Another of my early art adventures back when my kids were in high school, and I was attending the local community college will also always amuse. I’d love to say I have pictures, and indeed, I do, but they are in .pdf format and won’t show well here.
I decided to do a large scale sculpture in my class, because they had all the needed equipment, and all I needed was some plywood, some fittings, and a way to protect the points of it. The plan was to reproduce in plywood a much larger version of a smaller welded piece I’d done already. I liked it, having gotten the idea from a dream of breaking pencils, and trying to put them back together. Inspiration often comes in the middle of the night for art pieces.
I constructed the separate sections using the table saw, radial arm saw, and assembled some fittings, clamps, and welded some simple tips, so my plywood would not be sitting in muddy earth, rotting too quickly.
The day came to assemble it, and the guys all helped me carry the pieces out to the front of our class building, and we proceeded to assemble it. It was one of the funniest days I spent over there. Early ’80’s, and heck, I guess the guys never thought a girl could plan how to assemble a structure she planned and built herself. Oh, no. Four guys struggled away trying to put it together, and I was just in their way! LOL! After they struggled and threw up their hands, I stepped forward, and explained the process, piece by piece, and VOILA! It was done! I have pictures of the struggle that day to which I often refer when I want a good laugh. But they are in .pdf format, and not good for this.
Here’s the finished piece. It stood in front of that building for a while, and was entered into a juried show on the campus there. The juror was Joan Mondale, wife of the Vice President, who was a patron and promoter of the arts while they were in Washington. My piece was accepted, and a prominent spot in the center of the campus was chosen for it’s display. On the day I took it there to assemble it, I had just the aid of my oldest daughter, and we had it together in less than half an hour. A couple of the guys who had struggled so with it showed up when we finished it, and had a good laugh with us.
My Trag was in my back yard for many years after than, although I had to move it at one point, to satisfy the homeowners association. When the plywood began to disintegrate inside the metal tips, I finally took it down, and to the dump. I should have taken more pictures, I guess.
I think the last thing I did was back to painting, and just had to be my portrait of my glamorous sis. Don’t recall doing anything after that, because computers got in my way. 🙂