Lamp Font.

Songs:

Window Shopping - Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings

Shopping Spree - Orgone (Listen on Last.fm.)

"It's Enough to Make You Go Crazy!"

Over the past year and a half, I've had so much fun playing music on CHIRP Radio. One of my favorite parts about DJ-ing is creating playlists based on themes and playing requests. Here's my Madness show, broadcast on 6-23-11. 

Brain Coral. ( EL Wire and Fabric, 2008).

11:57AM [REQUEST] Syd Barrett Dark Globe from The Madcap Laughs (Capitol)

11:53AM Ryley Walker The Dome of Many-Colored Glass from The Evidence of Things Unseen (Plustapes)

11:49AM Dan Mei & Marc Johnce My Life On The Crazy Train Sucks (So What?) (Kelly Clarkson vs. Ozzy Osbourne vs. Pink vs. Daft Punk) from Best of Bootie 2009 (Unknown)

11:44AM [REQUEST] The Flaming Lips Brain Damage from The Flaming Lips and Stardeath and White Dwarfs with Henry Rollins and Peaches Doing The Dark Side Of The Moon (Warner Bros.)

11:40AM Helado Negro Globitos from Canta Lechuza (Asthmatic Kitty)

11:35AM [REQUEST] Blondie The Tide is High from Autoamerican (Chrysalis)

11:33AM [REQUEST] Kid Cudi Trapped in My Mind from Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager (Dream On/GOOD Music/Universal Motown)

11:27AM Guster Center Of Attention from Lost & Gone Forever (Reprise/Wea)

11:24AM Cults You Know What I Mean from Cults (Columbia)

11:19AM Handsome Boy Modeling School The World's Gone Mad (feat Del The Funky Homosapien, Barrington Levy and Alex Kapranos) from White People (Elektra)

11:14AM [REQUEST] Bruce Lash Psycho Killer from Prozak for Lovers II (Bruce Lash)

11:12AM Devo Mind Games from Something For Everybody (Warner Bros.)

11:07AM F***ed Up Turn the Season from David Comes to Life (Matador)

11:05AM [REQUEST] The Ramones I Wanna Be Sedated from Road to Ruin (Sire)

10:59AM Death Cab for Cutie You are a Tourist from Codes and Keys (Atlantic)

10:56AM Rick Rizzo and Tara Key Insanity Stomp from Double Star (Thrill Jockey)

10:52AM Bon Iver Calgary from Bon Iver (Jagjaguwar)

10:46AM Battles Ice Cream (featuring Matias Aguayo) from Gloss Drop (Warp)

10:43AM Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse Insane Lullaby from Dark Night Of The Soul (EMI)

10:41AM The Beach Boys I Just Wasn't Made For These Times from Pet Sounds (Capitol)

10:36AM Brett Dennen Feat. Femi Kuti Make You Crazy from Hope For The Hopeless (Dualtone)

10:31AM [REQUEST] Against Me! How Low? from Searching for a Former Clarity (Fat Wreck Chords)

10:27AM Canasta Slow Down Chicago from We Were Set Up (Broken Middle C)

10:22AM Mates Of State Like U Crazy from Bring It Back (Barsuk)

10:18AM Givers Ceiling of Plankton from In Light (Glassnote)

10:16AM [REQUEST] Ryan Adams Nervous Breakdown from Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three(Sanctuary)

10:14AM Seapony Always from Go With Me (Hardly Art)

10:11AM Man Man I'd Rather Go Blind from I'd Rather Go Blind (Single) (Unknown)

10:07AM [REQUEST] Lindsey Buckingham Go Insane from Go Insane (Reprise/Warner)

10:02AM The Rolling Stones 19th Nervous Breakdown from 19th Nervous Breakdown (Single) (Decca)

10:00AM Hypnotic Brass Ensemble Touch the Sky from Bulletproof Brass (ChoiceCuts)

9:57AM Booker T. Jones Crazy from The Road from Memphis (ANTI-)

9:53AM Smoking Popes Freakin Out from This is Only a Test (Asian Man)

9:48AM [REQUEST] The Avett Brothers Paranoia in B-flat Major from Emotionalism (Ramseur)

