Before going to the Vermont Studio Center for a month long residency, I spent a great deal of time thinking about what I wanted to make while there. Ultimately I decided that I wanted to spend the month experimenting with paint on plywood, something that would be entirely new, challenging and exciting. Just prior to leaving I had begun new work with wood veneer and clear coat on birch plywood. I’ve discussed this work here before and as you know, I think it’s promising. Since I had a fair bit of materials available for that work, I decided to take it with me to Vermont and work on those pieces as a break from painting.
Ultimately, during the first few days in residency, I found myself very frustrated with the early progress in painting (to be discussed in a later post) and decided to switch gears focusing instead on the wood pieces. With each new wood piece completed, I became more excited. Before I knew it, I was deeply involved with the wood work, cranking out new pieces every day. Eventually I ran out of materials, but I am pleased with what I made. I’d like to share with you the completed wood pieces in the order that they were finished.
Not Yet Titled #1
Purpleheart, Yellowheart, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
12″ x 12″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #1
Purpleheart, Yellowheart, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
12″ x 12″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #2
Padauk, Walnut, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
12″ x 12″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #2
Padauk, Walnut, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
12″ x 12″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #3
Rosewood, Maple, Black Ash, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
12″ x 12″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #3
Rosewood, Maple, Black Ash, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
12″ x 12″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #4
Rosewood, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
12″ x 12″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #4
Rosewood, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
12″ x 12″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #5
Rosewood, Walnut, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
12″ x 12″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #5
Rosewood, Walnut, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
12″ x 12″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #6
Black Ash, Purpleheart, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
12″ x 12″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #6
Black Ash, Purpleheart, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
12″ x 12″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #7
Yellowheart, Walnut, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
13″ x 12″ x 1″
2010
Not Yet Titled #7
Yellowheart, Walnut, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
13″ x 12″ x 1″
2010
Not Yet Titled #7 resulted from a problem in the gluing up process. There ended up being a portion of the piece that was completely ruined. I cut out that section and settled on this configuration as an experiment. I thought that perhaps stacking the pieces would open a door for me, but so far, it has not.
Not Yet Titled #8
Walnut, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
12″ x 12″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #8
Walnut, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
12″ x 12″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #9
Walnut, Rosewood, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
12″ x 12″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #9
Walnut, Rosewood, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
12″ x 12″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #10
Padauk, Yellowheart, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
12″ x 11″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #10
Padauk, Yellowheart, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
12″ x 11″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #11
Black Ash, Maple, Walnut, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
12″ x 12″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #11
Black Ash, Maple, Walnut, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
12″ x 12″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #12
Maple, Walnut, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
9″ x 9″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #12
Maple, Walnut, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
9″ x 9″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #13
Maple, Walnut, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
9″ x 3″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #13
Maple, Walnut, Polyacrylic on Birch Plywood
9″ x 3″ x 1/2″
2010
Not Yet Titled #13 was made after it was requested by a new friend at VSC (I’ll eventually post something with links to these friends so that you can see their great work) to make them a piece out of any scraps I had. It was nice to work outside the square format and perhaps I’ll explore that further in the future.
…and then I was out of materials to make any more. Being forced to focus on the paintings really advanced them faster than I expected. The next post will be of the first few paintings I made in Vermont. You’ll see how quickly I was willing to abandon a path that was not promising in order to try something new.
Thanks for looking and, as always, I welcome your feedback.
6 Comments
February 7, 2010 at 10:25 am
I can’t wait to see them in person, Some of them look great in these photos and some of them need some adjustment to the lighting before they really show you what is going on and represent the pieces well – which is going to be tough. Looking good JT!
February 7, 2010 at 10:37 am
Thanks man! What I’ve learned with some of these pieces is that still images just won’t capture this work well. And when you think about it, they shouldn’t. I say that because the work really has to be interacted with for it to have its effect. You have to see them from a distance, then up close and then from each side. The pieces look different from every view. We tried lots of different lighting setups and even when we could see the clear coat better, it didn’t make the image or representation of the piece any better. In actuality, it made them worse.
Someone at VSC had a good idea to take video of the pieces. Someone else suggested sending the work to galleries who might be interested (with their OK first, of course) so that they could hold the work and interact with it. I’ve got a couple galleries lined up to get the work, so hopefully that goes well.
I look forward to showing you the work!
February 7, 2010 at 6:20 pm
Dayumm!
#4 and #5 are my favorites, though they are all pretty spectacular. Great getting to know you at VSC– count me as a fan!
February 8, 2010 at 9:35 am
It is interesting that the quality of your formal photographs looks good but the information presented in them is actually less than the informal photographs either of us took. There must be a better way to do it that captures the best of both. My favorite piece is still #1 but from these two images you are missing the entire point of the work. Good luck struggling with it and congratulations on a productive residency.
February 8, 2010 at 11:08 am
That’s great JT – I hope they like the work – I understand that they shouldn’t work totally as photos – I’ve got the same issue with my work and its funny that you mentioned the video – and old art buddy of mine who lives in Oregon was looking at my website recently and asked about shooting videos or even a 3-D format (he’s a bit of a tech nerd and was really excited about that idea).
February 8, 2010 at 1:16 pm
Rob,
I know what you’re saying. I tried multiple angles to shoot the work and in some I was able to mimic the look and feel of our more informal shots. However, that doesn’t really capture the essence of the work either. It gives too much power to the effects of the gloss. As you know, from some angles you can’t see the gloss at all. So what I’m thinking is that I need the subtle shot, the alive shot and shots in between. In other words, a video.
The next issue is that I can’t really post several images of each piece to my web site or send them out for submissions. I’ll eventually play with some other solutions, but so far I’m at a loss. Well, now that I think of it, maybe I could include one installation shot of many different pieces. That might be an easy, less intrusive, way to share more information about the work. I’ll have to think about that.
Thanks for the feedback!