Schools of Thought at ArtsWest
Larch forest
We took another bonsai class this weekend at Bonsai Northwest and this time we created a forest of larches, sometimes known as tamarack. This is sort of an unusual tree in that it’s a deciduous conifer. In early spring they start sprouting new green needles which will turn golden yellow in fall and drop off in the winter. So, these young larches look a bit like dead sticks right now, but they are just starting to explode with tiny green buds of new needles.
The process of assembling the forest is pretty simple, and the focus is mostly on arranging and pruning. Sometimes there’s some maneuvering to trimming and arranging the root balls of each tree so that they can sit close enough together. It’s important to get an instance or two of trees growing really close together because it adds some visual randomness. The height, width, and distance between the trees are varied, and the branches get aggressively pruned. Trees should appear in odd numbers.
Some final touches can include adding mosses, larger rocks, or different colored gravel to add the effect of a change in landscape such as a water’s edge. I like moss, personally. Larches will need to be kept aggressively pruned throughout the spring. If these trees were planted in the ground, they might reach 7 feet by the end of the season!
Bonsai 101
Happy Valentine’s Day! Jonathan and I took a bonsai 101 class at Bonsai Northwest this weekend. It was a lot of fun, and frankly was more difficult than we expected. We started out with 4 year old juniper shrubs that looked a little something like these…
Except much smaller - about 2 feet tall. Since the junipers sometimes like to develop multiple trunks as they grow, they periodically get some of them pruned off while in the nursery because bonsai works best for plants that have one main trunk, and maybe one smaller secondary trunk. We started by pruning some of the greenery growing off of the trunk to make it more visible and easier to work with. Heavy wire is anchored a few inches into the soil alongside the trunk and then worked up the plant. We work some drama into the tree by shaping the trunk like a twisted, ancient conifer, select which branches should be pruned off and wrap the top of the tree and remaining branches in smaller wire and positioned. Some of the roots are trimmed off and the tree is wired into a bonsai pot.
Junipers are good for bonsai because they’re nice and green, have small foliage, and will develop a wide trunk eventually. They also have soft foliage and a flexible trunk so they’re easy to work with. I was surprised that the tree was as flexible as it was and even though we bent it as much as we did, it didn’t feel like we were causing as much trauma as we initially expected, having seen the instructor’s demo.
The wire can come off this summer. We’ll prune them as needed and re-pot every 2 or 3 years, and if all goes well they’ll long outlive us.
Mine’s on the left, Jonathan’s is on the right.
Recent projects
I’ve been meaning to get this blog started with regular updates, and I thought I’d start by sharing some of the projects I’ve had the pleasure of being involved with since I started working as a Curatorial Assistant for the Experience Music Project | Science Fiction Museum in Seattle this summer.
Next week, Battlestar Galactica: The Exhibition will open. It will feature three full size prop spaceships which look awesome in the gallery, as well as costumes and smaller props and plenty of things to watch and play with from both the original and re-imagined series. Here’s a video of our team moving the ships around outside the museum and talking a bit about the exhibition. More information about opening weekend here.
Today, an article announcing Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses was on the front page of the Seattle Times. The exhibition will open in April and will showcase a lot of Nirvana artifacts that have never been displayed before. I’m really looking forward to seeing things like the In Utero stage angel, handwritten lyrics, and Krist Novoselic’s personal snapshots in the gallery. We’re also working on a book, Taking Punk to the Masses: From Nowhere to Nevermind, which is an exploration of the Northwest music scene through artifacts from our permanent collection that tell the story of the grunge explosion. Besides our own voice we have a giant bank of Oral History interviews we’ve conducted to draw from for this project that provide an extraordinary level of insight into punk, grunge, and new wave culture. View the press release for more information.
I like watching things grow
The past few months have been busy. I’ve been working full time plus interning, and trying to get some charcoal drawings done. I accidentally got pulled into another hobby, though, which is getting my deck all alive with plant life. I got my hands on a few seed packets and tried my hand at getting them going, something I don’t think I’ve tried since my first grade pea plant project. Captured some of the good luck I’ve been having on camera.
Good merchandise
The weather in Seattle has been fantastic, good time for a short ferry ride. I’ve set up a collection of work, both originals and prints, at Good Merchandise on Vashon Island. You can stop by and see my work February through the end of March, and Vashon’s artwalk is on First Friday- March 5th.
Happy new year
My painting that’s included in Sixth Street Gallery’s January group show has a great spot right up by the window, so you get a great view of it just passing by. Here’s a shot of the gallery at night or those who won’t be able to make it to Vancouver, WA to see it.Reflections
In progress shots of a new piece
A couple updates
The top one (title tba, about 19″x14″) is a new addition, and the bottom one (about 11″x16″) has been updated. I finished them both today to be included in the new show I’m hanging at the end of next week. The portfolio page has been updated.
Seattle public art
Seattle Weekly featured an article about free public art in Seattle. Read it here.
Seattle’s best
I read the Stranger every now and then but had missed the article titled The 25 Greatest Works of Art Ever Made in Seattle from March. I found out about it today when I was serving my Olympic Sculpture Park shift in the Vivarium. A guy walked in and said he was on a mission to visit all of the pieces, and that the Vivarium was one of them. Just wanted to share!
News
I’ve finished this piece and have posted it, along with a couple other recent pieces, to the portfolio page.
Also you may have noticed that I’ve added a few more events to the calendar on the home page. I’m happy to say I’ve basically booked up my whole year with events I’m really excited about. I’ve met some really great people in the process of booking the exhibitions, and will be posting updates about the events as they happen. I gave this website a makeover a few weeks ago, and added the Flickr photostream in the sidebar with the intention of using it as a place to post photos of art events and other personal adventures. In the coming weeks and months I’ll be posting the photos of art events, and for the time being the photostream is in travel-adventure mode as I gear up for the art fun.
