turtles this week and that was enough to make me really sick of doing production type work. I wanted to start something fresh. So, perhaps against my better judgement, I started working on the lady for the trail.

In case you don't remember, on top of all the shows etc I've committed to, I agreed to make a sculpture for the mountain bike trail I run and ride at. It's a public park in my hometown. I totally love it over there, and there is a hardworking loyal crew of supporters who volunteer tons of time and even materials to make it one of the premier mtb trails in the state. I was happy to be asked to contribute.

Like every major project I begin, I want this piece to be my best ever. I've been wanting to take my human figures to another level-- now I have a good excuse. First step, face- get a profile going. I've learned I can do bodies pretty easily, with some tweaking of course, but the face is the hardest part. I need to start there.

My idea for this sculpture is a sort of mythical character-- a protector of the woods who watches the antics of the bikers there with curious amusement. The trails guys gave me some antlers that tore off a deer statue they stuck over there for me to use if I want. So far I want.

It sounds weird to need to really look at a real life face to figure this out, but if you were going to make a 3D face out of thin air, think about all the stuff you'd have to map out. Are the chin and forehead on the same plane? How far does a noes stick out? What does a nose really look like?

Ridiculously, just getting the profile I wanted took a couple of hours.

Then I moved on to the outline of the head. When I got the basics framed in, I checked the mirror for reference. The head is a little bigger than mine, but I'm not concerned. It'll still be proportional once the whole thing is done. Had I been paying closer attention, or known what to look for, this shot would have alerted me to a real problem though, and saved me a lot of time.

But, oblivious, I proceeded. I was happy it looked human so far, and concentrated on getting the features placed correctly.

Just getting it to this point took over 5 hours. Unbelievable huh? And look-- the cheekbones are all wrong. She looks like she's blowing out birthday candles. Already she'd be undergoing her first reconstructive surgery.

I've been covering the framework of my faces with wire up until now. Some of you may remember Jez, my last person sculpture. On her I also added a mask and warpaint. For this one I want to put skin over the whole face. A major concern with this is avoiding a Frankenstein appearance. I'd have to really think about where I wanted seams, because they may look like wrinkles. Don't want a bunch of unattractive lines in the wrong places. I want her to be pretty, and for disbelief to be suspended, kind of like in writing-- where, when people look at her they get swept up in the character, and not the fabrication process or materials.

To be really honest I was not at all sure I could pull this off, but I got a pretty good start. No going back now. (or so I thought)

After three days of making the underlying framework, then cutting and placing the outer pieces, pounding them into shape where I had to, and TONS of tweaking and picky fitting, I was done. Tahdaaahh! I was contemplating whether to give her a cool super heroic mask when I noticed...

Um.... her??? This totally looks like a DUDE! Look at him smirking at me, like he's about to go charging off to perform some swashbuckely guy antics. "Look, I don't know how to tell you this-- whoever you are--sir-- but you are supposed to be a GIRL! A swashbuckely, daring, rather invincible girl maybe-- but a girl!"

I was so bummed, and had to figure out why this happened-- what about this face made it a guy face? I started covering different sections with a towel to help me focus on what I did right and wrong. I decided it was the jawline and chin. Jaw too square, chin too wide. Remember the mirror picture? If you go back and look that will be obvious, but I didn't see it then. Another surgery was in order.

I had to cut apart the lower part of the face, all my careful welds and meticulously sanded seams, but, after now 4 days of work-- SHE has appeared.

She's still a very strong figure, not willowy or elfin, but that's okay. I like her expression.

And if you can picture her with flowing wild hair and a crown of bike gears... I'm kind of seeing her now. Formidable, and kind of regal-- it's her woods, but she's letting us play in it-- as long as we don't wreck the place.

I'm hoping now that the hard part is done the body will go MUCH faster because I feel very crunched for time right now. I may have to set her aside to work on more things for the big open house in a couple of weeks.

Remember-- Sun Aug 2nd-- 10 to 5-- my place. (1433 Main St, Elk River- google map it) I'll do another post next week about it too and give better directions.

If you come you'll see how far I've gotten on her-- and get to maybe pick up a great deal on an odd or end, plus see all the art as yet undelivered to the Door County gallery and get an extra good deal on that stuff.

New Venue

Hi people. Here's what showed up yesterday at my little welding shop in the woods-- a turtle. His shell is made of remnants from the Polynesian Dancer's Dress. Pretty huh?

