Always Swimming Upstream

Don't throw Greek mythology at me - I'll throw it right back at you.

2013-04-23T08:44:00.001-05:00

From a SAS vendor who I've told a number of times that I didn't think the university would benefit from purchasing the service...

Hi Monta,

Do you know the myth of Sisyphus? In a nutshell he was a king in Greek mythology condemned to hell and his punishment was rolling a boulder up a hill only to watch it roll down before it reached the top....for eternity.

I thought I had the persistence of this mythological king but you've outlasted me. So this is my last attempt to reach you. If you are interested in saving money, you know I am. If not, I won't be pushing this boulder any longer.

----------------------------

My response:

I know you probably meant this to be humorous, but I really didn't find it so.

As an almost one-person shop for much of the university's web presence I am incredibly busy. It was not by choice that I have not responded. I get dozens and dozens of product promoting emails and calls each week. Even though we have spoken before and I recognize your name and product that does not mean I have time to call or email you.

Your labors might see Sisyphean to you... mine often seem Herculean - and I mean when he had to clean the Augean stables...

I am quite alright with you taking me off of your contact list. In fact, please do so.

Signing Mosaics

2013-03-11T12:51:00.000-05:00

Someone asked how an artist could sign their mosaic work.
Here's a close-up photo of how I do it

I take a narrow strip of copper and bend it into my initials (which luckily are ones that can be strung together out of a single strip).

I then embed them in the mortar, just like any other tessera.

This idea came from Matteo Randi of the Chicago Mosaic School.

Moonstruck

2013-03-08T18:45:00.003-06:00

This evening's progress...

I've been using the Laticrete glass tile adhesive (thinset mortar). This is the third mosaic I've done with it. When my free sample runs out I'll definitely be purchasing some of it. For this mosaic I colored it with Gamblin Mars Black dry pigment - it took quite a bit of the pigment but I ended up with a rich black mortar... exactly what I wanted.

I'm thinking that I'll be at the SMU centennial dinner tomorrow with blackened fingers though... oh, well...

New Mosaic - Moonstruck

2013-03-08T11:14:00.000-06:00

This morning's work.

Looking at it from both ends...

A close-up...

And a view without the distraction of my messy workbench...

New Mosaic - Moonstruck

2013-03-06T19:08:00.000-06:00

Today's progress:

New Mosaic

2013-03-06T11:32:00.000-06:00

I've started a new mosaic today. I have a thin, white smalti pizza that I purchased from Mosaic Smalti that I've been brooding over for about a year (long incubation process for this one).

I've decided it's time to get to work on it.

Thin, white smalti pizza, approximately 9.5" x 11"

The problem I've had over the last year or so is how to best use this piece of glass in a mosaic. I've not worked with a whole pizza before.

In the past I've worked with lots of cut smalti as well as some broken pizzas. Those never seemed as precious to me as this piece of glass. By precious I don't mean near-and-dear-to-my-heart, but something else that I cannot quite define - maybe something in need of exacting care... I don't know... that's not exactly what I mean either.

The Year That Was, stone & glass mosaic
using fairly large, broken pieces of smalti pizzas.

I wanted to combine the white glass with other interesting materials. I had around a pound of gold smalti that I picked up from Tiny Pieces last September when I was in Chicago for a couple days. I've always wanted to use gold smalti (but it also seemed a bit precious for where I was at with my practice).

I decided that the gold smalti would look good with the white.

This combination seemed to work in my mind, but I felt like it needed something to oppose the preciousness of it all. Something that would supply some sort of contrast.

As I was rummaging through the other materials in my studio I gravitated to the shelves that hold all my rocks instead of the glass supply shelves. I found the coal that I had gathered from a industrial site last year and decided that that would be the third material for this mosaic.

Materials selected, I decided to do some planning rather than just jump in and break/cut up the white smalti pizza. First I traced it on heavy paper and made several cut-out models of the pizza. I then cut the paper models up in varying ways that I wanted to test out before actually cutting it up.

A few of the paper models

Over the course of a few days I tried several placements of the pieces and I finally came up with an arrangement that I thought worked best for the idea that was starting to come into focus in my head.

I outlined the pieces on a large sketchpad and began experimenting with how the materials might work together.

Planning the mosaic, paper (17" x 14" pad), gold smalti & coal.

