Lectures, Pieta, Ellie, and Uncle Ho

I have been a bit swamped lately. I gave two lectures today. This morning it was on the levee system in New Orleans, and this afternoon it was on my artwork. I unfortunately haven't had a chance to work on the Pieta since Sunday.

Here are some shots of it currently:



It now henges open:



As for Ellie, she is currently in Indiana with the breeder. We are leaving her there until we drive to NC for the summer. It's unfortunate that we will be missing the early years, but when we get her she will be trained, and after that get to take her to the lake for a month or so. I'm so excited! I get to spend the summer with a puppy.

the last thing is something I did for a contest. Kidrobot just introduced a dunny designed to look like Vladamir Lenin. There was a contest on another site to design a Dunny based on your favorite communist leader. I chose Ho Chi-Minh



Gotta love Uncle Ho.

I just got another picture of Ellie from my mom.

I will post an update soon, but right now I'm way too tired.

Our new dog

This is our new family German Shepard puppy. Her name is Ellie.

The missing link for sale on eBay

Pieta Update

So I haven't gotten to a place where I can take shots of the full piece, but here are some process shots I took over the weekend.

Happy Easter Everybody!!

Ironically I spent my Easter working on a sculpture based on the death of Christ. I'll post photos of the progress tomorrow.

Miscarriage

Chuck Berry on Hump Day

At the last minute Michelle managed to find me a ticket to Chuck Berry at Blue Hill. I figured it was a must to go see him before I leave St. Louis. It was pretty damn cool. I mean yeah he's getting up there in the years, but he still has some moves. His son was playing with him on back up guitar. Oddly he looks exactly like Malcolm X. He has the glasses, the goatee, and the shaved head; the only thing throwing it off was his Allman Brothers T-shirt.

And now a comic...

Kristen will like this, unless she has already seen it.

Pieta Photos

As requested here are some in progress photos of my newest piece.



Here is Michelangelo's original:




And here is where mine stands:



I know that the pictures are hard to read because it's just the frame, but when I get the strapping on I will post again.

Pieta

I can't believe it. I was working on the Pieta all day today and things stayed clamped, the rods got bet quickly and correctly, and no tools broke down. This has got to be a first. As a result I moved from being a week behind to three days behind. This thing might actually get done.

Looks like I'm moving to Seattle

So Windgate finally sent out the list of winners and... I wasn't on it. Those that did win, two words: CRAFT ARTISTS. 3 ceramicists, 2 glass artists, 2 jewelers, 1 fiber artist (HA!), 1 photographer, and 1 designer. One of the judges is a director of a school of arts and crafts, and another is the editor of Metalsmith Magazine. Yeah...Uh....my work doesn't really gel with these people. So, no Russia for Michael; It looks like Seattle instead. (good thing I didn't by any of those tourist books or start learning Russian...)

Is it bad that my ears are still ringing?

Gogol Bordello Concert at the Creepy Crawl

Have you ever spent 2 hours in a mosh pit? I have.



I just got back from the concert and it was the most insane thing ever. The music was incredible, the moshing was brutal, and I got to release a lot of stress. I feel like I'm floating on air, except for the pain in my neck, stomach, and entire backside. (Start wearing purple)

"You got an F"

I was in tears when I saw this:

Vee Dub 2

And here is my favorite commercial of all time:

A young man is being chased by...a chicken

Chicago, Etc.

I spent this weekend in Chicago. The trip was okay, but way more effort than it was worth. The worst was last night. My flight was scheduled for 10:00. I went to the American Airlines, check in, and looked at the departure board. The St. Louis listing said 10:25...Cancelled. I freaked out, and ran over to a ticket to see if I could rebook. It seemed I was not alone. there must have been 150 people in front of me with menacing looks on their faces. As I waited I called my dad, who told me to book a room at the O'Hare Hilton, and then call him when I found something out.

I waited in line for a solid hour and a half and in that time I got the Hilton to pick up the phone. (I was not the only one calling them) They said they were booked, but they could set me up at Embassy Suites. I said go for it, considering the amount of time I'd spent on hold to get through to them I figured this was my only chance to get a place to stay.

Right after I finished making the non-cancellable reservation I got up to the ticket counter. I gave the woman my name and told her where I was going and she said, "Your not showing up. Do you have your itinerary?" I pulled it out and instantly noticed that my flight was on United. I figured I was flying out on American because that is what I flew in on. (American Culture Studies made the reservation.) It was now 10:30.

I freaked out again. For some reason she couldn't find my St. Louis United flight on the computer, so told me I would have to go to terminal 1. I ran to the train to transfer stations, hoping that the flight was delayed or cancelled. (That's a first) I then called my dad starting the conversation with, "I may have just done the stupidest thing ever."

I got to United, and found that the flight was delayed until 11:50. I got my ticket, and went through security. To add insult to injury, the gate was about as far away as you could get and since I had spent the past two days walking the city of Chicago in new shoes my left ankle was dying. By the time I reached F14 I was literally limping.

I asked the woman behind the desk what was the deal with the St. Louis flight? she then told me "It is supposed to go out at 12:50, but we don't have a plane yet." That sounded real promising. For a minute I thought I'd just change to a flight the next day, but realized that I probably couldn't walk back.

I waited it out... At one point they said it would be delayed until 2:20. Then they switched gates on us. I limped over to F8 sat down and waited until we finally boarded at 1:00 then waited 45 minutes on the tarmac till we got into the air.

I got back to my apartment at 3:30 this morning pretty close to in need of crutches.



If you want to see my Chicago pictures, I have posted them on facebook.