9:44AM [REQUEST] Suicidal Tendencies Institutionalized from Suicidal Tendencies (Frontier)

9:40AM Janelle Monae Tightrope (feat. Big Boi) from The ArchAndroid (Bad Boy)

9:36AM [REQUEST] The Magnetic Fields You Must Be Out Of Your Mind from Realism (Nonesuch)

9:32AM Sondre Lerche Living Dangerously from Sondre Lerche (Mona)

9:27AM Weezer Undone - The Sweater Song from Weezer (Blue Album) (Geffen)

9:22AM Sukhwinder Singh, Nisha, Vishal-Shekhar, Caralisa & Marianne Dard-e-disco from Om Shanti Om (T-Series)

9:18AM Wanda Jackson Nervous Breakdown from The Party Ain't Over (Nonesuch)

9:16AM [REQUEST] Madness Madness (Is All In The Mind) from The Rise and Fall (Stiff)

9:11AM Vetiver Can't You Tell from The Errant Charm (Sub Pop)

9:06AM [REQUEST] Bright Eyes At The Bottom Of Everything from I'm Wide Awake It's Morning (Saddle Creek)

9:03AM [REQUEST] The Missing Links You're Driving Me Insane from Driving You Insane (Half A Cow Aus/Zoom)

8:59AM Pixies Where Is My Mind from Surfer Rosa (4AD)

8:54AM The Avalanches Frontier Psychiatrist from Since I Left You (Modular)

Oh No! Doom - Out O' The Woodwork Show

This past month I exhibited a lamp at the Oh No! Doom gallery's Out O' The Woodwork show. I had my basket starfish neon lamp along with about 30 other artists' pieces. It was a really eclectic mix of work, & a lot of fun. The gallery owners are really nice, too; check the place out!

Song:

Bright Lights Bigger City - Cee Lo Green

Hello Etsy, It's Been a While

I've begun using Etsy again. I set up a shop last year, but didn't quite understand how it worked. Now, after seeing some of the best at the Renegade Craft Fair & the worst on Regretsy, I've decided to try it out with a little more of my work. It's a lovely way for artists to connect with each other and sell in a worldwide marketplace. People can even request custom items. This time I've added a lot of my senior work to my shop, It'll Glow On You.

A bioluminescent menagerie in my old studio space with works in progress. (The basket starfish would later become orange.)

Video: 

Carnival of the Animals: The Aquarium - Camille Saint-Saëns

Owl Be Back

This weekend I went to the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago, which is a huge festival of artists & vendors selling handmade goods. The whole extravaganza had a fantastic owl theme running. It was a hoot.

 

And now I present to you, without further ado, A Curated Collection of "Who Cooks for You All?"

I loved this cartoon when I was little. "I Love to Singa," featuring Owl Jolsen.

Here is one of my favorite lights from my Lamp Design class at Alfred, 2007.

T-Shirt Design, 2007.

Sketch, 2007.

My Owl Collection. It includes glass, LEDs, 4 watt bulbs, wood, metal, alabaster, plastic, leather, & cloth.

And of course, Owl Songs (All on YouTube):

The Owl & the Tanager - Sufjan Stevens

The Owl Of Love - Clogs

Sensing Owls - José González

Barnowl - Caribou

I Like Birds - Eels

An Ode to Wood Grain

My favorite pattern is wood grain. It's a really relaxing, organic pattern to work with, & I often end up sketching it. Here's a collection of some of my past wood-patterned pieces, & my fascination with dendrochronology.

Door, 2007. Wood, Wire, Bulbs, Paper, Pen & Ink.

Door (Detail), 2007. Wood, Wire, Bulbs, Paper, Pen & Ink.

Scarf, 2008. Dye on Silk.

Stump, 2009. Fabric, EL Wire, Metal.

Piano Hands, 2004. Colored Pencil.

Bricks (Detail), 2007. Paper.

Sketches, 2010. Pen & Ink.

You can also purchase a print of this on my Etsy!

Sketchbook Notes, 2008. Pen & Ink.

The Honeoye Canoe, 2008. Digital Photo.