It's a bit of a trick getting all the pieces to match up once I begin pounding the curvature in. Hopefully I'll get it down and get faster so these guys are worth making. Right now I'd say $40. If I figure out the formula and get way faster- maybe less.

I've restocked the fish pond too. These are normally $45 in the gallery. $30 is good.

Also, I got an opportunity to try out a new venue. There are a couple of mountain bike races at the trail I frequent, and I'm going to set up my old show tent and sell some of my bike gear pendants. If you are looking for something different to check out, the first race is this Sat at Hillside Park in Elk River. The race starts at 9:00 a.m.

Mountain bikers tend to be a little out there, so I get to let my wacky side out with my display at this thing. Truthfully, it's way more effort to rein it in most of the time. Here is one of the tamer pretend testimonials for my booth.

So, the truth is now out. A lot of this art gig is about amusing myself, and, you know, you-- hopefully. ;)

Edit to add: Okay, a number of you don't get this picture, so I apologise for the poor quality and possibly lame humor. It's hard to see but the guy is "wearing" one of the pendants (pinned to the picture). It's changed his whole life-- even his sandwich tastes better now! Just go with it. Kind of funny right? (humor me people)

New Plan

Hi people. So, here's how my Polynesian Dancer came out.

I'm much happier with her.

I did a lot more work on her face too. Now she shows the thoughtful confidence I always knew she had. In the past my human figures have sold for $3000- $5000. I'd like to get at least $1500 for her. I have no idea what a gallery would put on her but it would be higher.

As for other stuff:

Okay-- I know what I said last week but I'm already changing it a bit. (As one of those flaky art types I do get a way with rather a lot of this kind of thing. Nice gig.) For one thing, as far as getting stuff over to Door County for the summer season- let's face it- I've already missed that boat. Another week or two won't make any difference. Also, my sister and her kids are coming into town for a visit right when I was planning on being gone. SO..... (and I think you'll like this even better anyway)

I decided to extend this "get an extra good deal/summer blowout" period until the end of the month and have an open house
Sun Aug 2nd!

This won't be one of those fancy wine and cheese deals (this is a welding shop people). It'll be more like me sitting in a lawn chair reading, working on my novel, possibly applying toenail polish, and visiting with whoever wants to hang out.

This way you can check out where I work (fair warning, welding shops, even arty ones = dirty, with sharp, rusty stuff laying around), and possibly pick-up a really sweet deal like --
A stained glass sun. These have usually sold for about $300- $325, but hey, at Casa Sue-- yours for $250.

Heck, take your pick. I just want one for me, and naturally like them both. :)

(Edit to add: The sun on the right has been claimed, but I guess I would part with both if anyone wants the other one.)

I have three of these guys left. The gallery will mark them up to $250.
Yours for $200.

I also have lots of mysterious odds and ends laying around that I'd be willing to part with. This is an old favorite of mine that resonates with some people, but so far no one with a lot of cash. I'd part with it for $150. It took a ton of time. If you're interested, I can tell you about its bizarre literary inspiration-- or not. Whatever.

This is a base for what I used to use for a light table for doing stained glass. It's bar height, and could be a cool addition to a kitchen, like an island maybe?? Anyway, I'd be happy if someone would give me like, $50 for it. (make offer)

This is actually pretty cool, as long as you don't have little kids or big dogs running around. It's a table base for a console table. A glass top would go on it and it is fine in a spot where it won't get bumped, but, unfortunately, wobbles if you do bump it. (Doesn't fall apart, but moves a bit.) It's really pretty though. (sighs) I'd let her go for, I don't know, $150?

Don't ask me what this thing is, but it's kind of cool looking right? Sort of Asian influence? It could be a cool plant stand, or maybe a really tall table base. I could cut it shorter if you're into that idea. Someone suggested it would look cool with a light inside it. Whatever on this. Make me an offer.

This is a pedestal that I've always liked. It's pretty modern, but wobbles if you knock into it. Come on, don't you need some thrilling adventure in your life? Make an offer.

I also have stuff around that is mine, but I might be talked into selling if someone really fell in love with...

And some stuff that's mine and not for sale, but may give you an idea of something you may want to commission (order).

Basically-- I'll have all the stuff I intend to bring over to Door County, plus odds and ends, plus, you know, me, and my cool shop. So you should definitely check this out. I only live about 40 minutes from downtown Minneapolis (in Elk River).

I'll post up more stuff as I get it made (I have lots of smaller stuff that's "in process"), and more details as we get closer to the end of the month.

As always, if something interests you, email me, because-- like last week (the heron gate) , some things go right away. First come first served.