Fall 2012
An exclusive online publication by Eternal Sun Studios
Waxy Monkey What?...….……..........………………..…..4 Drops in Ether…….…………………………...………….8 Ghosts of a Lost Frontier………………………………..10 Gallery Spotlight.………………………………………..16 Inside the Studio……...……………………...………….18 Upcoming Events………………………………………..20 Timeless Meditations Exhibition………………………..21 Contact Weston………………………………………….22 Visit Eternal Sun Studios online by clicking one of the icons below:
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Waxy Monkey What?
Credit: http://florafauna.com/images/category/frogs/waxy_monkey_tree_frog.jpg
While in this issue I don’t have any flashy new pictures to show off, the fall has been a period of great progress on new work. This time of the year always ends up being something of a transition for me. I dedicate a lot of energy to pursuing shows and commissions, and then the rest to developing new sculptures. I’ve even been trying my hand at stone carving. Right now there are two in particular I’ll be focusing on, and then mixing things up with a story in a very different line from the sculpting. So without further ado: The first piece gives you a sneak peek at a clay in progress. The idea for this sculpture came to me after the Loveland Show. A lot of people who came through my booth asked if I had done any additional sculptures with frogs—“Between Worlds,” was the only one at the time. It spurred me to pursue something I had already been thinking about doing. The resulting sculpture, still untitled, went through a previous draft in clay before I came up with the final idea. For a while I had been toying with the notion of creating something that almost looked like an old sign post, but as it began to emerge from the clay, I felt like it was too similar in concept to the frame for “Edge of Time.” Going back to the sketch pad quickly produced ideas that captured the essence of what I was looking for. The core idea was to continue in the trend of blending abstract geometry with stained glass and then adding my realistic wildlife. What I enjoyed most about the “hour-glass” form the frog is sitting on is it being a smooth, “unending” plane. My hope is that it captures and evokes an aesthetic of the sophistication and yet simplicity of the architecture and design elements of some of the world’s ancient civilizations. What’s
more there was major influence behind my choices for the frame: So much of my work is very heavily textured. It’s something that distinguishes my style, but it takes away my ability to do some fancy patina work. My hope and plan is that this piece will allow me to do a very striking and complex patina. Time will tell… As to the frog, selecting a species happened a lot faster than I would have thought. I happened to be at the local exotic reptile store, getting some crickets for my Fire Skinks, when I happened across a very unusual species called the Waxy Monkey Tree Frog. Visually a frog that at times even looks comically odd, I instantly knew this was the subject for the sculpture I was working on. The most interesting fact about this type of frog is the origin of its name. Unlike other frogs, waxy monkeys actually inhabit fairly dry climates in South America. They retain moisture by secreting a wax which they spread across their bodies. The moniker of monkey comes from that fact that they tend to walk, instead of hopping—and maybe it’s just me, but the way the move almost looks to me like the inspiration behind Gollum in Lord of the Rings. All in all, I’ve been very happy with the results in clay so far. I’m still working on perfecting the frog’s form, and grappling with ideas for the glass panel. My wife and I had quite a laugh joking about what was beginning to look like me having an obsession with circles and spheres when I showed her my first ideas. At the
moment I think I’ve settled on pursuing a design which contrasts the organic flow of the frame, and which will likely incorporate a kinetic element. PRECAST SPECIAL! Looking for a unique gift idea as we come into the Holiday Season, or considering
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buying art? I will be offering a pre-cast special on this sculpture. What is a pre-cast special? Basically it means you get to reserve an edition number, and own the finished piece before the rest of the world has a chance to buy it, and at a percentage of the retail price! If you are interested, contact me to see higher
quality pictures of the piece and the glass pattern as it is finished in the coming weeks, and to reserve your edition number.. The precast special will last until the end of November.
Drops in Ether If you thought sharks were scary, just be glad this thing isn’t around anymore. These prehistoric, deep-sea predators were over twenty-feet long and could take prey through a “vacuum “ like process.
