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Originally uploaded by Matthew Farnsworth

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Originally uploaded by Matthew Farnsworth

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Originally uploaded by Matthew Farnsworth

Flickr Test

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Originally uploaded by Matthew Farnsworth

Testing. 1. 2. 3. Testing... Flickr we have successful blog post. Roger.

Incoming Flood!

Alright. Lets get to it. I've been neglecting you. So naturally this is the part where I say "I've been really busy". Which is mostly true... sort of. In mid-Feburary I had a solo show in Port Washington. It was at a space called 'Gallery 212'. For those of you who are unaware, We've relocated to the Washington D.C. area. So I now reside in Silver Spring, Maryland. I've got my studio in our second bedroom. Its a good setup. I'm really enjoying it so far. So here is the plan. Next post: images of the show in Port Washington, Wi. Following: Images of the new studio and new works that are completed. Lastly: Current happenings. Then we'll be up to date and I'll be post once a week if not more. Okay go!

Overdue

I thought I would take this opportunity to post because I am on an airplane right now. Pretty cool right!?!












So this post is certainly long over due. This post will so our make-shift darkroom that we constructed in our kitchen. As you can see we used black garbage bags to cover the windows and we hung blankets on both sides of the door to create a light proof room. Luckily the kitchen is right next to our bathroom which has an exhaust fan and the kitchen itself has a nice big ceiling fan. In other news I recently had a solo show in Port Washington. It was part of a community event. The space was great and I was happy to be able to show my work too a relatively large audience. Mike Got this little projector and it worked really well. We had a lot of fun making some photos. We work in a pretty similar manner and come up with some similar abstract images. Down at the bottom is an image of Mike's safe light that came with his projector.

Moving Along

Well here is the first look at what I've been talking about doing. The branches are going to be attached to small square panels that will allow them to be hung on the wall using a french hanging mechanism. I've been a little frustrated with the space (or more so the total lack of space) so I haven't actually been in the studio much since these were taken. I reorganized it and got rid of some crap but the more that gets built means less space I for me to move and work in. As you can see from the images my work table goes back and forth between gluing and drying and building panels. The act of attaching the block pieces to the actual tree pieces is a tediously frustrating battle. I have bottles and weights and clamps of all sizes and each attachment is a balancing act.

Rawr Rawr Rawr!

Hey world. Contrary to any digital proof I've been pretty busy here in the studio. I have been documenting things here and there but the photos are pretty unorganized so the blog will be a good bit behind whats actually happening. Any how lets get on with it and see some pics.

Here is a glimpse of the army of glued together stick components that I am going to be combining with some actual sticks that I collected today at the beach. Up above is the massive box of wood chips that are used to create the stacks.Shiney Crusty Metal!

Well its been a while but don't think I've forgotten about the blog! Mostly I've been looking for jobs and trying to make some money on the side doing some house painting. I have been in the studio working on more wood stuff but I never make time to clear off my table and take a some images. Anyway here is some proof of my existence as an artist. Hopefully I'll get around to cleaning off my desk sometime soon but until then I'll probably be building more with the wood.

I've been on a bit of a vacation at my parents cabin in north-eastern Wisconsin. I got an opportunity to do some fishing and camping on the Menominee river that divides Wisconsin and Michigan. We camped a few hundred yards above the dam. Here are a couple of things I put up throughout the last couple of weeks. In the background of the top image you can see a WE Energies hydro-electric dam. Hopefully I will get back into the swing of things and spend some time outside building while the weather is nice.

Organization

So this week I have been spending some time reorganizing my space. This was long over due. I wasn't really working in the studio and I attribute that to the fact that I couldn't actually move in it. I built these two shelves out of scrap wood and that was pretty huge. Its nice to have some areas designated for the collection of dust and random junk that I acquire.

















I also hung up some more work in our house so I'm going to throw some images of that stuff in too since it took me the greater part of an afternoon. The wood piece (blue triangles) has never been hung before and I actually really like it up on the wall. Its also a fairly simple process if I can get access to some saws. So I am thinking about making some more work that is similar.

Bike & Build!

Well its been a while since I've posted but that fortunately does not mean
that I haven't been creating some stuff. I've been working on the studio itself a little (trying to organize it and make it seem a little bit bigger). And I've started doing some more graphic stuff (cutting up some books) as well as a little bit of painting and I built a couple of panels for me to work on. That stuff has a ways to go and so far I haven't taken any images of it yet. Last week Thursday Tabby and I went to our friend Don's neighborhood and did some biking and building on a bike trail between Cedar Grove and Oostburg. We had a blast. We hadn't seen Don in a long time and it was good to see him and meet his wife Eileen. Don has been building near the bike trail for a few years now. As it turns out we've been doing some pretty similar things sort of parallel to one another without fully realizing that we were doing them. To see some more images that were taken on our adventure and to get a better idea of what Don is up to you can also check his blog at: http://donurness.blogspot.com. I should have another post (or hopefully two) coming this week so stay tuned.

Elevation

I was sitting in my studio today trying to think about what I could do with what I had. Then I looked outside and realized that it was way too be indoors. So I Decided to go for a bike ride and see if I could find a good location to make a sculpture. This is what I came up with.






I ended up at Saulk Creek Nature preserver which is on the edge of Port Washington. Its a really neat little area with some pretty nice trails. I really enjoyed riding my bike on them. I felt like I was actually getting some use out of my mountain bike.



I thought I would throw this image in to as a way to reference the scale of the piece. I had to get the rocks up there and then climb up and build. It was a bit of a struggle but lots of fun.





I'm dubbing this last image an "Urness" shot. I've decided that the "Urness" is an image where you snag a couple of unsuspecting plants along with your sculpture. I'm a big fan of this technique. Cheers!

Backpack Stack

I made this stack on Tuesday evening. It was a really nice night out. I took my backpack down to the breakwater and decided to fill it with stones and take them out to the lighthouse. I thought it was a really fun exercise. There were a few people out there and they seemed to really what I was doing. I have a hard time working in front of people... its like an artists version of stage fright, but once I started talking to people about it I felt really good about it. I'm thinking I will probably go back today and make another. More later.

mf


P.S. this is a picture of a duckling that got separated from its family. *sad face*

So last week was sort of slow for art making. I started teaching a mosaics class at summer school. So far I am really enjoying working with the kids. Anyhow here are a couple of images of the small wood stacks. I also went up north (Crivitz area) for the weekend and I didn't make much in terms of art. Although I did find some interesting knickknacks and some tools at a rummage sale. I got a couple of pieces of copper sheet for one dollar. I am hoping to build some rings out of those in the future but I need to acquire a jewelers saw before I can attack that project. I also found, a bag full of keys and locks, a bag full of sticky cork, a killer pair of safety glasses, three files, half dozen drill bits, and some other random tools at the rummage sale. In other words... it was a major score for a grand total of 8 bucks.