Central Coast Sculptors
Promotes sculpting and the exhibition of sculpture on the Central Coast.
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MAY / JUNE GROUP NEWS
Mayday! May Day! Sculptors Group McMeen Show running May 3 - June 2, the reception was held May 3 from 6-9 in conjunction with Art After Dark. Come see this wonderful collection of 10 pieces submitted by group members. These sculptures showcase many media, ranging from ceramic to alabaster and concrete to glass.
Urban Dictionary explains, "A mayday [one word] situation is one in which a vessel, aircraft, vehicle, person, or group is in grave and imminent danger and requires immediate assistance." But May Day is also a holiday marking the beginning of Summer. It dates back to pre-Christian Europe. May Day is a fertility rite and has traditionally been the occasion for popular and often raucous celebrations involving activities like dancing the Maypole, crowning the Queen of the May, and the giving of May baskets (yes, this is where Easter baskets came from.) May Day is also International Workers Day, the name of several rock and hip hop bands, and much more.
SLAM 2013 runs from August 23 to September 29, 2013 and is in the works. Artists of the accepted works will be notified by June 7. Cash awards in the amounts of $1000, $500, and $250 will be paid for the first, second, and third place entries respectively. This juried sculpture exhibition will be a showcase and survey of current work by California sculptors. If you have any questions, please contact Robert Oblon: 805.458.5145,
Please visit our new CCSG site centralcoastsculptors.org for more info on our lively group's activities and shows.
MARCH / APRIL GROUP NEWS
Satuday, March 16 at 1pm - Sculptor/Photographer Jim Maxwell Presentation
1033 Nancy Drive, San Luis Obispo, 93405
The Annex Room in Laguna Lake Mobile Home Park
The usual potluck snacks & drinks - please bring something yummy!
831.212.0172 for info on this presentation
Directions: From Los Osos Valley Rd., turn on Prefumo Cyn Rd. Take the second entrance into the park. Go down 3 blocks, turn right onto Caroline, next left onto Nancy. Park in the spaces at the end of Short St. The building is across street from residences. Call 785.0208 if lost.
Our newest Sculptors Group member, Jim Maxwell writes, "I started doing sculpture in my Sophomore year of College and did well enough with it that I changed to an accredited art school, The Memphis Academy of Arts (now The Memphis College of Art) graduating with a B.F.A. in sculpture in '77; I had a couple of commissions and that got me thru the following year in NYC, and as I had thought of architecture as a possible sculpturally expressive outlet, went to VPI&SU (Virginia Tech) in 1978 with scholarship and graduated in '81 with a Masters of Architecture degree.
Photographically speaking, I started in that field in 1957. My father had his photo studio in our home and I began rocking chemical trays at the age of three for him (not for very long at a time, mind you!) By the age of eight I was working as his assistant and at the age of thirteen I shot my first wedding. My minor at the Memphis Academy was in photography."
Jim explains how he became interested in the arts: "I grew up in a family of artists. My uncle, John Alan Maxwell, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Alan_Maxwell was a nationally known illustrator and I studied drawing and painting with him beginning at the age of six, until I was twenty. I have always been inclined in the visual arts."
The materials he uses in his photography are silver-gelatin and platinum among other alternative media. In his figurative work he likes to use terra cotta and the lost wax process, and the "contraptions" he is inventing use all kinds of metals, wood, what have you.
Currently, Jim is just beginning to show his work again (reference Bio on Webpage). Some upcoming and past shows include "Edge of Thought" (opens March 8 - April 7 at Gallery Calumet, 1135 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood), and March 2012 at Fotofest in Houston, Delta Show 1976 & 1977; Virginia Tech Student Show; "Hot Shots" South Eastern Center for Contemporary Arts in Winston-Salem, NC
You can find more about Jim on his website: maxwellsilverhammer.info
We would love to extend this great artist presentation to all interested people, especially the Photographers Group as the show and tell is photographs.
