Did I forget to take pictures again?

April 28th, 2009 at 09:23am mcgillc

Yes. The answer is yes. With a modicum of embarrassment, and an abundant supply of self-forgiveness I readily admit that I forgot to take new pics for what I believe is the third week since I said I’d post new ones. Well, that said, I am hoping to have a few emailed to me that a visitor took and agreed to email me (nothing yet). But I will post pics after Sunday of the bag finished.

The new Titleist Bag I’m working on, the one that began with the notion of Minstrel/Black Panther as a thematic jumping off point – that’s going really well. The bag has evolved into a solid object. In face, as I was finishing up small areas on the bag, a family stepped off the elevator lead by an eager 5-6 year old boy.  He walked to the threshold of the glass door and remarked, “Oh mom, look! It’s beautiful!”.  And I thought of what a nice thing to say at such a young age about a golf bag, a piece of art. His instinct was right on. It was nice to see because he didnt wait to be prompted by a parent for his opinion. It was refreshing and honest.

Some people (not passing judgement) wait to be asked, or timidly and quietly walk into the studio and wait to be noticed. Or, are in general afraid to disrupt or interfere. He on the other hand just walked in, blurted out a reaction (which didnt sound like an opinion), and it was quite touching to know that the piece I was working on solicited such an instinctive and generous response – from a 6 year old!

The bag, as said is finished (or very near completed) and has evolved into an object that began to take on the personality of another like-object – a vase. I came across some old golf clubs, wooden headed clubs that i collaged with smalls reproductions of old JET Magazine covers.  The colors are very unusual for magazine covers, neon-like blues, greens, yellows, oranges, pinks, reds and purples. The idea was to collage the clubs and “arrange” in the bag them in such a way that they start to take on the feeling of a bouquet of flowers. There are only six clubs so in order to achieve the feeling of vase and bouquet I will need to bring in more clubs and maybe some paint to add all-over color to some clubs while collaging others.

Anyway, that’s where you come in (and by you I mean anyone reading and interested in visiting the studio on my last day). I am going to bring in a bunch of old clubs and have some material to paint and collage the clubs as finishing touches to the bag. I think I will call it, “Minstrel Bouquet”.

So if youre free and interested in coming down to the studio between 11-5, I will be conducting a “workshop” of sorts. I will be there asssiting anyone who wants to come in the collage process.  I will have all the materials and imagery and if you have an idea or imagery that you think is appropriate, then bring in down and we’ll glue it to the clubs and arrange them in the “vase”. if you have any funky colors or you want to paint a floral design on a club, all the better. We can play it by ear and see what happens. The collage process is very intricate and take some patience and very meticulous.  But as a result, we get very accomplished objects in the process. Kids, if you bring them will have to be supervised closely sicne there are a few sharp objects (xacto blade, cutting board and scissors) and can present a danger. It’s not likely but better safe than sorry.

I may shut down the “workshop a little earlier than 5 only becasue there will be a lot of clean-up, packing and loading at the end of the day in order to “move out”. I will definitely miss the remarks of the generous visitors and all the conversations that have gone into helping me better understand what I do and how art brings people together on the common grounds of creativity and curiosity. 

Maybe the 6 year old from last week will come back and add the finishing touches.

Entry Filed under: in the studio