Last reminder! This Friday, March 2nd (6 to 8 p.m.) and again Saturday, March 3rd (9:30-11:30 a.m.) is when Mark & I are going to host a “Create your own Metal Sculpture” workshop!
We’ll have a variety of different types, shapes and sizes of metal for you to select from and design your own sculpture which will be cleaned, welded, polished and ready to pick up in two weeks. All the details are listed HERE.
I’ve been busy scheduling classes, workshops and fun for my fun-loving, art-exploring students, friends and (yes!) even YOU! I posted a reminder about the next “Open Studio” session this Wednesday, I’ve got several more of those scheduled – both on Wednesdays and a few Saturdays as well. I’ll post the rest of the topics and dates in a few days. First I wanted to tell you about a workshop that we’ve scheduled that I am REALLY excited about! It’s something we’ve not done before, which is always fun for me. I’m hoping it will be something exciting for YOU too!
On Friday March 2nd (6 to 8 p.m.) and again Saturday March 3rd (9:30-11:30 a.m.) Mark & I are going to host a “Create your own Metal Sculpture” workshop! We’ll have a variety of different types, shapes and sizes of metal for you to select from. Once you’ve made your selection we will help you as you design your very own metal wall sculpture!
After you’ve created your unique design it will then be prepared, welded and polished for you and available to pick up in two weeks. The size of the sculptures can be up to 11×14. Sculpture this size that we design & create cost $125. For this special workshop your cost will be only $75!
Your design session will last approximately 1 hour and reservations are required. Contact us via email(info@lynnemedsker.com) or by phone (317-852-3541) to reserve your session!
With the Deja Vu Show coming in two days I thought I would feature more metal and mixed media artwork that my husband, Mark, and I created recently!
I still have a few other pieces in the studio that are “in progress” – hopefully they will make it to the show as well. 🙂 If you want to know more about our collaborative artwork visit our website at www.medskermetalart.com!
Lynne
Mark & I have been busy creating new collaborative artwork the last few months. This is the first new wall sculpture we created, I really like the fun lines in the piece. We also created a “spine” out of old rocker arms!
How cool is that? It’s painted with a textured, off white paint that give it the look & feel of rough bones. The last piece I’m sharing today is a combination of welded metal bars and triangle wood packing spacers.
The spacers were painted and different types of wire added to add some splashes of color. These pieces will all be on display at the upcoming Deja Vu recycled art show in Columbus, Indiana.
To see more of our collaborative creations clink the link on the lower left sidebar to visit http://www.medskermetalart.com!
Recently Mark & I created several new pieces of collaborative art. It’s taking me a while to get new things online lately but I can at least get this one posted for you! I even have some progress images. The very beginning was to design & weld the metal that the rest of the wall sculpture is attached to. Once that was done I cut the wood pieces, sanded them and began with the painting process with black paint on both sides of each piece.
After that it was time to get creative! Laying the pieces out in their approximate positions I began to add red, gold, grey & white paint in random patterns across the pieces.
The pieces that look like cardboard are actually shapes cut from acrylic plexiglass that I stained a deep red color and then sealed. Once the paint had dried it was time to assemble the pieces using screws, wood glue and other adhesives (depending on the piece) until it was complete, adjusting the design along the way until I was pleased with it.
This piece is currently hanging in my studio, why don’t you schedule a time to come and see it in person?
Lynne
Just a reminder that next weekend, September 24th & 25th, is the Carmel International Arts Festival. Click HERE for all the details! Mark & I will be in booth #19 that weekend, along with a nice selection of our collaborative metal and mixed media artwork! As a matter of fact, we are still busy in the workshop creating brand new pieces just for this show!
The event is free with the hours being 10 to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 10 to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Come see all the wonderful art and then stop by and say hello. We look forward to seeing you there!
Mark & I have been creating artwork together to show this weekend at the “Deja Vu All Over Again” show in Columbus, Indiana (click here for more info). This is one of the first completed pieces – there are several others that are close to completion or in the “drying” stages. It’s been fun to work together & brainstorm a bit! I have been having a lot of fun with cement, grout & sand mixtures added to wood for texture and interest so I wanted to incorporate something like that into a few of the pieces we made together. This was a piece of scrap wood from my father-in-laws barn, I have no idea how long it had been out there but it was a great piece to “recycle” into some new art. Since I’ve been enjoying the texture on wood I had purchased some “crackle” paste a few weeks ago that I hadn’t played with – this seemed to be the perfect piece to give it a try on!
After I applied a thin coat it had to dry for several days before I could add anything to it. I sealed it and then began to use washes of acrylic, using both liquid acrylics and acrylic inks. After applying them I sprayed water to thin them further and let them drip/run around the wood and into the cracks on the surface.