Songs (YouTube):

Woodgrain - Modest Mouse

Woodgrain - Wilco

Woods- Bon Iver

Ragged Wood - Fleet Foxes

Breakfast at Tiffany's

In the spirit of puns, here's the Breakfast at Tiffany's lamp I made back at art school. The shade is made of duct tape and wire, and the waffle and oranges are made of glass.

  

Plus, a bonus design sketch!

Songs (YouTube):

Breakfast at Tiffany's - Deep Blue Something (of course!)

Diner - Martin Sexton

The Power Is On - The Go! Team

Pancakes for One - of Montreal

Lights & Sounds - Yochai Matos & Bruce Nauman

Right now I am amazed by the light sculptures of Yochai Matos (Flame [Gate] above). Yochai Matos is a multi-media artist (check out his street art) who creates huge light pieces, and often incorporates pattern and geometry into them. I like seeing the back of Flame, because of the behind-the-scenes nature of the installation (ha!). This piece (below) is called Sunset, and again, I love the form, the way his art works so well in both a gallery and a natural setting. There's also a lot of attention to the detail of how both the bulbs and the wires are placed. Beautiful.

 I just discovered this piece by Bruce Nauman. 

 

 It's called My Name As Though It Were Written On the Moon. He made it in 1969. He's a neon lettering genius.

Songs: 

2000 Volts - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy (iLike)

At Night Trees Aren't Sleeping - of Montreal (Lala)

Make Light - Passion Pit (YouTube)

Dancing In The Dark - Bruce Springsteen (YouTube)

Sunlight - Harlem Shakes (YouTube)

Stuffed Shrimp

I am making a jumbo shrimp light. It is a plush shrimp that will have EL wire sewn onto it.

Here is the shrimp before adding the light:


"Hold Tight (Want Some Seafood Mama)" - The Andrews Sisters (Youtube)
(The Fats Waller version is pretty nice, too.)

Starfinished!

Hooray! I have finished the stacked-neon-tube starfish. Here it is!

And a dance song to celebrate!

"Electric Feel" - MGMT (on YouTube)

Electric Muffins

Hey! Good news from the studio: I've successfully bent, sealed electrodes to, and bombarded a tube within 24 hrs. And it worked! To celebrate, a bit of Billy Joel:

Get It Right the First Time - Billy Joel

So anyways: I wanted to see how extra color would work inside the basket starfish lamp. The little shape makes a big difference in the color of the lamp... I tried it with the regular peach tube, both tubes, and the tangerine-orange. I actually like the last one the best.

And in other lamp news, The Jellyfish is finally stuffed. With bubble wrap. Lots and lots of bubble wrap. The color shows through much better than regular stuffing. Now it's like an electric muffin. The Electric Muffins might just be a good name for a rock band.

Utilitarian Digest

Hooray! I finished the basket starfish lamp and am presenting it in the (2nd Annual) Utilitarian Digest Show in the Turner Student Gallery! It is up Thursday, too. The show is a collection of functional artwork, so there are tools, bowls, glasses, lamps, alternative power sources, and silverware.

I like seeing ceramics, glass, metal, and wood pieces all in the same show. It is a good showcase of the 3-D materials found throughout the Art School, although perhaps more neon could be seen. Not that I'm biased or anything.

The lamp may be tweaked a bit later, but I am pretty happy with the stenciling.

Also, I made deviled eggs for the opening, Grandma B.'s recipe. They were a hit!

It's ALIVVVVVVVVVVVE!

Starfish update! Today I bombarded a tangerine-colored tube full of neon gas + mercury. It has the same effect as argon gas + mercury. Without the mercury, the tube would be bright red-orange, but with it, it became peach. With the tube in the wood frame, the starfish glows! (It's a different color in the lower left corner because of the different shades on the electrodes on the ends.) Yay for neon!

Basket Starfish Progress

Two of these done.

Calling the Starfish Enterprise

Here's my current plan for a lamp based on the Gorgonocephalus Eucnemis. Also called a basket starfish. It basically has a lot of arms that appear woven together, and can curl them up if so inclined. It looks a lot like tree branches and coral, some of my favorite natural forms. The cutout is the giant stencil that will cover the wooden frame and be lit from inside. It's about 2' x 2.5'.