Blogging Bliss

OK, after seeing some of the others getting their blogs started and coming to the realization that there is more to our first post than just saying "hi", so I am making a more formal second, first introduction. In reading some of the other feeds and comments made on our wiki site, it became clear to me that we were to follow the assignment that was originally posted on the Blackboard site-- Blogging about Blogs. Looking at the Wikipedia page about "blogs", the term "blog" comes from "weblog", which was coined in the late 90's by John Barger. From there, a gentleman by the name of Peter Merholz shortened weblog to "blog" when he jokingly wrote in his sidebar "we blog" rather than "weblog" from there the term "blog" stuck. Looking at several blogs,  many of them seem to come from a very personal point of view and are often opinionated as well.  So with that being said, I an going to start over.

After reading through the other blog sites and given the nature of the web based classroom, I think it very important to give a little background about myself and my life journey that has brought me to this point of my life. I am an artist, and I am currently working on my second Masters degree in Art Education because I want to work with young people.    

I was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and attended New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico, where I received my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking and Sculpture. While studying etching and lithography, I was encouraged to make use of Highlands University’s Art Foundry in order to further develop my concepts and imagery through the casting process.

I soon discovered the similarity of the processes inherent in the mediums and began to translate ideas I had previously been unable to express in printed form into sculpture. Through a direct process similar to making a monotype at a printing press, I drew lines in the sand around steel forms of various shapes and sizes. By pouring melted aluminum into the lines, I was able to make a “print,” as well as connect the steel elements. The skewed geometry of smooth steel forms juxtaposed with the natural flow of metal were complete and spontaneous compositions of an organic quality. However, in contrast to a two-dimensional print, the metal casting that resulted from the dirt etching produced richer, more enhanced surface textures. I continued working with this non-traditional approach until I developed a cohesive portfolio of work that would eventually lead me to graduate studies at Georgia State University’s Sculpture Program.

After completing my Bachelor of Fine Arts I was accepted into The Tamarind Institute of Lithography at The College of Fine Arts of the University of New Mexico, where I received my Professional Printers Certificate. During my studies at Tamarind, I learned all aspects of the lithographic medium, both traditional and experimental. I also had the opportunity to work with other student printers from around the world, as well as established, professional artists. My experience at Tamarind was both enriching and rewarding. A great deal of the imagery I created while at Tamarind related back to my initial ideas of iron casting and the concepts that I dealt with in my sculptures. In the free time I found from printing, I continued to develop my sculptural work, built an iron foundry and established a studio, ultimately leading me to become a cast iron artist.

I studied sculpture under George Beasley at Georgia State University. Beasley is known for his cast iron performance work, as well as his more formal object works in cast iron. His work, which deals with issues of sociology as molded by immigration patterns of the iron industry and the traditions of foundry, is what brought me to study sculpture at the graduate level.

Through my studies of art and working with cast iron, I was able to travel around the country to work with other artist working in the same medium. I was quickly introduced to a group of artists at Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark in Birmingham, Alabama. Sloss is a decommissioned iron foundry that produced the majority of the iron for the production of steel for this nation from the 1880's to the 1970's. It is the largest intact Blast Furnace facility in the country and has since become a museum. Working in the shadow of these sleeping giants has been the inspiration for my work as an artist, and has encouraged me to research the history of the industries that carried our society into modernity.

Using a machine aesthetic, industrial icons and railroad imagery, my most recent work reflects the shift to industry in the late 19th century. This short-lived, progressive movement has irrevocably transformed our post-industrial existence to one radically divorced from the environment ruthlessly exploited during the industrial era, where information technologies and plastics are the current, dominating forces.  The images that I create serve to invoke and reinforce the sculptural properties of architecture as "anonymous sculptures.” By juxtaposing unicycles and carts with these industrial icons, I want to bring a sense of humor and irony to my work as well as reference the relentless order of industrial production. Using industrial imagery combined with temples and ruins I have explored ideas pertinent to the industrial age and its subsequent lapse into obsolescence. My work can be interpreted as rumination's of a lost era. I consider myself to be an artist attached to the cast iron movement in America, as the medium of cast iron is the vehicle for the concepts behind my work.