Cliff Dwellers 2009

These are some new pieces that are in the Cliff Dwellers show opening August 8 until October 9, 2009. 
I tried to show, beginning with my drawings, how the forms in those drawing evolved into my relief sculpture. The same flowing line in the drawings had to be captured in the sculpture, so I turned to the band saw.  Each piece in the sculpture is cut individually, sanded and put back in place and then finished with the selected material.  
The framing becomes as important as the piece itself because of the impact it must have on the viewer.   I make sketches and try a number of mockups until I find the layout I am comfortable with.  The framing is influenced by some compositions I have seen in a book or newspaper.  An example is The Seven Regal Warriors.  That composition of 7 heads was a photo of an artist who repeated his own image in that horizontal format.  I liked the layout so I used it in that piece.  
The drawing- paintings are from a series I did on the summer in Michigan.  The pier, boats, eating out, parties in the back yard and the constant movement of these figures motived me to develop these paintings.