I like the contrast - not only contrast of color, but the contrast of shiny/dull finishes, of smooth/rough texture, and - perhaps most of all - the contrast of luxuriousness/baseness.

So, now I'm ready to cut up the smalti pizza and get started. I also want to cut the gold smalti to 1/4 its current size so that the veins of it will be more delicate than they are in my planning diagram.

For now, the working title for this piece is Moonstruck.

Encaustic Workshop

2013-02-24T12:16:00.001-06:00

I'm leading another encaustic workshop in March.

Here's the info...

Saturday, March 30, 2013
12:00pm until 4:00pm

At my studio
854 W 5th St, Winona Minn.

Pay with PayPal or by check/cash
Contact me at monta@montagaelmay.com if you don't want to use PayPal.
Workshop Cost: $80
Class fee ($40) + Materials fee ($40)

Register at montagaelmay.com/workshops

You can also order Take-home Kits - 3 varieties
All kits include 6 – 40 oz. paints and an Ampersand cradled 6" x 6" Encausticbord™
See website for descriptions of kits

Ages 14 & up

A demonstration of materials and techniques will be followed by supervised work time where you will have a chance to experiment with the paint and tools. You will leave the workshop with several paintings.

I provide pre-mixed encaustic paint, beeswax and pigments for mixing your own colors, brushes and paper/boards.

Consider bringing interesting items to embed in the paintings:
     photos*
     clippings from newspapers & magazines*
     small flat items (rocks, buttons, fabric or other sewing notions, etc)

     * these items will give mixed results – but we're planning to experiment, aren't we?

Participants will receive a discount code for your first order from RF Paints.

Please register by March 26

NOTE: You must register by 3/20 if you want to order any of the Encaustic Kits and have them arrive by the workshop date. You can of course order them after the 20th and pick them up from me when they come in.

Photos from the October workshop:

Encaustic paintings

2013-02-20T20:18:00.003-06:00

Two new encaustics

Consanguinity, 30 x 22", encaustic on paper

Solstice Fire, 22 x 30, encaustic on paper

One of these will be in a show in Minneapolis from March until October...

Not the best photos of the paintings. I didn't set up the photo studio, just took quick photos.

Course-Suggestion Software Inspired by Netflix and Amazon - Wired Campus - The Chronicle of Higher Education

2013-01-25T07:50:00.000-06:00

Article: Desire2Learn Acquires Course-Suggestion Software Inspired by Netflix and Amazon – Wired Campus – The Chronicle of Higher Education

This is interesting. I'm not sure how well it would work at my university, but I can see where a university with a plethora of options could use this as a recruiting tool – having a tool that makes course selection, perhaps even major selection, more like a shopping experience, well I can see how that might be attractive the undergrads and perhaps even their parents.

But – and I think this is a big but – what about that responsibility-for-our-own-choices understanding that we are supposed to realize as we become adults? Would this helpful system be encouraging more adolescence, or a longer adolescence, when it comes to learning what responsibility is? Or am I overreacting with a snarky "I did it myself, so you should have to do it yourself too" mindset?

In any case, I think it's another step down the commercialization of education. Students already seem to think they are "buying" their education which makes them think they have more influence over their instructors than they do (or should) have. Educators and institutions have to demonstrate a clear "value" for their courses and programs, when the reality is that the individual student's efforts (again, responsibility, responsibility, responsibility) seems to me to be most direct influence on their success.

Yes, there are boring, under-informed (or ill-informed), lazy instructors. But for the most part I've found that they are a minority. Most of the instructors I had were desperate for students that cared enough to do the readings, to attempt the homework and to participate in class in a meaningful manner without excessive prodding and cajoling... and if you were that student, well, you often made that instructor's day – maybe even their semester – a joy.

I believe that student success has more to do with the student than the critics of higher education want to admit.

Sea Sky Mosaic Update

2012-12-13T20:59:00.004-06:00

The completed, framed mosaic.

I'll be packing it up in a few minutes (I just want to look at it some more) and delivering it tomorrow.

Aggies

2012-12-13T17:51:00.002-06:00

Real aggies...

A gift from a co-worker... to use in mosaics.

Happy day!

Sea & Sky Mosaic Update

2012-12-12T23:21:00.001-06:00

Finished all except for the framing of the mosaic tonight.

I thought the glass work was done and was going to call it a night, planning to finish up the detail work tomorrow night and frame it Friday evening, but then I noticed a mistake...