Using the thinned paint is a bit deceiving because it looks quite bright but, since it’s such a thin layer, it dries in a much more muted tone. This is how it looked after the first two layers (shown above) dried.
What a difference! I ended up going back and adding another (slightly thicker!) layer or two of color before I was satisfied with the saturation. The metal “frame” for the piece was welded from old parts that we keep in stock out in the workshop. It’s always fun to dig around and pull pieces out, arrange them, switch them and get them “just right” for whatever project we are working on. When we first started making metal artwork together we painted all the pieces in bright colors, lately if we do anything at all to them it’s just buff them to a shine & seal them with clear paint. For this piece the metal was left in it’s natural, semi-rust state since I wanted to give an old, weathered looked to the entire piece. I added the three accent pieces to the wood after it was dried & re-sealed. It’s new enough it’s not even been given a name yet but I wanted to give you a little preview of what we’ll be showing this weekend.
Whatcha think?
Lynne
It’s been a while since I’ve posted any images of the metal art that my husband, Mark, and I create together. This time I’m going to feature a few projects that he’s done on his own. These were items he created as gifts for some of his friends. I love the fact that he’s gone from standing there just waiting for me to arrange pieces and point where he needs to weld to coming up with his own ideas and designs! He had talked about clocks for quite some time so it was fun to see what the final pieces looked like.
I think they turned out pretty awesome! If I were a little more familiar with used parts from heavy equipment I might even be able to tell you exactly what these are made from. 🙂 The lamp is a slightly shorter version of two matching lamps he made a few years ago.
I do know what part of it is – a cam shaft! I kept one of the originals, it sits by my computer desk in my studio. How much fun is it to see these items recycled into art instead of being tossed out? Posting these photos makes me want to collaborate on some new metal art with him soon!
Brainstorming already,
Lynne
Every once in a while some creations just need to be revisited. Maybe at the time they seemed complete, or perhaps just “good enough” because nothing else was coming into your imagination. Then later, for whatever reason, a thought pops into your mind and you immediately know what it was that needed to be done. I love those moments! (The ones when you realize, not the ones when you don’t have a clue!) If you’ve looked at my website you know that I make collaborative art pieces with my husband, Mark, using metal. Most of the pieces are created from discarded parts and other recycled materials. Last year we created three new wall sculptures, including the one that just got a “do over”. One piece was specifically for a commission and the other two (including the do over) were the Plan “B”s – in case the client wasn’t as pleased with the original piece as we hoped or (even better) wanted additional pieces. They stuck with the original piece that they had commissioned (show here after it was installed):
One of the parameters for the commissioned piece was that they wanted the metal to be sealed, unfinished, instead of painted. So we finished all the pieces like that. The piece that I still wasn’t completely happy with traveled around a bit and then ended up back home, hanging in the garage next to the entryway into the house. So I saw it everyday until it just became part of the background and I didn’t pay that much attention to it anymore. Then a week or so ago Mark had a request for a piece to be hung in an upcoming show. That piece fit the bill but I couldn’t let it go out again until I was happy with it. One thing that bothered me about it was that it was very “flat”. It had some dimension to it as the pieces were welded on top of each other but basically it laid flat against the wall. Had we been at square one then welding it in a more curved fashion would have been the answer but now I would have to figure out a different approach. The pieces on the outside of the sculpture were fairly thin & flexible so I was able to bend them to where they curled up and away from the wall, adding some of the dimension I felt it was missing. Okay…it was getting better but is still just wasn’t there. Then I remembered a diferent metal wall sculpture that recently sold and how taken the customer was with the way it was painted. Ah ha! That might just be what I was looking for. I am a big fan of the ‘hammered metal’ type of spray paints…it is shiny but also very textured and it keeps with the metal appearance of the pieces. So out came four cans of that in various colors and away I went. I love to layer & blend with spray paints just like I do with acrylics, ink, paper or even pixels on the computer. First a coat of one color, then a highlight of another, a spritz of a different one, some dark followed by some light and a drizzle of paint drops here & there to add interest. After working it for a while I let it sit, went back to it and did a bit more work and, FINALLY, I feel like it is now finished! Here is a photo of the complete piece plus a close up detail so you can see the painted finish:
It will be on display along with it’s “sister” piece that is already hanging at the Continental Office Environments showroom, 9202 East 33rd Street, Indianapolis. On Friday, March 13th from 5 – 7 pm Broad Ripple Art & Design will have it’s “Second Friday Opening” there!
A Randomly Creative Blog 