Credit: http://www.dinosaursrocksuperstore.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/ dunkleosteus%20skull.jpg
Another idea that’s been germinating for quite a while, when finished this will be my largest sculpture to date. Continuing in my expansion of pieces showing extinct wildlife, a prehistoric fish known as Dunkleosteous will be the central element of this sculpture— at least I think so. It’s funny how ideas can change midstream. While things look like they’re going to work out well, it’s always possible I’ll change my mind once sculpting on any given element is finished. In truth, what exactly to feature in this sculpture is something I’ve played with for quite a while now. I’ve gone through several ideas, but I think the Dunkleosteous will make for some very interesting aesthetics.. So what is this piece all about? Revisiting my love for science, “Drops in Ether” will explore a visual representation of space and time. In the past I have mentioned my interest in the sphere being the most stable form in physics, and one observable at the atomic level, all the way up to the galactic level. In light of that, the sphere is an incredible metaphor for the entirety of the universe. The central idea behind the title and this composition is that a vast expanse of time is still just a single moment in the face of something far greater than one can comprehend, and how grand the infinite is, if that's something we can really even begin to grasp. I was further intrigued by space as a sort of parallel to the ocean: ether being what space is to a given planet and what water is to our landmasses.
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Provided no major changes happen as I continue to work, the finished piece will also feature the “Astrum” glass panels, (featured on the cover), which are a continuation of the repetition of the magnifying glass effect I’m trying to create in the piece. If things really play out as I hope, the sculpture will be available either as an indoor or outdoor piece, and will be internally lit—maybe even by solar power. While the sculpture itself is still very much in the early phases of production, I’m really looking forward to seeing how things pan out with it. The biggest challenge is going to be creating a unified composition. It’s still something I’m playing around with a lot, which is why I don’t have any pictures yet of the Dunkleosteous.
Ghosts of a Lost Frontier What better for an October issue than something a little ghostly? While photography is more a medium I dabble in, my “ghost” series of work is by far my favorite. In the Summer of 2008, I was awarded a grant from Colorado College to spend two weeks in a tiny town in New Mexico called Cimarron, staying at one of the most allegedly haunted places in the Southwest. The primary purpose of my grant was collecting ghost stories and then studying them from the
perspective of their being folklore. It really was a lot of fun , if not fairly spooky at times, and afforded me the chance to explore a really fun method of trick photography. I don’t intend to spell out my secret here, but capturing and perfecting images like the ones in this issue is a lot easier than you might think. I only did a few during my first trip, but went back to the hotel a few times afterwards to shoot more. The St. James hotel itself
was built in 1873 and finished in 1880 and was owned and operated by a French chef named Henry Lambert who distinguished himself working for none other than President Lincoln. Before the hotel was closed in the 1920’s, about 21 killings resulting from gun fights occurred at the hotel. It remained vacant until the 1980’s when former physicist, Ed Sitzberger bought and reopened the hotel. I was quite surprised to learn that Ed actually knew my grandfather due
to their similar professions. The old hotel registry is a veritable “who’s who” of famous figures from the Old West and most of the rooms are now named after them. While there certainly are guests who walk away from the hotel with no stories, I was very impressed with how many do have stories. Again, my interest in it was not from the vantage point of, “Are these real or not?” I was most interested in the ghost stories meaning something because they illustrate a profundity about our relationship to the past and our history. While I may sound pretentious saying it, I’ve always been fascinated by those relationships and the tension which exists between them. The Old West is a era of the past I’m particular fascinated by. Those ideas and this region of the US really shines through in most of my artwork—at least I think it does... Going to the St. James really fuels my imagination in tremendous ways. It’s literally like taking a step back into time. If you stay in the old hotel, the rooms
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are kept with the same décor and furniture you might have seen there in the 1870’s. There are not televisions or phones. If you happen to spend a little time in the bar, you’ll notice the bullet holes that still fleck the original tile ceiling. You can even play poker in the same room people like Buffalo Bill and Doc Holiday used to frequent. One room in particular, Number 18, is kept locked to this day. I had the rare opportunity to be allowed inside. It’s been left as it was:: There’s holes in the wall, the wall paper is peeling, and an aging bed frame takes up most of the space. According to legend, in