So I went back in the studio with it, fixed the mistake and added the border. Tomorrow night I should be able to do the clean up and frame it so that I can deliver it on Friday...

The border isn't quite dry in this photo so it looks a bit splotchy. It will even out and lighten a bit as it dries, but then the sealer will darken it back to a shade slightly darker than it is in the photo.

Sea & Sky Mosaic Update

2012-12-11T20:45:00.001-06:00

Just a quick photo of where I'm at with the mosaic.

Getting very close. Maybe one more evening's work on it.

Sea & Sky Mosaic - Update

2012-12-06T20:28:00.001-06:00

Started working on the sky part of Sea & Sky... I'm almost up to the point where I'll change colors to the darker aqua blue. Two more courses on each end (one in the middle) and I'll be switching.

In the water I wanted to show the various currents (surface currents and deep water currents, waves and eddies and the like).

The sky itself doesn't actually move - it's the air currents that I want to envision. The goal is to create a feeling of motion that is different from the motion/chaos of the water. Something more unified and subtle.

So far I'm liking it.

Sea & Sky Andamento Study

2012-12-02T11:45:00.001-06:00

I was a bit stuck on how to do the sky of the Sea & Sky mosaic. After staring at it for a while and roaming off to do other things only to return to staring at it I decided to do an andamento study and see if I could get unstuck.

The sticking point was that if I want to finish the mosaic using the same type of glass I'm limited to two colors (or make a trip to Kokomo Indiana for more colors...). There's no blending - or at least no painterly blending - possible in mosaics. So only having two colors for the sky was making my head spin when I thought about how to proceed. My options were:

Do the sky in a different type of glass. Even if I thought this would look good (or if I could come up with a way to make it look good) I still didn't have the colors that I thought would look right.
Do the entire sky in one color - except that I didn't have a sufficient amount the color I would have used (if I did do it that way). Glass quantity aside, I think that would have made the sky exceptionally flat (color-wise, not texture-wise)... not a good thing, in my opinion.
Find a way to do the sky with only two colors that would make me happy.

So after fretting over it all day yesterday I decided last night that the first thing I would do today was the andamento & color study. I needed to come up with an idea that would result in a pleasing junction between the two colors that wouldn't be harsh or jarring or fix the viewer's eye.

In addition, the andamento needed to suggest wind currents that were moving/flowing in an interesting, believable way. The wind currents needed to be present but less dynamic than the water currents.

Step 1: Draw the what-I-have-done-so-far on a page in my large sketchbook. This drawing is full-scale. I did not draw the water, just the horizon line/boundary of the sky and the sailboat. Sometimes I only have a blank square or rectangle at this point.

Step 2: Attach a piece of tracing paper above the drawing. I use tracing paper so that I can do as many sketches as I need to to get it "right." I can explore different andamento and see how changing the flow of the glass (or stone) alters the work. For this piece the andamento was only going to be flowing in one general direction, but on other pieces I might sketch in a focal arrangement of glass or stone and then play around with the andamento around it.

Step 3: Explore the color shift. The entire point of the andamento study was actually to do a color study so once I was happy with the andamento I attached another piece of tracing paper and tried to figure out how to make the two colors work.

I haven't decided if this is the right way yet. I think it is the right way based on the andamento. But I might want to try a different andamento and color path.

I'll have to let this set for a few hours or a day or two and see what I think about it.

Pablo Picasso Month

2012-11-30T04:24:00.000-06:00

People have been posting about things they are thankful for this month.

I've agreed with many of them, liked many of them.

I'm adding – I'm thankful for Pablo Picasso, whose words made me think hard all month long. I've learned some things that I wouldn't have without his words... most of them about myself.

Pablo Picasso Month - Day 30

2012-11-30T04:20:00.000-06:00

Absolutely true... if it doesn't stir something deep inside of you, it isn't art (for you)...

"All art is erotic."
~ Pablo Picasso

And what stirs us changes as we change – evolves as we grow in knowledge (and self-knowledge...)
We learn what we should like and we play that game, often very well. Then – if we're really lucky – we rebel and learn to like the subversive things.

And that is growth – or at least, the potential for growth

Why Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso Month - Day 29

2012-11-29T05:38:00.000-06:00

I understand this obsession.

