To my brothers...

Michael Swain - Sewing for the greater good

Once a month, artist Michael Swaine sets up an outdoor sewing machine in San Francisco's Tenderloin district, and offers free on-the-spot clothing repairs for people in the neighborhood—a particularly friendly and useful form of public art.

Where I'm headed...

Here are some process photos of the new sculptural piece I am working on. I have been able to work quite steadily on it for about the last week. As most of you know from previous posts I am wrestling with the ideas of communication, hearing, listening etc. More importantly how technology through out time has been a benefit to us in so many ways, yet at the same time pushes us farther and farther from interacting on a face-to-face level. Even more importantly (yes more important than previously stated) how does this all relate to our communication with God. Noise of all sorts, audible and visual, clouds our minds every moment of the day. I can't help but think this is having an impact on our relationship with the Creator. More on this idea later. Stay tuned.

Makes you think...

HELP THY NEIGHBOR from ABOVE on Vimeo.

It appears that world traveler and street artist ABOVE (goabove.com) recently made it over to Cuba to put up a stencil and installation regarding the current situation in Haiti, which is only 90 miles away from Cuba. The video shows a young boy holding a Haitian flag about to set up to help his “neighbors.”

Print is finished

Here are a few shots of the completed print. I did change the silver to green. It is currently available for purchase directly from me if you live in the Rushville, IL area or you can pick on up on my Etsy site www.etsy.com/shop/studentgrade

New Print for Apparent Project

This is the outline of a new five color, 19x12", screen print that I am creating to raise money for a Christian arts mission in Haiti known as the Apparent Project (you can check them out at www.apparentproject.org.) AP trains Haitians in art and craft techniques and helps them market and sell their work to create a steady income. The organization is headed up by Corrigan and Shelly Clay who moved their out of a love for orphaned children. Currently they are putting their energies in aiding and assisting those in need due to the recent earthquake.

Anyway this print will most likely be an edition of 100 and will cost $25 plus shipping. All $25 will go directly to the Apparent Project. The colors will be silver, gold, medium blue, brown and transparent white.

I hope to have the print available for purchase late next week on my Etsy site. If you are reading this please pass the word about this print. I would love to sell all one hundred of them!

JACKPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!

Well I posted a request on Facebook to all of my friends letting them know that I was in need of some new material for some upcoming artwork. Old, discarded, broken dressers, doors, cabinets and the like were part of my request. A few people got back to me, but one couple had a gold mine of material. Better yet, they only live one block from my house! Steven and Shelly Akins have a stash of material that they were more than happy to unload. Of course, I was more than happy to take it. The Akins just moved into the house this past fall and as with most home purchases they come with some unexpected surprises. One of those surprises was having to put on a new roof (ouch!) and the other was a boat load of lumber from various sources. So this past Saturday afternoon I stopped by and Steven led me to a shed/workshop that was on the edge of their yard. Upon removing the rusted padlock and swinging open the door well, I was speechless. Piles, stacks of all sorts of lumber oddities. The former owner was a woodworker and more importantly he made quite a few things form recycled materials, long before it was considered "green".
Anyway, here are a few photos of what I came upon. Thanks Steven and Shelly!

Cheers!