Week Five: Speaker

I began experimenting last year with speakers. 

Inserting them into lunchboxes, suitcases, etc. I came up with the idea of using a toilet 

earlier this year when I was challenging myself to come up with a piece of furniture that 

wouldn't be welcome in the average living room. I had initially toyed with the idea of 

making it into a sit-able speaker, but realized quickly that I would rather discover the 

soundspace of the speaker faced down into the bowl.

My landlord was disposing a toilet, and I jumped at the opportunity to test my theory. 

After an industrial cleaning session, and a fresh coat of paint, I worked on installing 

the speaker itself. It was a lot more work than I anticipated, and required some help from 

a friend with a drywall drill. The seat, which I bought new, required a hole it didn't come with, 

and it was very hard particle board that took us 45 minutes to cut through.

To seal the vinyl behind the woofer, I sliced it and wrapped it around the front, gluing it in place. 

The Allen screws that hold the speakers in place were part of their original assembly.

I didn't know what to expect sound wise, but I wanted to give the speaker its best chance of 

sounding awesome, so I hooked it up to my B&O Beogram 3000 turntable and Yamaha RX-V750

receiver. My initial thoughts were that it would sound "tinny" or overly treble. 

I did not expect any real bass, and wondered if we'd get any serious echoing from the tubes 

under the bowl. The room I tested it in was a basement area with open staircases on 

either side of the room. I lifted the lid off the back, laid Stevie Wonder's 

"Songs in the Key of Life" on the turntable and pressed play.

The sound from the speaker was completely unexpected. 

Round, rich, and full of bass, it did have a slight echo, but a pleasant one. 

The most surprising thing I found was that the sound did not make it down through the pipes 

and up the back of the toilet itself. I covered it with the cover which I'd painted gold, 

and there was no perceivable difference.

All in all, I think it sounds great, and has a lot of personality. 

When the seat is lifted, the bass disappears, and the sound is crisp and clean. 

When faced downward, it immediately shifts soundspace to a rich, full bass.

I am excited to share this speaker with friends, and would love to experiment 

with it in different environments.

The back, before I removed all the internal plumbing. 

Junk? Or audio gold?

Finished product.

Closed lid for extra bass.

Setup with record player, receiver and speaker.

Half open.

Completely open, tweeter and woofer exposed.

Special Edition Blog Post #3: Chicago Art Expo 2016 @ Navy Pier

On Saturday, September 24, I headed to Navy Pier for Expo Chicago, 

a massive art fair brought to life 3 years ago by Tony Karzman, 

who has been a powerful player in the Chicago art scene since he came here in 1982.

The Expo featured the artworks of 145 leading international art galleries, 

from 22 countries and 53 cities, and was absolutely breathtaking. 

I arrived at 11am when the expo opened, and entered the hall to a labyrinth of 20' walls.

It was immediately apparent that this was going to be a day-long event. 

I spent the first 4 hours I was there browsing the galleries, and the last 2 hours in the 

"Dialogues" sessions arranged in cooperation with the Museum of Contemporary Art.

The highlight of my day was sitting in on an interview with one of the great painters of our time,

Kelly James Marshall. The interviewer, renowned author and cultural psychologist, 

Sarah Thornton, did a great job of asking poignant and interesting questions. 

I took notes in my program, and did my best to keep pace with some of his truly brilliant answers. 

He told the story of how he approached art school, how he worked to circumvent graduate school 

and teach without a higher degree. I was amused by his approach to being understood when he 

shared a quote by John Cage, who said "I'm not interested in the kind of 'chance' that 

Duchamp was interested in, where just about anything can happen. I am about setting up a 

specific series of parameters where the result I'm looking for is more likely to occur." 

Breaking quote, Marshall then joked, "I don't just want people thinking whatever they 

want when they see what I've made. I want them to see what I see."

Kerry James Marshall

At one point, Ms. Thorton asked him what the single greatest piece of criticism 

or feedback he'd received was, and he said that "exactly what you want to hear as feedback, 

and it should change you" is a piece of criticism that someone once told him 

"These are nice. They have nice composition, color, etc. But they fade into a mass of things 

that look just like them." Another piece of advice he gave was that 

"If you cannot name your support group, your people, by name. 

You cannot and should not expect support from anyone else." 

The last question posed to Marshall was in relation to the positive and affectionate poses 

his african american characters often have in his paintings, and Thorton asked him to talk about 

the role of "love" in his work. He thought for a minute and said "Black men and women 

weren't brought to America to love eachother. We were brought to reproduce and to remain 

at enmity with each other, which would make us easier to control. We police ourselves. 

