Installation Lovearch in Knoxville

Lovearch was selected to be a part of the Dogwood Arts Festival Art in Public Places outdoor sculpture exhibition. I was thrilled to be a part of this show because they heavily promote the artwork, its in a fairly bustling city, and the awards are well-funded.  Just as important as these factors, my mother's sister and her family live there now. I haven't seen them since I was a scrappy young mop-top undergraduate in 2000 (at the latest) and my mother hasn't seen her sister for a million years. So my mom drove down to Greenville NC from Virginia and we drove across the Smokey Mountains to Knoxville, Tennessee. 

My cousin Kathleen Callen tagged along for the installation in Krutch park and took these photos. I thought I would share them because its neat to see these other sculptors install their works and you might like to see mine installed as well. 

My affable former professor Hanna Jubran grabbed his sculpture and rolled outta there. I helped him strap it down. Hanna won 1st place. Although, I don't have a picture of the winning sculpture.

Glenn Zweygardt guiding Shawn Morin's sculpture into place.

Glenn and Shawn catching up.

Davis Whitefield IV

Glenn and Shawn

DW Martin

My van waiting in line.

DW Martin. Powdercoated Steel. Love it.

The artist unstrapping the sculpture.

Glenn Zweygardt's piece from last year that he's picking up.

Zweygardt's Crane truck. Best Sculpture vehicle ever.

The legend: Glenn Zweygardt

Moving the bases on my homemade-roller.

Zweygardt's sculpture.

Positioning the concrete pads.

Uncle Mike lining up the pads.

"It goes here." -the artist

"One more inch."

Handy-man Mike Callen.

Frank Sinatra rises from the dead to bolt in my sculpture. Just kidding, its my uncle Mike.

Anchoring the bases.

Meanwhile another installation is progress.

Mike Sohikian flexing them muscles.

yep.

Ray Katz's Stargazer. Brushed Aluminum. 

My mom, Beth, and her sister Bonnie.

My mom and I.

My cousin, Kathleen, and I.

Voting via QR code. I wish I'd known that when I was there.

Dogwoods are starting to bloom. Nice contrast of color.

Rick Leichliter

Madam Butterfly won second place. Congrats.

I'm happy to report that Lovearch brought home the bronze! So a little extra recognition to motivate me to make more work. The Dogwood Arts had an opening reception the following week and I was too busy and far away to go so Kathleen and her folks were happy to go and accept the award on my behalf.  

So there you have it. A happy story. Cheers.

Garden Update

A couple of local gardeners told me that there is an NC old farmer's rule about not planting until April 15th. Well, I don't know what connection the IRS has on plants, but I bet Monsanto is behind it. 

Anway, in order to cheat the system, I took square-foot gardener Mel's advice and made a simple canopy out of pvc for the 4x4 garden and 1/8 steel for the 2x2 garden. We keep it covered with a painter's drop plastic during the night or on cold days. Its been working really well.

Also I built a cute 2x2 garden! It makes the bigger one look ugly. 

Already getting some growth from seeds. I think these are beets?

Studio Garden

Square Foot Gardening is a gardening philosophy by Mel Bartholomew. Back in 2007-8, I was getting into gardening while living in Mechanicsville Virginia with my mother. We grew some pretty amazing salads. I never really got a chance to try his method out because I went to grad school in 2008 and became too busy to garden (other excuses too). I received Mel's latest edition of his popular book this past X-mas and have been longing to plant something ever since.

Yes, Autumn and I are going back to Interlochen, Michigan this summer. This was a hard decision to make because we could both use the time to beef up our studio practice. We feel as though we aren't making as much art as we could be with no distraction. But we thought about what a great time we have every summer there and how we just can't give it up yet. Its pretty much my favorite time of the year.

Autumn and I decided that even though we are leaving in June for Michigan, we can at least get some pre-started plants and see what we can harvest before we leave. Maybe some neighbors will water the garden and eat the food. Maybe it will die and we will start a fall garden when we return. I have to find out.

Mixing up peat moss, vermiculite, and cow manure in the back of our art studio.

You can see one of our sheriff neighbors creeping by, they are friendly. 

Its not pretty, but it gets sun all day.

I used all recycled wood.

We bought more tomatoes then we need and so I'm thinking about building another shelf type box. We have one heirloom tomato, two better boys, chard, brussel sprouts, string beans, onions, carrots, turnip greens, salad mix, peppers, and broccoli. We got everything from Plant and See in Winterville. With the dirt, seeds,  and plants I spent about $60.

I know this will only make it harder to leave Greenville come June.