The term "crowd funding" has a complicated set of emotional reactions for me. I guess most of my reactions are more negative than positive.. I think this is related to the fact that I believe art is absolutely necessary for a healthy culture to exist and I believe that artists should be supported as such. When artist have to reach out to the greater community to help them get their projects funded, it feels to me like there are some serious cracks in what we value in society. I mean look at the value we place on sports. Not that sports are not valuable, but the disproportionate amount of money that goes to athletes, in comparison to a teacher, a pediatrician or and artist. What does that say about what we value? Not to mention the popular crowdfunding platforms for people who need financial help through tough medical situations, what does that say about our healthcare system? It makes me angry, and the fact that crowd funding even exists points to the broken socio-political systems we live within. And yes, sure the crowd funding platforms can ignite more interest as they are personal advertisements for their causes. And yes, I feel very grateful to have partial funding for a project of this size. And it's simply not quite enough to get it done. And so, I like many, resort to crowd funding to ask for support and get my art into the world. Now that we are clear on how I feel about it...jeez. This project is HUGE, and I do need a little help to get it through the finish line. (get that sports reference). Every little bit helps, there is no way I could build this without your support, and I am ever grateful for the opportunity to make thought provoking sculptures! The making of the video below was a fun project in itself, and I am lucky to have a brother in law, Cles, whose talent is abounding in film and editing. Thank you Cles! Enjoy a glimpse into the build of the Flybrary! If you can contribute please go to: GoFundMe/f/flybrary
Work on the Flybrary has ramped up to full speed, which really means working every day, early to late, and then for me dreaming about what needs to be tackled the following day. Pacing is a crucial aspect that I have been forced to learn over the many large project builds and so far so good. Because we live in rural Northern New Mexico, obtaining materials for a project of this magnitude is a feat of its own. I finally received my weekly steel order at 8pm last night, pretty much a day and a half after it should have been delivered. The driver got lost in this beautiful landscape. The steel really is only freighted up from Albuquerque, but I guess it looks quite different up North. My Mcmaster Carr orders that should take three days max, take on average four days, sometimes five. Welding supplies and gases need a dedicated trip to Santa Fe, which is almost a day trip from here. And parts for things that break, well the broken thing remains broken a little longer. It can get complicated, especially in keeping crew busy, when the foraging of materials has gone haywire. Really most of this is out of my control, so I'm flexing with the turns. Again, pacing..
In the shop it's a daily whirlwind of measuring, re-measuring, dividing the angles and cutting angles. I have to muse at the fact that I did not much like geometry and I find that I am completely immersed in it with this build. The truth is that it can even be fun, as I love what I'm working on, so the math is challenging but rewarding too. The many different planes add a twist that can bend any brain not fueled by enough coffee, but it is the process. The real life version of the piece is looking good.
All projects this size require helping hands and help from my friend Claire, has been invaluable on this build. She has tackled everything from child care and cooking as well as grinding, cutting, drilling, plasma and layout in the shop. She is also working on assembling the book-birds. Her literary interest and knowledge of books has been the foundation for the Flybrary book collection. She has gone through and catalogued all books we have so far. To my great demise she is heading back to Barcelona soon, where she lives, to jump into other fun projects. She has touched all aspects of this build and lives within the Flybrary project, which she sadly wont see this year on the Playa, but hopefully another time. I have had a mutinous elbow for the past few months, known as lateral epicondyles, basically a tear of the tendon around the elbow joint, and I am trying to steer clear of all forging. There is some small stuff, but hammering really adds to the inflammation, and it's very painful.
My blacksmithing friend Travis has come to the rescue and is helping forge some of the parts for the neuron circuit inspired chandelier. He is a very skilled knife maker, so this stuff is easy for such a talented blacksmith. I am expecting a few more people to join the team in the next few weeks, welders, filmmakers(for my crowdfunding video) and more enthusiastic helping hands in the shop. Definitely always looking for more skilled help in the shop! Christian, my wing man, has been in NYC with our son, for almost 10 days to afford me solid work time. Though I miss my boys daily, I appreciate the space to be able to just do what is needed at any time. A few more pictures below of the connection flanges, and the larger view of the shop, with the back three head panels under construction The Flybrary will soon outgrow the shop and the build will need to continue outside. That will be interesting and will require all kinds of heavy equipment. Sometimes I wonder why I dreamt this so large...
Next up, I am working on designing the ears for the head. That will be fun, as I can build them with slightly smaller pipe, which is simply easier to work with. The large pipes for the super structure are here(those are the ones that came last night). That will be fun to make the interior structure to hold the 8x head panels. Here is the latest drawing from my incredibly busy and talented engineers.
Onwards! Coffee and dirty shop clothes ahoy! If anyone can recommend some decent work pants that fit women please speak up. I am tearing through a pair I just bought and as most of us metalworkers know...staying protected is the key to shop happiness.(and of course looking your sparkly best) More soon!
With the build in full swing in the shop, the little time between fabricating is dedicated to collecting the books for the Flybrary. The Flybrary book collection is already looking fantastic in content but needs more books! One joy has been to receive published works in the mail from my close friends to add to the Flybrary collection.
I recently discovered the idea of an "ex libris" bookplate to label ones book library, and have since made one for stamping inside all the books for the Flybrary. It was not uncommon for people who had large collections of books to attach an elaborate bookplate wood cut print within their books. The bookplate design would include things that the person valued, from nudes, various animals to weather vanes making for some really spectacular designs. The Flybrary does need more books! What kind of books? Any and all classics, politically relevant books, books about the environment, the future, books with birds in the title, relating to flight, relating to inspiring inventions, inspiring theories, relevant novels, poetry, and of course a childrens' section(curated by my 8 year old son) For the kids books, we are looking for classics that survive all time. If you are local to me(that is in Taos, NM, you can drop them at SOMOS in town, or drop them by the shop) If you want to add your favorite book of all time(please do!)to this impressive collection, please send to: POB 658, El Prado, NM 87529 The Flybrary will be better for it! And below are some recent build pictures of the face, starting with what I do most all day...welding!
The skeleton of the face upright position. This thing is so large it wont fit within the shop. Once the neck was welded to the bottom it can only lay flat until we forklift it outside.
Here we started sheathing the face and it's starting to come together. You can see the enormity of the scale with Kodiak in the backround.