1883 a man named Thomas James Wright won the deed to the hotel in a poker game, and was then shot in the back as he went to the room he was staying in where he ultimately bled to death. While receiving far less attention stories from Room 17 sre just as interesting. Henry’s first wife, Mary, died when she was only 35. As Henry’s second wife was also named Mary, a lot of the history’s been mangled over the years., but in my research I uncovered a lot of information about her. The result is a type of tragic plot arc worthy of any good story. It’s odd that Cimarron has so much history worthy of a good movie. So, in that line and
“Specter of the Past” Edition of 50 2010
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to do something fun and seasonal, here are a few good stories, here’s a few about Room 17 I collected while I was there: An account from Ed Sitzberger Of course another common report is Mary’s perfume. There’s been lots of people I’ve talked to who say they’ve smelled it. People accuse us of salting the room, and of course we don’t. But I’ve had a couple in the room with me once and I’ve smelled it. The odd thing about it was that both us men smelled it, but she didn’t. It’s kind of musky, an old fashioned flowery smell, almost like roses. We had another friend come up from Albuquerque with her ten year old daughter, but they both were staying in the Mary Lambert room. Well, she gave her daughter a bath, just in the room there, and had put her perfume on the mantle when she had gone in. When she came back out of the bathroom, she looked at the mantle and her perfume was gone. She told us when she left that
she had lost her perfume, and that she would really appreciate it if we’d look for it because she said it was really expensive perfume and there was only one place she could buy it, so of course she wanted to get it back. Well, nobody found anything, but later on, oh maybe a few weeks later, the maids were cleaning one of the rooms and they found a bottle of fancy looking perfume. Well, I figured this was her perfume, and we were glad that we had been able to find it for her. So I said, “Give this perfume back to her.” And we got it back to her. I was talking to her on the phone, and asked “So did you get your perfume back?” And she said, “Oh, well I really thank you for doing this, but this is not my perfume.” Well, that was something, here we had thought we’d found her perfume, and it turned out we’d given her someone else’s which had just appeared in the hotel. Who knows whose it really was? An account from Ed Sitzberger: I have a really favorite
story with Mary Lambert’s room that I think is cool as heck. Right after, I guess we were on unsolved mysteries in 1990, but right after that in January or February I got a call from a guy in California who said he was a doctor and he wanted to talk about ghosts. So I said okay, and asked him what he wanted. He said, “If I wrote a letter to Mary Lambert, would you put it in her room for me?” Well, I didn’t see any problem with that, so I said sure. After a while, I got the letter and he’d sent a picture of himself along with it. Well, the letter went something like: Dear Mary, I know that you died young. You died when you were 32 and I’m very sorry that you were unable to experience a full life. I’m a doctor and I might have been able to help you had I been there during that time, but unfortunately I couldn’t be there. I know that you can travel, and I really need your help now, can you come and visit me? So I took it down and put it on the dresser, on Saturday at about 10:20 in the morn-
ing. I was planning to go pick it up because we had some people checking in later in that day. Well, I got distracted by something else and never got to picking it up. So, the next morning I was having breakfast in the coffee shop and a guy came over and said, “Are you Ed?” Well it turns out he was from Omni magazine and was in Cimarron and wanting to do a story, so he asked me if I could take him on a tour of the hotel. So I forgot breakfast, got up, and took him on a tour. When we got to Mary’s room the couple happened to be getting ready to leave, and they came out into the hall. Well the woman said, “When you’re not busy I want to tell you what happened to us.” And I said, well, this man here is from Omni, and he’s doing a story on the hotel, so maybe he’d like to hear the story too. So she told us they had checked in about two in the afternoon the previous day. And her husband had been pretty tired and he wanted to nap. Well, she didn’t want to, she said, “I’m pumped; I’m going to go
check things out.” So she went to go look around the cemetery. When she came back one hour later, she came in and her husband seemed really out of place, like something was bothering him. Well he said, “I’m a psychiatrist; I know I’m not crazy; I am a skeptical person, but I know I heard voices when you were gone. It was a woman and she said when. “He was wrong you know. I didn’t die when I was thirty-two; I died when I was your daughter’s age.” And the woman told me that her daughter was thirty-five. And sure enough Mary was actually thirty-five when she died. Well, we all thought that was something! An account from Night Manager, Mickey Wolfe At first I did not believe in the haunting, when I came here. I knew people said it was haunted, but I didn’t believe it; even growing up with things like that from Europe. The first two weeks, it was pretty quiet, On Sunday mornings I go through each room to make sure it’s correct. So, I went to Mary Lambert’s room,
