OUR GENEROUS DONORS

THANKS TO THESE GENEROUS DONORS FOR MATERIALS TO MAKE THE IUSARTCAR A REALITY.  We've received a gift card from Home Depot to purchase necessary materials, such as exterior paints, adhesive and grout for the stained glass, and other essentials.  Carpet Remnant Outlet for the new carpeting for the IUSARTCAR, and Preston Art Center for their huge range of paint colors and brushes for the interior attention to the Steampunk vision. Rainbows Stained Glass has made generous contributions of beautiful stained glass for the back window.Thank you all.

We welcome any donations that might be beneficial to our project: old clocks or clock parts, brass/copper fixtures of any kind, old mannequins, tubing (like vacuum cleaner hoses), used pens, pencils, brushes; anything that has a Victorian flair, old gauges or anything that has a gauge-look, old oriental carpeting 6' x 13' or linoleum that looks like oriental carpeting, blue velvet or velour - at least 14 yds, small frames (the more ornate the better, and the more the better)...or anything that sounds like the aesthetic hinted at above.

Again, sincere thanks to our three first and major donors. We hold a special place in our hearts for each of you. 

The Rear Window (so far)

Pre-Halloween

Kristy working on the stained glass window.
Hmmm....
RED!!!  That's a showroom color for sure.
Kristy, Randy, and Ben surveying the logistics of bumper removal.
Ben crawling under the van to unlock the back bumper.

When I got to Mellwood today, there was a crew working on the stained glass window and the side of the van was getting a coat of RED!!!  It's a very bright red, even I can see that it's red, which is pretty good for someone whose visual history has not included that hue. RED!!! Something will happen to it I'm sure....I hope.....there is a plan, right?

Kristy and I finished it up after I got back with two more cans of RED!  Ben and Randy stopped by to pull the back bumper and haul it over to the studio on campus.  Ben's casts are looking really good, although I've only seen a few, I'm confident that there'll be two impressive 3-D tableaux of Debra's face and Ben's hands adorning those bumpers after all is said and done.

Samantha came by with all kinds of goodies that she and Pasqualle found at Goodwill, and a very generous supply of studio materials donated by Preston Art Center, Inc.  We should be able to really tackle the interior with this full palette of colors.  Thanks, Prestons!!

I will be doing portfolio reviews at Manual High School tomorrow, so I'll be scarce around Mellwood.  However, tomorrow looks to be a very warm day and with those friendly temperatures, I'm hopeful that many of you will be over making a big dent, maybe you could take a break to run by Galerie Hertz to see my exhibition.

We still need more rooftop still-life materials, and those of you who are going to work with Scott on getting that put together might run up to his office tomorrow and see if he can come down to the space and give you some pointers.  It may also be a good idea to put it together before it all gets painted as contact/adhesive points may not hold as well if it's all painted gold beforehand, although those points could be sanded.

One last thought, try to be more mindful of the prep work you're doing especially if you're spraying paint.  Kristy and I had to redo some areas that were not masked out or that were masked too much.  Part of the hood had to be repainted, a tire, part of the roof, the windows scraped. Rather than having to do a lot of back-tracking, think through what you're doing so as not to interfere with someone else's work. It'll save us a lot of time. 

What's New?

We have a few computer issues happening on Steve's end this week (last week it was mine), but Steve is trying to get it resolved soon so we'll have more images to post, I hope, by the weekend.

Laurel has obtained a 'gift card' from Home Depot for materials, such as paints, grout, and adhesives.  Laurel has done an excellent job getting donations for this project.  I'll start a "donors" section soon as we now have two donors to the IUSARTCAR project.  I'll be posting their corporate logos soon so those who are visiting our blog might stop by those establishments and get some stuff for their own art cars.

Anyone have access to E6000 adhesive, bring it over with you, the more the sticky-merrier.

Where are those mannequins?  How about those pens, pencils, and brushes?  How about those clock parts? Vacuum cleaner hoses? Or bring the clocks and we'll mine for the parts.  Any old type-writers out there? The back tail gate has ben claimed and there are serious plans for that space, this has apparently been an agreement with those who've been at Mellwood on a consistent basis.   Check with Laurel or Kaitlin for details.  Remember that this is a collaborative project, so if you do something that's not 'part of the plan', you may find it covered with rubber duckies the next time you stop by to work.

The weekend is forecast to be warm (70 degrees) and it may be our last opportunity, our last possibility to work comfortably. This past week has been pretty chilly.  You may want to coordinate a work-party that moves the project into a very productive direction.  You can communicate with each other by using an old email from me, eliminate me from the list if you'd like to make plans that don't include me, my feelings won't be hurt. Then I can just be surprised when I stop by at some point over the weekend.   Although to be honest,  it would be nice to see more consideration happening in the back interior, that activity was not considerate of the Steamerpunk idea that had been embraced or the assignments that had been distributed. REMEMBER, it's collaborative, you're looking for consensus, you're creating something as a community that says something about you as artists who are working collaboratively.  If you're working independently of everyone else, you're taking away someone else's creative opportunities.  Everyone has some 'grunt work' and everyone has some 'creative work'...like Obama, "spread the wealth."(chuckle)

