Five Minutes of Fame!

My masks and I were on TV! The video clip can be viewed here:

http://www.wcax.com/Global/category.asp?C=74837&nav=menu183_8/

I've been letting the machine get a lot of my calls these days, thinking they're going to be those automated pre-election surveys or "important messages concerning my credit card account". Imagine my suprise when I found a message from a Channel 3 TV reporter asking to do an interview for a piece he was doing for Halloween! It aired Friday, October 17, as part of their regular "Made in Vermont" series.

The reporter and camera man came the previous Wednesday and stayed for about an hour filming and interviewing. They were very pleasant and easy to talk to, and I only felt like an idiot answering their questions about 30% of the time. It *was* a little wierd having to stick that microphone thingy down my shirt, and the fact the All Fired Up restaurant was busy burning down several blocks away *was* a little surreal. But overall I'm happy with the way the clip came out!

Check it out!

"Scrutinizing Eyes II" Off to the Mold Maker

I have been working on this thing off and on for FIVE YEARS. I am so excited to get it done and have a mold made. I can hardly wait to cast up a bunch and paint them in fun colors!

A long time ago I read Karen Horney's "Neurosis and Human Growth" and brainstormed a series of masks based on the different types of neurosis she proposes. (Which are, for the record, narcissistic, perfectionistic, arrogant-vindicative, self-effacing,and resigned. In case you're interested, perfectionistic is my own particular brand.) From there, I played with the more general idea of anxiety caused by excessive self-examination and concern about the opinions of others. As in, OMG HELP THEY'RE LOOKING AT ME!!! From there, I made a Mardi Gras type mask, substituting the feathers with eyeballs.

I had imagined this to be a series of three masks, "Scrutinizing Eyes" (the mask pictured below for the open studio giveaway) being the first and this being the second. The third exists right now simply as sketches in my sketchbook. Hopefully I'll finish it in less than five years!

Ear Hair

OK.... just for the record......I am so incredibly sick of.....EAR HAIR.





Maybe I should back up a little here. I have decided to try to sculpt and cast some mini-masks. I had been resistant to the idea when I was simply thinking of it as a way to add lower priced pieces to my body of work. Now it has much more appeal since I've been thinking of it as a way to try out ideas on which I may not have wanted to spend the hours and hours necessary to create a larger piece. So I started with these cat character sketches I've had knocking around ever since before I sculpted the large cat mask, "Sophia".

Above is "Nemo" in a early, rough form. The idea was for a stocky, staid British Shorthair sort of cat, one that looks a little like my brother's cat Nemo. When I first thought of this piece five years ago my brother's cat was a thoroughly middle aged sort, but now I'm afraid he's rather elderly! So this sketch began to take on a more grizzled, grandfatherly look, with the mustache, bushy eyebrows, and..... EAR HAIR.

So... I have been doing nothing but sculpting and resculpting ear hair for the past two weeks! It just refuses to cooperate! It's probably not too clear in the pics above, but they illustrate no less than FOUR different takes on ear hair. I've been driving my cats crazy following them around and looking in their ears!!

HELP I THINK I'M LOSING IT!!!!!