Be Very Selective

I just installed my outdoor juried show submission for this year's Burlington Art Hop on Friday. It is the most conceptual piece I've ever made but I tried my best to make it aesthetic as well. 

Be Very Selective Before Entering; Choose Wisely Before 

Looking Out; Make An Even More Careful 

Consideration Before Exiting 

wood and paint

84" x 48" x 41"

2012

©Robert Hitzig

 Be Very Selective . . . (second side)

 Be Very Selective . . . (third side)

My hope is that people will interact with it. I'd like to see both children and adults climbing in, looking out, and being involved with it somehow. I'll consider the piece a success if it happens. I didn't realize how playful primary colors are until I finished it, so I am real happy with the paints (though, if I weren't using paints I had handy, I probably would use a brighter yellow). When I was inside, I also felt it had both playful and meditative/contemplative presence but I'm anxious to see if that actually comes through for other viewers as well.

Addendum: September 12, 2012

Success! To my surprise, I found that children seemed to love the sculpture. Whenever I went by it over the weekend, during the Art Hop, I found children attracted to it and climbing all around it. In addition, I had numerous conversations with people who said they saw children in and around it. Glad to see some people still know how to have fun.

Be Very Selective ... (in use)

September 8, 2012

Flag Updates

In May, as I posted previously, I was at the Vermont Studio Center and worked on my flag series. I wasn't happy with this one, the nine sided flag. I've had doubts about the center section but finally, this week, I've been able to work on it again and make the changes I wanted. I'm much happier now.

In the new version I have nine bars (random length, random width, random placement) to fill the center. They are made with quarter sawn bird's-eye maple. I've never seen any one use it before but I think it looks fantastic. It cuts across the depth of the bird's-eyes and creates an effect much like a curl but with an intensity that is very different. And the flecking in the maple really makes it sparkle. Really very cool (you'll have to take my word for it). I'm going to shellac paint each bar a random variation of blue.

Last month I also finished preparing my double star flag. It was quite an effort, and very stressful, fitting all the rays around the circles and overlapping each other but it turned out pretty damn well, much to my surprise.

Now I can finally finish painting all three of the new ones. Hopefully, they will be ready sometime in September and I can get to work on some more.