Saturday's Working Session

Our work session on Saturday was a little under-whelming, since there were only four of us there, but we did get some things done in the absence of a quorum.  Pacalle had the canvas and was pinning it to fit the front seats and discussed some things that are needed for the Steampunk interior theme.  She's sent out a call to all of us for those materials, such as clocks, small picture frames, vaccum cleaner tubing, wire, old type-writers, etc.  We have to start getting some of these materials to the space so we know what we're working with.  Also, our brushes, pencils, and pens collection is mimimal at best.  BRING MATERIALS WITH YOU WHEN YOU COME TO THE SPACE!!!  Nate, Adam, and I worked on the hood, applying a blue undercoat with a nice blend coming in from the edges (starting to think flames would be fun....nay). Scott is going to help put together the still-life sculpture that we'll be mounting on the top, so someone needs to get those materials from the drawing studio and supplement it with other materials that you feel would make an engaging still life and bring it all over.  Have you all checked out the thrift stores, Salvation Army stores, Good Will, any place where you can gather some interesting materials?  Your garages, attics, and basements? Can anyone bring caulking guns?  I can pick up the adhesives. As our time is getting short, we may have to have a definite division of work so that those of you who come over to watch can actually have a part in this process.  Right now we need action more than an audience.  The interior needs to have some color, and there are lots of jars of acrylics on hand and lots of surfaces on which you can paint images, patterns, self-portraits, anything...... 

A PRODUCTIVE DAY (for the most part)

Our new art car...thanks, Kristy.
Brian and Kristy surveying the prospects.
Amanda touching up the lift-gate.
Brian spiraling, but not enabling.
Kristy on the interior.
Ohhhh, that's cool.
Brent cutting glass.
Brent and Laurel finding the muse.

I think the interior is finally primed, although I'll double check it tomorrow (Friday), and the carpet removed (dust masks were in order).  Maybe there'll be some activity while I'm gone, but I'll check in at Mellwood when I return at 4:00-ish to see how the transformation is going and if it progressed any.

We're continuing the spiral from the tires along each side of the lower door panels, so the template that we used on the tires was also used for some multiple overlapping florescent spirals (repetition is our friend).  They turned out pretty nice, layering and spraying along that surface with yellow, orange, blue, and green.  The outside rear-view mirrors were started, one picks up the colors of the spirals and may contain a ruby (no, not a real one), and the other has a diamond that will soon sparkle.  Some started working on the hood and I'm not really sure what they decided, but it will NOT have a "snap" on it (that's what we call conflict resolution). Appropriating images and/or slogans from popular culture will age too fast and be too cliche too soon. Think original (to the extent that we can).

The interior is all acrylic/laytex, the exterior all oil.  Oil-based paints clean up with mineral spirits, laytex with soap/water.  The two don't mix, so don't think that they will. The bucket of water that we dip into is for the laytex/acrylic, washing hands, etc. The two cans of mineral spirits are for cleaning up the oil based stuff.

A new shiny black car owned by one of the artcar enthusiasts was branded today with florescent pink, their name sprayed across the hood (yikes!), the "sprayer" feared that the police would show up at his door this evening (we'll see, and if we don't see him for a few days, we'll know why).  Before I realized what was going on it was done, so there was no stopping it.  So we actually have two art cars in process.  A brave soul!

Progress was made on the rear window, the template was placed and the essential lines traced onto the glass for mounting the stained glass (again, picking up on the spirals, Van Gogh had an eye for spirals). It'll be a beautiful feature.

Working in the space requires materials.  I've hauled over a bunch of stuff, but extra newspaper would be good, bring some over. Brushes, exactos, any colored enamels, stuff for the steamer-punk interior, think it through.  We didn't touch the dashboard area so the steamer-punk crew can begin addressing that tomorrow maybe, and there were a few people who said they had things to contribute to that theme. There are a lot of color available as I brought over all of my jars of acrylic color.  They can be mixed with the can of white for tints.  There are also brushes available, but if you have favorites, bring them. Someone will be working on the tail-lights decals for the IUS logo. 

We need to start putting together the drawing studio still-life materials to mount to the roof. It all needs to be arranged and somehow bolted together as one piece (without the bolts/attaching mechanism showing, figure it out). If it's going to be "GOLD", how about a royal blue base? Maybe royal blue that fades to deep red? Ohhhhh., that would be so nice with a gold-leaf still life.  Maybe measuring the length of the roof will help to establish the length of the still life.

I understand there's an artcar working-party at the space on Saturday.  I'll be by to see how much fun we're having.  

Where We Are

Steve rolling the roof.
Where we are now.

The exterior in now a 'primed canvas' and ready for painting, adhering, stenciling, whatever you want to do. Keep in mind that the surface is oil-based, so if you're painting, used an oil-based paint.  If you're adhering, sand the area to receive the glue. If you're drawing, the surface should work really well since it's a flat white.

The interior is about ready, although it would be good to get the painting/priming completed, and that carpet out in as close to one piece as possible to use as a template for the new stuff. The seats have been measured and I have donated canvas for the new coverings.  Pascalle and Samantha are working on that.  Brent and Laurel will be working on the stained glass, Ben on the faces. What are you doing?

You all need to decide what's happening to the exterior and what's needed to get it done.  I think right now the only things that have been brought over are the things I brought and the few brushes that Randy brought over.  So we definitely need more pencils, pens, and brushes donations. We'll also need some newspaper to cover the windows for any spray work, bring the morning paper with you on Thursday.