"We artists are indestructible; even in a prison, or in a concentration camp, I would be almighty in my own world of art, even if I had to paint my pictures with my wet tongue on the dusty floor of my cell."

~ Pablo Picasso

If I don't so some art daily I feel bereft and empty and no wee bit lost.

Doing some art doesn't mean working in the studio everyday – it can also be thinking about art (in a rigorous and productive way, not just day-dreaming) or talking about art with others or reading about / listening to / looking at art.

Why Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso Month - Day 28

2012-11-28T05:14:00.000-06:00

This one is funny.

"When art critics get together they talk about Form and Structure and Meaning. When artists get together they talk about where you can buy cheap turpentine."

~ Pablo Picasso

And probably pretty observant. I don't paint with oils, so I don't know about turpentine... but I do talk about where to get the best mosaic materials...

It might also apply to art professors and art students too.

Why Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso Month - Day 27

2012-11-27T04:11:00.000-06:00

This one is for Verdiano.

"Every now and then one paints a picture that seems to have opened a door and serves as a stepping stone to other things."

~ Pablo Picasso

I am looking forward to the next workshop – I want to see where the next stepping stones take me.

Why Pablo Picasso

Welding lesson

2012-11-26T16:59:00.001-06:00

This weekend, while in Indiana for Thanksgiving my brothers and I talked about welding techniques - which resulted in me stopping by my brother's house on Friday morning for a quick lesson...

Under his expert eye I learned a new welding technique (MIG) that we think will be perfect for what I want to be doing.

After some practice I'm going to weld two pieces of metal together - a thin piece and a thick piece

Not quite "stacked nickles" but not too bad
for my first time. It would definitely
hold together, even though it's not all that
pretty - and that's the important thing.

So now I'm planning to get a MIG welder in January. I'll have to decide if I want the flux-core set up or the gas set up.

Pablo Picasso Month - Day 26

2012-11-26T16:10:00.000-06:00

One of the values of academic or other exacting training is that it gives you a great understanding of what you should do.

Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.

~ Pablo Picasso

And once you've learned the rules really well you can break them, not with impunity because breaking them is still loaded with lots of risk even for those who know intimately how the rules go, but with a purposeful abandon.

I'm not saying that by following the rules you cannot make amazing art... I'm saying that when you mindfully ignore what you've been taught – knowing full well that there are consequences – unpredictable things happen. And out of those unpredictable things, out of that experimentation, comes the new things that would never have happened if we were just plodding along doing the things we (and others) had done before.

Why Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso Month - Day 25

2012-11-25T16:04:00.000-06:00

Late. Sorry. Was on the road and too busy with family to post. That's okay. Family is important.

Why do we have the uncomfortable urge to create?

Painting is stronger than me, it makes me do it's bidding.

~ Pablo Picasso

I'm not very good at just being... I have to make. It's not too Zen (whatever that is), I know. But it is what it is and I am what I am. Driven. To. Make.

As a kid I made contraptions (probably would now be called found object art or mixed media art) – three-dimensional constructions that sometimes spanned rooms (yes, plural – rooms) in our house. I built things outdoors (mostly in the trees). I mixed concoctions out of everything in the kitchen.

As an adult I still make things. And it's only been in the darkness of depression that I didn't make things.

So I'll keep making things. It makes me happy.

Why Pablo Picasso Month?

Pablo Picasso Month - Day 24

2012-11-24T06:18:00.000-06:00

Do we find truth in art... perhaps.

We all know that Art is not truth. Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth, at least the truth that is given to us to understand.

~ Pablo Picasso

I think we must be willing to sacrifice many of our preconceived notions before we can learn anything from art or beauty or love. Perhaps that is what Pablo meant by "the truth that is given to us to understand..."

Why Pablo Picasso Month?

Pablo Picasso Month - Day 23

2012-11-23T05:07:00.000-06:00

The urge to come across as knowing a lot only gets greater as more and more information is at our fingertips... never mind the fact that we are so ill-equipped to discern fact from fiction.

You mustn't always believe what I say. Questions tempt you to tell lies, particularly when there is no answer.

~ Pablo Picasso

Why is it that "I don't know" is so hard to say? We really don't like it when the question has no answer... or when any answer is as good as any other answer. We don't like ambiguity or uncertainty...

I've recently learned that there is a great deal of freedom in being able to say " I have no fucking idea..."

Why Pablo Picasso Month?