I feel that when I can bring a sense of unity, and paint moments of love, it strengthens us. Unifies us."

It brought applause, and ended the session on a beautiful note.

Earlier, I sat in on a REALLY interesting interview with Chicago-based artist and academic 

Joseph Grigely on the legacy and importance of his work. He was interviewed by Hans Ulrich Obrist,

 who is the co-direcector of exhibitions and programs at the Serpentine in London. 

They were old friends, and spoke about their adventures and common experiences together. 

I found it encouraging, fun and enlightening.

Hans Ulrich Obrist (left) and Joseph Grigely (right)

I'll post a bunch of artwork now that caught me, and that I want to share. I was moving quickly, 

and didn't catch all of the names of the artists, but I'll include them when possible.

"Untitled 05" by Anish Kapoor - Etching on Somerset Paper

"Elizabeth of France, Queen of Spain" by Kehinde Wiley - Oil on canvas

Kehinde Wiley - Oil on canvas

"Jack" by Cayce Zavaglia - Hand Embroidery on Belgian linen with acrylic paint.

"Annie" by Cayce Zavaglia - Hand Embroidery on belgian linen with acrylic paint.

Painting of reverse side of "Uncle Angelo" by Cayce Zavaglia

"Untitled" Oil & Soot on Wood, by Claudio Parmiggiani. (Artist set fire to a pyre in enclosed space, and let the smoke stain the panels.)

Special Edition Blog Post #2: Opposites Unite! Art Exhibit

On Wednesday, I attended the reception for "Opposites Unite," a student exhibit at the Visual Arts Center of Saint Xavier University.

Before getting into the description of the show itself, 
I should note that this exhibit has been developing publicly over the last few weeks 
in the public gallery of the VAC. Four weeks ago, most of the canvases were completely blank, 
and it was incredibly cool to see the works come to life, day by day. I am lucky enough to go to 
class with a half dozen of the artists involved, and was able to speak to them repeatedly over the 
past few weeks about their goals, their challenges, and what they hoped to create. 
After attending the reception, I gained an even better appreciation for their work, 
and was impressed with the teamwork, cooperation and creativity involved.

This piece explored the mundanity of existence, and the incredible world of imagination.

Based on a trip to Bachelor's Grove, a famous Chicago haunted cemetery, the story really made the piece.

The name of the exhibit, "Opposites Unite" was created by the event's curator, 
Cathie Ruggie Saunders to take two very different themes, portrayed by two very different 
artists who would find a way to work together to create a unified piece
that demonstrated those opposites coming together to create a whole.

I was most impressed with the works of 4 specific artists, the first of which being a digital/analog

 blended piece by Erin Kelly & Chris Thach, in which Erin (who normally works in traditional

media) created a digital rendering in photoshop, and animated it, then projecting that 

animation onto the screen to encompass a painting, 

created by Chris who prefers digital art creation.

Chris Thach describing his work, observed by Cathie Ruggie Saunders, the event's curator.

I am uploading a video of the playback below.

Secondly, I was blown away by the execution of Citali Torres & Bogghart Alvarez, 

who created an epic depiction of good versus evil. Perhaps as ambitious a theme as one can

undertake, they did it in a multi-cultural, eye-catching, feast, that defies the butcher paper 

it's created on.

Bogghart's black and white forces of good, 

(You could write a book on how "good" is all about black and white, and "evil" is all about color.) 

a dragon, griffin, and angelic knight clash with Citali's fiery three headed hound, satyr, cyclops, 

spider queen and imp. The clash of swords in the center, in light yellow, is the meeting of 

color vs. absence of color, and it really draws the eye. 

The characters are lifelike, engaging and entertaining, and it kept me coming 

back to look again and again.

The process of doing the work in black and white vs. color wasn't even in their initial plans, 

Citali told me. She planned to add only splashes of color, but got carried away by how it 

started looking. Bogghart's vision never varied from his initial designs of working in graphite 

and shading his characters to show their goodness, or perfection. 

As a design duo, the said that cooperation didn't come easily, and that Bogghart in 

particular struggled to convey his ideas regarding what the final piece would look like, 

but while they worked together, they were able to find ways to communicate, 

and crafted an image that demonstrates that cooperation.

I look forward to working with both of these artists in the future, 

and can't wait to see what they come up with next.

The full format. Easily 9 feet high by 12-14 feet across.

Creeps.

The artists discussing their work.

This could have me revisiting my opinion of spiders.

Harry Potter would be proud. #griffindor #hpfan

The struggle is real.

