New Chair design

This winter my friend Aaron Conner, from Paraselenic Studio, designed and built a set of chairs for "Roller Revolution," a roller girls store here in Minneapolis.  

We decided to build another set for ourselves.  We did a good job with these, and we do plan on tweaking the design some.  As they are, we can make them with cushioned seats or decorative slats that have any direction to them.  

We designed these from scratch, taking some influence from a living room chair from the 50's.

Aaron and I after we finally completed our first set of chairs. They are very comfortable.

Painted, polished, and ready to sit in.

Thanks for visiting my blog...

...check back soon, there is more to come.

My studio environments

As an artist in Minneapolis, I have built or converted seven spaces into live-in art studios.  I refuse to waste money and pay for a rental studio surrounded by an undisclosed number of other studios with other artists energy and work habits.  If I wanted that boxed life, I would have become a graphic designer and worked in a cubical.  The money saved on studio rental is money that I have used on needed and expensive professional-grade supplies instead. 

I have always obligated to be moments away from my work.  I used to keep an easel by my bedside, so when I would wake, my current work I was contemplating would be right there, my first thought, and imprinted into my mind for the rest of the day.  I was then able to keep my paintings in my mind, making compositional choices as I went about my day.  When I returned home to the studio, my contemplation was over and I immediately could start working. 

I have always constructed my studios toward my needs as a painter, which are truly the needs of my relationship with my chosen medium...oil paint.  All relationships demand a certain level of yearning obligation, and oil painting is the most demanding mistress.  Per her request, I prefer to have the walls of my studio painted to be the bluest white possible.  Cold, malleable, and unnatural so I can set the tones with filters on lighting.  I use cheap unnatural florescent lighting and have always needed to balance out the yellow quality of that lighting.  Studios are what they are: work spaces, and each artist will know what they need.  What I use is vastly different than what another will.  Working with oils paint requires a certain kind of studio.  If my current series of oil paintings is about contrast, my studio reflects that; if my work is about calm, my studio is calm.  

     

I keep my working environment just as a stage in theater, set up conceptually.  That way I can have the total experience of my concepts.  Sounds silly, fake, or just too much?  Maybe, but it is how I do it and it works for me.  I can be playful, but when it comes to my work, which I consider my life's work, I am serious.

Over the course of nine or so posts, I am going to tell the stories of my 7 past studio spaces, most of which are interesting tales.  The Studios of my past have always been exactly what I need.  

Check back soon...
...something interesting is coming.