and went inside to look around, and see that everything was in order. One server wanted to go to TJs. I told her it’s not a good feeling when you go in, but she did and she started rattling and knocking on the door. Afterwards, while I was in Mary's room was when everything started happening. I heard footsteps then the door slammed shut. At first I thought it was guests or the server teasing. But I opened the door and looked and couldn’t find nobody. It was strange because they were so real and so loud. Then I thought, “Okay, maybe there's more to it.” I was in the room again when the door smacked closed on me. Then when I was leaving something loud fell in room 17. My “ghost” photographs have been featured in shows, and won awards. All are available as limited edition prints. If you are interested , contact me for sizing and framing information.
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“The Witching Hour” Edition of 50
Gallery Spotlight
Located in charming Louisville Colorado, Creations fine art gallery is truly a wonderful place and the first gallery to represent my non-collaborative portfolio. Creations is owned and operated by Tom Parsons and Vickey Swenson, who restored the historic coal miner’s cottage after plans had been made to demolish it. The result of their efforts is a truly beautiful and unique gallery, which houses five showrooms, and an eclectic variety of work by regional artists in a wide array of mediums. With more than sixty artists represented by Creations, there really is something for every taste and budget.
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I met Vickey this past August at the Loveland Sculpture Invitational where I received the invitation for gallery representation. I was certainly excited at the time, but was even more so after spending the afternoon in Louisville. In addition to the arts district, downtown Louisville has an array of one-of-akind shops, and restaurants. My wife and I stopped at an Italian place called Zucca’s, which was literally the very best Italian food I have ever had in the United States. I’m looking forward to growing my presence and inventory in the gallery in the coming months as I restock my current inventory and expand it with new pieces. One of my favorite aspects about this gallery is the casual and inviting atmosphere it has, while still maintaining the utmost standard of quality and a degree of elegance one would expect to find in such a place. I’ve been very pleased to learn that my work has received very positive responses so far. It’s great to know I’ve found a place where I really fit in well. If you have the chance, a trip to Louisville is well worth it. I highly recommend taking a day or even a weekend to visit. It’s a very pleasantly surprising place—close to Boulder and the mountains with a charm and atmosphere that leaves one ready for the next visit as soon as you’re on your way home. Of course, if you really get a hankering for something in the city, Denver is just a very short drive away. Most of current inventory is or will be featured at Creations. You can find out more about them by visiting them by clicking here. Check my Facebook page or website for information about upcoming “artist’s walks” in Louisville to find out when I’ll be at the gallery.
Inside the Studio Mold Making By far one of the most involved and challenging aspects of the lost wax production process., mold making is practically an art itself. Even after a few years experience I still am learning new tricks ans secrets to perfecting my molds. An array of types and materials exist. In this issue I’ll be discussion some of the types , and hopefully doing more on the actual process next issue . In my experience to date, there are generally two types of material used by mold makers. Poly-vinyl is the first, and the one I have the most experience with. It’s most traditionally used in casting concrete, but is also a favorite for lost wax due to its flexibility and durability. Block Molds: Among the easiest to produce, block molds look just like they sound. They are produced by building a “wall” or “dam” around the object being cast and then pouring the liquid rubber until it fills all of the negative space. Once it hardens the mold is cut part way down it’s length in order to remove the clay and then the wax. It’s a good type for small pieces which are easy molded separately and reattached in wax or metal. The mold pictured here is used to cast the head of the western diamond back for my “Handle With Care,” tea kettle. Plate molds: They look exactly like they sound and are used for sculptures which are really only one –sided., or for sculptures which have been broken down into one-sided panels. The few masks I’ve made employ the plate mold style, anlong with “Dust Walker,” pictured at the left. Plate molds are among the easiest to cast wax with because they are often filled ot the brim, like block molds, or require only a few layers . Theis type of mold is even easier to create than a block mold, as you do not have to build any dams or walls to hold the material in place as it cures.