This is fantastic. You can feel the fire on its breath.

Special Edition Blog Post #1: "Tracing the Inscape" Art Exhibit

Last week, I was able to attend the exhibit "Tracing the Inscape" at Saint Xavier, featuring Chicago artist Tatjana Jovancevic. 

I thought the room was arranged incredibly well. The art was very carefully curated.

The exhibit displayed ink drawings primarily, with a few photographs of objects

inserted into natural settings (i.e. yarn in the snow, a handmade rope ladder in a pond) as well. 

The pen work was active, and very energetic. The pieces were horizontally displayed 

around the room in a modern-style layout, with most observers beginning on the far left of the 

room and working their way around. I was drawn first to the center, and then retreated 

to the far left to begin my own circuit of the room.

An exchange student visiting the US from Bosnia-Herzegovina 

when war broke out in 1991, Jovencevic chose to stay and finish her schooling here. 
She now lives in the Chicagoland area.

12x36 (maybe?) I love how pink just dominates this piece. #propink

The artist's native country of Bosnia, and the war that ravaged it, play an important role 

in her choice of subject matter. Much of her art is designed to evoke feelings of homesickness, 

and was created to help her cope with the loss of her homeland. When looking closely at the 

sporadic and electrically-splayed ink lines on paper, you could just make out the shapes of people,

houses, and other natural shapes just underneath the surface. During her introduction, 

Cathie Ruggie Saunders, the exhibit's curator, mentioned the underlying and implied design 

hiding inside Jovencevic's artworks was what drew her to invite Tatjana to speak and 

display her artwork at SXU.

8x10 One of the smaller, and portrait aligned pieces. I found it to be an interesting combination of colors and shapes.

I had a chance to speak to Tatjana, and Cathie Ruggie Saunders during the reception, 

and was intrigued to find that Tatjana is a graphic designer by trade, and has chosen her

specific style of art as a way to separate from the order and regimented design of her day job. 

On an interesting note, the artist had given Professor Saunders no indication of where or 

how her pieces should be displayed, but when viewing the arrangement for the first time, 

she noted that the pictures had been grouped without error into the specific time periods 

that she created them in. Saunders marveled at the somewhat "magical" ability one is able 

to channel when observing art over a period of time, that can reveal so much more than 

just an overall appreciation of the design.

24x18 This was my favorite design. It reminded me of the Lake Renwick Heron Rookery in Plainfield.

At 8x10, this felt small. I would've liked to have seen it in a larger scale.

24x18 This reminds me of Mothra, from the old Godzilla movies.

CONCLUSION:

This show was certainly interesting & thought provoking. It had me viewing my pen differently for a good couple days afterward, asking how I'm treating the lines I draw.

Please take some time to review the pictures I took from the exhibit and 

check out the artist's website here.

Week Four: "Jesus was 33 when he died."

This week's assignment was to focus on the inclusion of "line" while drawing from previous feedback. In last week's assignment, I received feedback that it looked kind of like a stained glass window, and that I should try creating a music-themed painting that looked like a stained glass window. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to work with different weight lines, and different types of line, so I decided to create a "window" featuring one of my favorite subjects... records.

I began with a piece of 18x24" standard drawing paper, and drew my outlines.

Original sketch using Staedler F Pencil

Erased unneeded lines

Chose my color palette based on 1970's Boogie Nights type theme.

Used Winsor & Newton, and Prang watercolor paints

Used a large, size 8 brush for the vinyl. Tried to get a grooved look.

Filled in center dead wax and edge wax areas with smaller brush, deeper black.

Completed edge circles, then added "spider" designs, painted negative space with darker teal.

Used my Staedler compasses with pen attachment to clean edges. Watercolor marker.

And the same for internal circles.

BUT...

I brought it in for some feedback, and guess what? It fell flat.

In fact, some of the feedback I received was that it WAS "flat," "focused more on shape, not line," "very graphic design-y" "why round?" "what is this saying? And how is it conveying music?"

I didn't really have answers. I realized that I had worked on making something that would match my ideal, but I hadn't considered those things. 

They were right. It didn't say how passionate I am about music. It didn't LOOK like sound.

So I went home, brewed a pot of coffee and glared at it for awhile, and I realized that at the heart of my love for music, for audio, is the lyrics. What if I could bring the existing design to life by splashing lyrics all over it?

So I did. I drew all over the pretty, clean design I had made with marker... and it felt great!

I'm really happy with where the design is now. Is it perfect? No. 
But it definitely conveys a message that I'm happy conveying.

Have I lost my mind?

The finished piece.