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER GROUP NEWS
Saturday, September 22 at 1:30pm: Michael Reddell studio visit & bbq
We will convene at his studio - 7488 Santa Rosa Creek Road, east of Cambria (Don't be alarmed if the map comes up blank. They live in the middle of nowhere.)
Michael will be demonstrating methods and techniques for casting pewter directly into reusable rubber molds for small sculptural elements such as the tiny people you have seen in his work in both the Phantom Project Inaugural Exhibition in SLO, and the Cambria Allied Arts February Show, where he won 1st place! After the pewter demos, we will hang out in the beautiful mountain setting, "drink beer and grill stuff." Michael says This event, as usual, will be potluck. Bring your own meat (or not-meat) to cook, a side dish, and your choice of beverage.
Directions from Highway 1: Highway 1 north to the first stoplight at Cambria (Main Street). Right turn, then all the way down the hill, then right onto Santa Rosa Creek Road. The driveway is exactly 8 miles from the turn, on the left hand side.
Directions from Hwy 46 West: Highway 46 toward Cambria, turn right onto Santa Rosa Creek Road. We are exactly 8 miles from the turn, on the right hand side. The road is exactly 16 miles long and the studio is exactly in the middle. Exactly—more or less.
From either direction, go easy and watch for crazy local drivers, clueless tourist drivers, big trucks, fast motorcycles, bicycles, blind turns, deer, skunks, turkeys and road quality issues. Really, it's a nice drive. When you get lost in the woods, 924-1767.
At It Again - CCSG will be showing in the McMeen Gallery in November
The Central Coast Sculptors Group has been on a wild ride of new ventures this year. Two back to back Phantom Galleries gave sculptors and other artists much needed venues to show their work. Now four pairs of sculptors are test driving a talked-about but never-before-implemented collaboration show. Titled 3D x 2, the show will display 8 works of art generated by each pair trading “seeds.” These “seeds” are partially finished sculptures; each sculptor is tasked with creating a finished piece of art using the seed. Mike Hannon paired the sculptors and did a great job of placing sculptors with differing mediums and styles together.
The pairs have been planning/thinking/working since May and a recent polling of their progress has brought forth the kind of comments that were envisioned when the project was conceived:
“We made some sketches and came up with a plan. That was the easy part. Now for the execution.”
“ I got a welded mild steel face from him, that I walked around scratching my head over for several days. I finally just started putting stuff together & not worrying about it, decided it was just an element and at that point it started coming together....”
“What I got from Mike was so different from what I normally do that I literally stumbled into the final piece. .... what he gave me was so beautiful I knew it needed to be the focus of the art ..... when I put it next to the wings I was sold.”
“I naively started this project thinking it would be easy. I thought I had my piece finished only to realize that it didn't work, proportions were all wrong. Back to the drawing board.”
“Who'd of ever thunk that swapping unfinished sculpture pieces in the middle of a project would be so intimidating? ... So far, I am sketching and mocking up various ideas trying to work my way out of a wet paper bag.”
“I've started on a 3' diameter circular cutout that I've cut a pie shaped wedge out of and attached the the pie shape so that it darts off the flat circle. ... with anticipation of Lucie doing something organic/figurative draped over the disc."
I’ve got a big chunk of rough sawn timber from Ron, and have been looking at it for a few weeks. Some days I want to hack or split it. Some days I want to burn into it. Some I days I want to have it crawling with little pewter people. Some days I want to make a bigger figure to interact with it somehow.”
“I walked away with three pieces that had been whispering inspiring thoughts to me. Back at my studio, there was a stone carving that raised it's voice, and before I realized it, we were having a full blown dialog of transformation, collaboration and completion.”
As is shown by the comments of the artists, the McMeen show will be the culmination of a true artistic growing and stretching endeavor. Using the results of this test run, CCSG hopes to repeat this concept with a wider group of sculptors in a future show. Meanwhile mark your calendars for what is shaping up to be a fascinating show.
~ Carol Kerwin
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