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Two-Piece Shim Molds: Probably the most common mold in the lost wax process a shim is a mold that divides a sculpture along its greatest lateral axis, essentially splitting it in two. This mold type is most useful because it allows you to cast complex shapes and gives you the ability to remove the wax from the rubber without damaging it. A shim is essentially a large fin, which is attached to the clay after being coated in two layers of liquid rubber. More rubber is then built up on each side of the shim, until the whole thing has been encased by several thick layers. The indentations you see in the photo to the right, are “keys.” These are created using vacu-formed plastic, and are a part of the shim as it is built up. Their presence helps the separate pieces of the mold adhere when they are fit together for wax pouring. Shown in the picture below, a finished shim mold consists of two separate halves of the rubber, and then a mother mold with fits against each of those. The mother mold is created using a special high strength plaster which is built up on the rubber before the clay is removed. Its purpose is to hold the mold’s shape. Mine are reinforced with fiberglass cloth. While the plaster is strong enough to resist cracking and breaking without fiberglass, such mother molds tend to be very heavy. The use of fiberglass cloth strengthens the mother mold and allows for a more minimal use of plaster, making the entire piece lightweight. In order to cast wax, the four pieces are carefully fit together and then held either with industrial or some sort of tie. While it all may sound quite technical and specialized, some my molds have been created using cereal boxes to form shims and furnace filters for fiberglass in the mother molds. Moving into the winter I’ll be doing a lot of mold making as new pieces are finished. Check back in futures issues to see more.
Upcoming Events Lots of great events to look forward to through the fall and winter! More details to follow in coming issues. Friday Night Art Walk: TBA 2012 Creations Art Gallery. Louisville, CO Check back for the dates! Friday Night Art Walks go all through the winter. Stop by Louisville Colorado to visit me at the Creations gallery, and for a chance to catch lots of other great happenings in the down-town area.
Western Art Collector December 2012 Make sure to grab a copy of the December Issue to see “All But Lost” in the Western Gift Guide.
Moore and Brownlee, Dual Exhibition: January 14th– February 15th. Mari Michener Gallery. Greeley CO Opening Reception Friday February 8th, 4pm to 6pm. Dual show, featuring the work of Weston and his mentor, J.G. Moore.
Is Something Missing? Was there a piece you remember from another issue, or were hoping to see this time? While Heliosphere is not a catalogue of Weston’s complete bronze portfolio, we are happy to direct you to one or send an electronic copy. Please note hard copies are only available by special request and may associate a small surcharge for printing expenses. If you have any questions about a sculpture you’ve in another issue, don’t hesitate to contact Weston.
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Tubac Arizona: October 12-November 11th at the Tubac Center for the Arts A national juried exhibition which explores sacred geometry and patterns which exist in the natural world, including Mandalas. I’ m very excited to be a part of this show. From what I hear about the quality of the work at it, it’s really too bad I wasn’t able to attend in person. My sculpture, “All But Lost,” is featured in the show. Next Issue: -See progress unfold on my first stone carv-
ing. This untitled piece is made from Italian Ice Alabaster! -Updates on sculptures shown in this issue. -2012 Holiday Catalogue!
Eternal Sun Studios is a fine art production and representation company. Our services include: Commissioned Sculpture Mold Making and Metal Chasing Patina for Bronze Artist Agent, and Social Media/Marketing Consultant All uncredit materials in Heliosphere are the exclusive property of Weston Brownlee and Eternal Sun Studios and are therey Contact Weston at weston.brownlee@gmail.com